Careers in Surveying

Robbie's teachers at Flaxmere High saw that he had ability in maths and physics and encouraged him to apply for the University of Otago's Bachelor of Surveying degree. Until then Robbie hadn't thought too much about Otago. Since coming down he has fitted right in. "It's a long way from home" he says "but it's a choice environment and you have no trouble hooking up with people". And the weather? "You get over it!"

Like many Maori involved in education today Robbie is the first in his whanau to attend a university. He realises the importance of this for himself and for his whanau. He understates himself as being an "average C person" but he is getting better than 'C' grades in his degree and is strongly encouraged by his lecturers and tutors. He is pushed by his own drive and his desire to give something to his whanau who give him heaps of support.

But all work and no play doesn't fit with his philosophy either. Robbie balances his study time with plenty of sport including rugby where he carries his success onto the paddock. He was a 1st XV star at Flaxmere and since coming to Otago has represented his adopted province in under 19's in 2001 and the Otago Maori Colts in 2002.

Robbie Rameka is a motivated young achiever who will be a success and a role model for his whanau and others that want to follow him.

interviewer: hello!

Emily Todd: hi!

interviewer: okay ... so when did you finish your surveying degree? Was it an Honours degree?

Emily Todd: finished in 2006 with honours, graduated in last years ceremony

interviewer: that's great. Did you know you wanted to study Surveying when you started at otago? How did you find out about it?

Emily Todd: yes, I intended to do surveying from the start. I did a GAP year after school, and decided I'd quite like to go to Otago... I can't actually remember where I first heard about surveying - but I'd seen it on the internet, and my Dad talked about surveying and thought it looked interesting and covered the things I was interested in - outdoor work, maths, drafting, computers...

interviewer: Did you find that what you studied matched up with what you had expected?

Emily Todd: Yeah I loved doing surveying because I was actually interested in it ... and I knew I'd get a job out of it at the end - which was one of the other reasons I chose it

interviewer: okay. What aspects of surveying did you particularly enjoy? You're doing hydrographic surveying at present, is that right? Is that something you particularly enjoyed at Otago?

Emily Todd: The fun environment with smallish classes really made surveying - I think, perhaps more than I'd expected. I made some great friends there coz you're often working together on assignments. I'm doing hydro right now - which is quite a small part of what I did at uni (only taught in 3rd and 4th year). At uni I loved being outdoors, doing field trips and working with likeminded people. I think surveyors definitely work hard (but have fun when there's no assignments due!). The lecturers are also really friendly and helpful and you are definitely encouraged and helped as much as they can. I really enjoyed hydro at uni, but I've always been involved with boats and the sea, so I was almost leaning that way when I started!

interviewer: What are you doing now? How did you get your present job? How is it going?

Emily Todd: I'm an "offshore hydrographic surveyor" for Fugro-BTW Ltd which is based in New Plymouth, and is part of a worldwide company (Fugro) so we have the opportunity to work all over the place in different offices. Fugro-BTW offers a scholarship to final year students who are studying hydro, so myself and another guy won that in 2006 after an interview in 2005... so they already knew me in 2006 when they came down for interviews. And I was offered the job before I'd finished studying - which's awesome and quite common in surveying! I really enjoy the work, it's quite different to what we did at uni as so much ... of that study was land based... but the priciples still apply. The chance to travel all over the place at my age is awesome too! I've been to Australia 4 times since October, worked in Alaska for 3mths last year, and am now in California for a while ... we work reeeeeally long hours, but the pay and things you see (working out in Alaska with whales jumping and bears feeding on salmon at the beach as you go past in your boat) makes it all worth it!

interviewer: so what are you actually surveying? Is it ocean depth? Or the topography of the ocean floor?

Emily Todd: The project I'm on at the moment is mapping the topography of the ocean floor (the bathymetry), which the client will be using principally to create nautical charts to be used for navigation, but also for scientific studies as you can see where currents would go, landslides occurred, wrecks... all sorts. The area we will cover here is huge - the project will probably last a year. I've also been involved in work on small site surveys for resources (oil & gas), which involve mapping the seabed, but also towing equipment behind the boat that sends sound waves through the seabed and allows geologists to see the levels of strata that exist. On rigs we are mostly positioning the thing on the surface (so it ends up drilling in the right place!)... and at the start of this year I spent a few months on a job off Taranaki laying pipelines and other infrastructure for a gas field - there we were involved in positioning two vessels, as well as the ROV (remotely operated vehicle - that swims around controlled by guys on the boat) and deep sea divers who had beacons on that we could position

interviewer: If you have such a fantastic job now, where can you possibly go from here?!

Emily Todd: Hehe! It's good, but when we're at work we do 12hr shifts, 7 days a week - even now when I'm processing data in the office I'm on that schedule! As you gain more experience you can move up the ladder on the jobs towards the Party Chief position who is the person out there making the calls, writing the field reports, dealing with the client etc... As our firm's small we get a taste of that on rig moves, but to cover large jobs you definitely need a few years experience... after that you could do Project Managing from shore... who knows!

interviewer: any last words of wisdom for people considering what to study ?

Emily Todd: Do surveying! I've never regretted it - even during the huge assignments when we were working at school all weekend! I learnt some interesting stuff, met some amazing people and now have a job that takes me all over the place... and others in my class are in equally interesting locations and doing some really cool jobs! ... especially if you don't want to be in an office all the time. What I'd say is don't be afraid of hardwork... and good fun!

interviewer: Thanks very much emily... i think that gives me heaps to work with.

Emily Todd:Say hi to Dunedin for me - I miss it! Bye :)

On completing my degree, I secured a position with Schlumberger Oilfield Services as a ship's 'Positioning Engineer' that involves the use of deep marine seismic acquisition techniques.

It was the BSurv degree that enabled me to begin this exciting, challenging and interesting career with GECO (the commonly used name for Schlumberger's offshore surveying division). My studies at Otago enabled a smooth transition between university and the working environment. Because GECO is an international concern, it involves travel and working with people of different nationalities and cultures. Within months of graduation I found myself in such diverse places as Hanoi in Vietnam, and Oslo in Norway.

The core papers in the BSurv programme provided me with a thorough understanding of positioning principles, and the hydrographic surveying papers provided a good background in marine surveying techniques. The Surveying School at the University of Otago is relatively small, which makes for a very friendly atmosphere and excellent student/staff relations. I would highly recommend this degree, due to the huge range of opportunities that are available to you when you finish, and the high demand for students with a BSurv degree from Otago.

Aaron graduated with honours from the University of Otago's School of Surveying in 2002 and was immediately employed by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ). One of the key attractions of surveying for Aaron was the guaranteed work. Qualified surveyors are in high demand worldwide; as Aaron says, " they just can't train them fast enough."

So Aaron is a little unusual amongst surveyors in that in 2004 he returned to the University of Otago to complete a Masters in Surveying - study funded by his employer LINZ, who needed his research into the effects of earthquakes on spatial data. Highlights of this research included conferences here and abroad, and "a really special five weeks in Antarctica".

In 2007 Aaron left for Switzerland, to begin work with Leica-Geosystems, a leading manufacturer of surveying equipment. Aaron is now a GPS Application Engineer, designing GPS systems that provide industry with location data accurate to centimetres and in some cases even millimetres.

But, he suggests, this may not be the last we see of him. Aaron has not ruled out returning to New Zealand, even to the University of Otago once more - he still has a hankering to complete a PhD.

The 28-year-old shares his time between Canada, the United States and South America working for an international surveying company, Trimble Navigation. He got a job with the company after graduating with a Bachelor of Surveying from Otago University, and it has allowed him to travel the world working in many different countries, including France, Sweden and Germany.

"It's a long way from Southland Boys' High School. I knew I always wanted to travel but the extent to which I have travelled, the things I have been able to see and do, have far exceeded my expectations". As well as carrying out surveying jobs, Bruce has also been required to do several lecture series at American universities about laser scanning and the future of the industry. In the next five years the technology he uses will become a core technology for architects, engineers and surveyors around the globe.

"It's kind of scary to think I leave university and find myself on the other side of the lecturing pew." He has worked on a variety of different jobs, including work on the Panama Canal and private ship building businesses as well as the US Navy. But by far his favourite assignment was a Native American restoration project in South Dakota.

The Crazy Horse project is a massive carving of Native American Lakota chief, Crazy Horse, which has been carved out of a mountain for the past 60 years. The carving measures almost 172 metres in height and 195 metres in length, larger than Mt Rushmore's famous presidential faces.

"It's interesting from the point of view of the magnitude of it ... the project itself is funded by visitors' donations." Technological advances have helped the project, which began in 1948, and modern scanning allows the huge amount of data to be collected which then refines the blasting and shaping process. Because the technology he uses is still so new, there was a great deal of experimentation to discover the limits of the system, and they were still gathering information on different techniques, which is a challenge.

He hoped to return to live in New Zealand at some point but in the meantime is enjoying the jet-setting lifestyle.'I love my job, I love the people I work with ... at the moment I don't have it in my heart to go home, but I love the idea of raising a family in New Zealand so there's a strong possibility I'll end up back in New Zealand.'

This article is reprinted with kind permission of the Southland Times

After completing my Bachelor of Surveying degree in 2002 I was hired as a surveyor for an international oil company. My first assignment was a 450 square km seismic survey in Bangladesh where I was in charge of the conventional survey crews (this meant there were 85 people that I was supervising) - quite a daunting task for a fresh graduate. After 8 months the job was completed under time and well within budget.

Since my first job in Bangladesh I have worked in India, Mexico, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and I am currently Chief Surveyor for the first ever onshore seismic survey conducted in Cambodia. Every day brings new challenges and obstacles but that’s what makes being a seismic surveyor so exciting.

The Bachelor of Surveying degree from Otago University is very well regarded and it enables graduates to gain employment in a wide variety of fields all around the world.

Hamish Mckinlay
Chief Surveyor
PGS Onshore
Cambodia