In this Women in Geospatial Series, we spoke to Nimas Anggarini, a Presales Specialist at Hexagon about her proudest moments and challenges she faced in the geospatial field.

Title text

Nimas Anggarini is a Presales Specialist at Hexagon

Did you face any challenges entering the geospatial field? If so, can you please provide a brief summary?

When I first started my career in 2015 as a fresh graduate in Jakarta for Leica Geosystems, I noticed that there was quite a big skills gap between what I learnt in university and what was needed in the market. The first challenge was to upskill myself fast so that I could do my job properly. The technology that the company sold was far more advanced than what I had used in my studies.

I remember one of my first tasks was to master a photogrammetry software in 3 days and then conduct a customer training session with their project data. As a fresh grad, I had only learnt the basics and use cases where the data and scenarios used were ideal. Whereas in real projects, data quality is varied and there are so many issues that you’d only know from experience.

As a student, I mostly learned how to be the end user of a product. I didn’t really have to know what was happening on the backend. Now, I have to be the one who gives suggestions to customers regarding the solutions they need. I need to analyse their requirements, infrastructure, existing technology, etc. I realised that it required more than just geospatial domain knowledge. I needed to learn about IT, infrastructure architecture, database and programming, and I needed to learn fast to be able to do my job.

Please share about what you do at Hexagon and what is one of your proudest moments.

I’m currently working as a Presales specialist in Hexagon Safety, Infrastructure and Geospatial. My responsibilities include giving technical assistance to support sales and business development activities in ASEAN. It includes giving technical consultations, product presentations, tender analyses, product training and helping customers until our solutions are delivered to the end users.

I can think of many proud moments, but I like seeing how the solutions that we delivered (especially the projects that I handled) are being used by the end users and to know that my trainees have increased their expertise in using our products. It gives me a sense of usefulness.

What advice would you give to women who wish to excel in leadership positions in the geospatial sector?

First is to never stop learning new skills, both hard and soft skills. Be a problem solver, because as a leader, people will come to you to get solutions. It’s okay not to know everything and ask for guidance from others as well. Embrace the opportunities that come. We also need to have good communication and professional relationships with the people we work with.

What excites you about geospatial innovation?

I’m always curious about the usage of AI in mapping. There are many processes that used to be done manually which are now being processed by AI with higher speed. Also, about the rise of digital twins in smart cities, and the usage of location intelligence and IoT sensors to get insights. It’s also fascinating to see how the markets are changing and becoming more open to using clouds and SaaS technology, especially in Southeast Asia.