Winnie Shaw, B.Eng. 2012
In my younger days, ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ was the place everybody wanted to go to if you planned on studying in Montreal. My older sister who is also an alumna had talked to me about its international recognition, its history, its educators, and the people that you’d meet there. I naturally gravitated towards studying at ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ. After many late-night discussions, mining engineering seemed like an interesting field of study as our country is rich in resources and mining seemed to offer a secure career path. When you’re young, everything is based on appearances and you don’t really know until you’ve gone through it. While you’re at school, you also don’t realize it but the co-op program, the friendships, and the education are indispensable and cherished moments. Those sixteen months of real on-site work gives you both a tangible experience and a line item on your resume. After graduating from ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ, I was offered a full-time job with Xstrata Nickel, now Glencore. Working with Glencore has enabled me to experience different realities with both on-site experiences – fly-in-fly-out – and working on projects in our Laval office. Currently, I work as a senior mining project engineer and I work with an amazing team on future projects to expand the reserves and the life of the mines. Surprisingly, I will be celebrating my tenth year with the firm, but there is still much to learn and that’s the beauty of working in mining. You never know what tomorrow brings with regards to exploration, geology, operations, engineering, and so on… However, you get to work with people who have specialized knowledge and passion for their work and the excitement that comes with new challenges. As a woman, I’d just like to add that working in a traditionally male-dominant industry has been a great experience and I believe companies are transforming the way that they do things to accommodate more women.