IPSWICH career-changer Shaun Sargeant has traded cattle for coordinates, turning seven years on a wagyu beef farm into an unlikely launching pad for a high-tech career helping map the homes, roads and infrastructure of the future.
At 25, Mr Sargeant is now a survey assistant at Axis Surveys in Ipswich and part of a new generation entering a profession desperately searching for skilled workers.
It is a career that looks very different to the traditional image of a surveyor standing behind a tripod.
Today’s surveyors are increasingly working with drones, satellite positioning, laser scanners, sophisticated GPS systems and digital mapping technology to capture the precise information needed before homes, roads, subdivisions and major infrastructure can take shape.
And Australia needs plenty more of them, with Jobs and Skills Australia saying that there are 9700 surveyors nationally, with industry modelling predicting a shortfall of 2000 professionals by 2029.
For Mr Sargeant surveying was nowhere on the map when he left school.
Unsure what career he wanted, he took a job as a farmhand on a wagyu beef property and remained there for seven years.
“I woke up one day and just thought, I want something more fulfilling, more career-worthy,” Mr Sargeant said.
He completed a Certificate III in Surveying and Spatial Information Services through the TAFE NSW National Environment Centre at Thurgoona in 2024, studying via virtual classroom so he could continue working on the farm while building the foundations of a new career.
“When I started looking for a job, I saw a lot of opportunities and I got multiple interviews, and a job offer,” he said.
TAFE NSW National Environment Centre surveying teacher Libby Evans said the profession remained largely misunderstood despite its role in almost every new development.
“Surveying is one of those professions people often know very little about, but virtually every new home, road and major infrastructure project relies on the work surveyors do,” she said.
Now working at Axis Surveys in Ipswich, Mr Sargeant is continuing to build his skills by undertaking a Certificate IV in Surveying and Spatial Information Services and said the career has offered more than job security.
“My favourite part of the job is that you add a new place every day; one day I’m on the Gold Coast and the next I could be Toowoomba or the middle of Brisbane city,” he said. “I’ve found my career now.”
