Introducing Darren Meads from West Yorkshire, UK!
Where did you study? I was taught internally by the company I started out with back in 2015, no knowledge whatsoever, I had served in the Army’s Infantry for 8 years so since 2015 I have been a student to the surveying industry starting with Ground Penetrating Radar to Utility Mapping.
An opportunity in 2016 to become a Land Surveyor which of course I jumped at the chance and have loved it ever since, Learning from mainly my colleagues and line manager it took me roughly about 6 months to really master the basics of surveying and then from this it was time to become a surveyor on my own and learn how to make it my personal way of surveying as every surveyor surveys differently using the same principles of course but making it their own, experimenting trying new ways and pushing the equipment to its full potential is always a great way to learn you don’t always need books or educational courses etc.. I guess it would help yes hugely but some people are more hands on which opens the audience to surveying.
What are the requirements to be a surveyor in your area?There are no set requirements per say and this is an important part that I believe needs to be understood. Anyone interested in surveying has the right requirements firstly by showing the voluntary interest, I love to see young people keen and enthusiastic about wanting to become a surveyor. It’s a simple case of you get out what you put in, so these are the only characterises you require to become a great surveyor.
How did you get into surveying? Actually by mistake, my dyslexia played a part in this when I was first searching for a job in 2014/2015 before leaving the Armed Forces, I thought I was going for a job in Surveillance when indeed I arrived for the interview he said “so what do you know about surveying” so I had applied for the job by pure mistake but looking back I guess it was supposed to happen because I got the job, same day, and have loved the surveying industry ever since… Fate.
*If you are not a surveyor, what do you do? I am no longer a surveyor, I work for Hexagon AB, under Bricsys part of Hexagon supplying the UK & Ireland with CAD software BricsCAD to help them be creative in the design space.
How long have you been in the industry? Since 2015, I have learnt some amazing things, it’s taken me to some great places across the UK, which to explore the UK as a surveyor has been an experience and met some fantastic people along the way which are lifetime friends.
Are you part of any associations or organisations you would like us to mention? I am a member of the CMI as a Chartered Manager (Chartered Institute of Managers) and a Technical Member to the CICES (Chartered institute of Civil Engineering Surveyors).
Why are you volunteering as a GKiS Brand Ambassador?Simply, I want to help educate young students and older generations the importance of surveying and how it can help shape your life into becoming a great part of today’s society and Get Kids into Surveying is a great way of sharing this passion, it’s a great platform to make a start on having an impact on becoming better.
Why is it important for kids to know about surveying and the wider geospatial?
industry? Because this is our future generation of building Infrastructure our build it better generation, the future of surveying depends on educating kids on what part and the importance to which surveying plays in our infrastructure without this we wouldn’t have a lot of the infrastructure we have today, with innovation going the way it’s going in surveying, its becoming more trendy and digital which is highly impressive and could help attract kids into surveying and equally be more sustainable while doing so.
What are you going to do as an ambassador for GKiS? As Country Manager for the UK & Ireland, my goal is to reach as many educational organisations and support them with data management in a digital form in the design space, help support the geospatial data sets to understand how their data can be used but equally support them on the processing side of things by providing them with the relevant software’s, and of course point them in the right direction for further support within GKiS.
What are your hobbies outside of work? I love to spend time outdoors as much as I can with my family, walks on the beach, hills, mountains anything that involves nature… equally I love to learn more about technology and innovations that can help support us become more sustainable.
If you/your company had a GKiS character, what would it be?We would be an Astronaut, rocketing the digital space into outer space.
What resource would you like to see next from GKiS? More offerings into the design space, processing space, its great to see so much around collecting data but it’s great to also see and understand the bigger picture with the data that’s been collected.
Anything else you want to add that you think our audience (surveyors, teachers, parents) would be interested in? Design helps drive creativity, creativity helps drive motivation, motivation drives creativity = Positive outcomes.