Employee Spotlight - Shelby DeMars
- March 21, 2023
- 9:43 am
A career in engineering wasn’t on the horizon for Shelby as she grew up on a cattle operation in Southwest Saskatchewan surrounded by a family who all had careers in agriculture or animal science. She started at the University of Lethbridge on a path to become a dentist. After her first year, she realized that university-level biology was not for her, and she began to look for alternate career options. She decided to pursue engineering as she liked the variety of options that engineering offered. After her first year of engineering, she came to a crossroads where she had to pick a path to continue with on her education journey. She decided to go with geological engineering because she found the magic of geology to be interesting. She then went on to pursue a Masters focused on geo-environmental engineering and groundwater.
She started her career at BGC directly out of her studies, focused on Geotech. The structure at BGC allowed her to explore many different facets of applied earth science and she followed her passion to focus on groundwater. She now works on the Groundwater Team that is comprised of over 50 professionals from all different walks of life. She truly believes this is a great team to grow you career in groundwater and is happy to be surrounded by so many supportive and talented professionals. Shelby appreciates that BGC has a lot of diverse projects across the globe and finds that she never lives the same day twice which keeps her work interesting and allows her to gain experience in a variety of areas.
How long have you been with BGC and what do you do here?
I started at BGC in 2017 and I’m a Hydrogeological Engineer working as part of the Groundwater Team. I have been working in the Mining Sector since I’ve started.
How would you describe your job to a class of Kindergartners?
I work with water that is underground, that’s in the cracks and spaces in dirt and rock.
What is your favourite thing about working at BGC?
My favourite thing about working here are the people. I’ve had the chance to develop a lot of great relationships with a diverse group of people. Developing these working relationships has also given me the chance to be a sponge and learn a lot from those with different skills and experience. I also am lucky to have the chance to travel to a lot of different places for field work.
What is the one piece of advice you’d give to new hires at BGC?
Say yes to everything in the first few years, even if it’s not necessarily something you’re interested in or that you thought you would want to try. Taking this approach helps build relationships with people you wouldn’t normally get to work with across BGC and gives you a chance to build new skills.
If you could switch jobs with someone in BGC, who would it be and why?
Someone from the Accounting Team. I sit beside Michelle Rivor who is an Account Payable Specialist in BGC’s Calgary office, and she is always laughing, and the team seems to have a lot of fun.
If you could have an unlimited supply of one thing, what would it be?
Airline tickets. It would be cool to pick up and go wherever, whenever. Next on the travel list for me is Nepal and Portugal. I was supposed to go to Nepal in 2020 those plans were cancelled due to COVID-19 and I still haven’t had the chance to make it. And I would love to explore Portugal as I’ve never been before.
What fictional place would you like to visit?
Middle Earth – I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan.
If you had to listen to one song for the rest of your life what would it be?
It really depends on the day because I listen to every genre. I thought this would be a good opportunity to plug a local Saskatchewan artist, Andy Shauf. If you’re listening to him for the first time, I suggest his song The Magician or Try Again.
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
“True happiness comes from true expression”. It’s cheesy I know, but I think the message is important! Be yourself and happiness will follow!