Chad Heinrich has worked hard at his career and now enjoys the benefits his work has provided. In this blog Chad shares his journey and how his surveying career has been his ultimate adventure.
There are many ways to start your career in Surveying and deciding on the right path for you may seem overwhelming. SurveyingSA sat down with recently licensed Land Surveyor Chad Heinrich, Director and Survey Manager for Andrew and Associates in Adelaide, to learn about his professional journey from Surveying student to fully licensed surveyor.
After completing a three year Bachelor degree at UniSA in 2006 Chad worked as a graduate surveyor, utilising the skills and knowledge gained from university and learning hands on from more experienced surveying professionals. In 2009 Chad started his professional training agreement with Andrew and Associates. At this time the global financial crisis hit and the availability of work and appropriate experience was difficult. This didn’t slow down Chad’s career and he continued to work hard and gain the trust and respect of his peers leading him to take over as one of the Director’s of Andrew & Associates, allowing him to take his time to complete his training agreement project.
In 2017 Chad completed his Professional Training Agreement and became a fully licensed surveyor. Having experienced the profession as a graduate surveyor and in business ownership there wasn’t much Chad had missed out on, however with his licensing came a greater sense of confidence in his work as well as faster turnaround from site to submissions on his projects, proving that his journey was more than worth while.
Listening to Chad talk about his career and his experiences was incredibly uplifting, “imagine having a different office space every week, the opportunity to travel and living a different experience with each project. From rural sites to mines to large city apartment complexes, no two projects are the same and it never gets boring”.
Chad also spoke of the benefits he’s found working in a smaller company. The projects tend to be smaller which offers more variety in his workload from week to week. There is also a more personalised element involved with smaller companies allowing you to build the professional relationships with other co-workers and contractors, which Chad finds very appealing.
Over the time working at Andrew & Associates, Chad has been able to engage with graduates coming from both the TAFE, and University streams. Both pathways provide a practical, and theoretical approach which allows for a smooth introduction to working in a surveying firm.
During the entire conversation with Chad it was clear his entire journey had proven to be his ultimate adventure with a constantly changing and stimulating environment to work in each day he wouldn’t hesitate in recommending the surveying profession to anyone and is an advocate for putting in the time and effort to obtain your full surveyors license.