Week 1: New Horizons

Holy smokes, we’re live!

Welcome to my blog. I’m Haley, a 22-year old electrical engineer-in training at a gold mine in northern Ontario. I just graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in astrophysics & math. Just over 3 months ago I was a student living in a big city, doing astrophysical research on the nature of Cepheid Variable stars, but now I reside in a town of population 8,000 and I’m nearly a month and a half deep into a completely new career that I have virtually zero experience in, and there’s a pandemic. I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. Neither does anybody else. But that’s okay! Fortunately, I have had ample time to prepare for this transition, and have nothing but optimistic expectations for the future. After all, I made the decision to come here quite some time ago, and I have previously worked here as a student for 3 summers before.

Since starting in May, I’ve met a ton of new people at the mine with all kinds of industry experience and background. Although, our interactions are usually the same; I introduce myself and state my position, they then ask where I went to school and what kind of engineering degree I have. I then have to inform them that no, I actually don’t have an engineering degree. The usual response is:

“What brought you here?”, or “Why mining?”

Firstly, if you would have told me 4 years ago that this is what my career would be, I would have laughed really hard in disbelief. The mining industry isn’t funny, but the notion of leaving astrophysics would have been. What place does someone like me have in an industry like this anyway? Not only am I competing against an army of mining/electrical engineering graduates for a chance to become a professional engineer, but I am significantly less qualified than them!

Furthermore, my dream was to become a physicist. Until last August, I was going to apply to do my masters in physics. Ever since I was little, it seemed like all I cared about was stars, planets, the universe, and the nature of space & time. Unfortunately, academia mentality can be quite toxic which ultimately led me to fall out of love with physics, and at one point led me to fall out of love with learning altogether. Despite this, it felt like pursuing a masters was my only option due to the immense pressure from the department where many seem to believe academia is the only respectable career path.

So again, why mining?

As a student, I just needed a summer job that would pay me enough to support my schooling. I grew up in a mining town, so why not try that? Luckily, in 2017 I was tasked with a battery-related project at the mine, and I’ve been working on it ever since. It was the perfect opportunity to utilize my physics-toolbox to help where I could and I was also able to learn about engineering while doing it. During this project I was supported by a group of supervisors who believed in me, and this is what truly led me to my decision to leave academia. At school, physics was an endless competition where my knowledge was constantly tested and I felt like an imposter amongst my peers, I felt that I was too stupid and that I didn’t belong (we all felt the same). At the mine, my physics knowledge made me valuable; I brought a unique skillset to the project and it was helpful. At the mine I was surrounded by profoundly intelligent & supportive people who urged me to pursue an engineering career because they believed that I could excel at it – and it was because of my physics degree. If it weren’t for them I’m not sure where I’d be right now.

All in all, I’m writing this blog for myself, but I also hope that it may prove useful for physics students who are unsure of what their next step will be – there is room for you anywhere and it doesn’t have to be academia. You are a valuable asset. I am also writing this for women in mining, women in STEM, and mining-related EITs who wish to hear about someone else’s experience in the industry.

Thank you for reading what I hope is the first of many more entries,

Haley Blinn

(June 28th 2020)