Ah, the past, how it used to be (Inbox, The silent QSs, 10 September, page 22).

My ambition when I became a QS was to become a specialist and move away from the “traditional profession”, as traditional surveying was as exciting as watching the paintwork I had just measured drying.

Many other QSs also diversified. We are consultants and we could work in any organisation that needs the advice we give. That is what bright people do, many of them QSs. Personally I see myself as a chartered surveyor first, chartered QS second.

Patrick Murdock