Meet the team: Eric Ng

Eric lives and works remotely from Alberta, Canada in the province’s capital – Edmonton, home of the National Hockey League Oilers. He and his wife have a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter. When he’s not poring over and visualizing data for our customers and teams, Eric enjoys DJing. Prior to the pandemic, he held a weekly residency spinning at a local Japanese street food bar.

Tell us more about your role.

I joined Farm At Hand at the end of 2018 as a customer success manager, but my role has evolved ever since. Now in product engagement, I spend most of my day in Tableau, creating visualizations to understand things like which features are being used the most, and what’s the tipping point for accounts to deepen engagement. It’s exciting working closely with data-driven teams.

What drew you to this business?

I never imagined I’d end up in agriculture. However, what’s been consistent throughout my career is that I’ve worked at startups in industries undergoing enormous digital transformations. I started in the music industry, and later, I worked in education technology. So, things were familiar when I arrived at Farm At Hand. Agriculture was being transformed. In fact, there are still many farms that continue to rely on pen and paper. Technology is a paradigm shift, and we’re just at the very beginning.

What inspires you to come to work every day?

It boils down to the people. It’s so inspiring to work with a team that is passionate and incredibly knowledgeable. And knowing that our work impacts the food that gets to our table is significant. Speaking to farmers and getting a better understanding of what they do day to day and how we are enabling them and the stewardship of their land is what drives me.

What's the best career advice you received?

I’ve gotten a lot of good advice over the years, but right now, what’s really resonating with me is a Walt Whitman quote that’s central to the Ted Lasso series streaming online, “Be curious, not judgmental.”

I think it’s a great way to not only navigate your career, but to live an interesting life.

What do you want people to know about TELUS Agriculture?

We are completely unique. There’s no other company in agriculture and food doing what we’re doing at the scope that we’re operating. To be involved in so many aspects of ag is quite remarkable. Chris Terris (TELUS Agriculture vice president of global strategy and animal health) put it simply the first time I met him two years ago, “You don’t yet realize how special this is.”

Since we’re talking about food and agriculture, do you have a favourite dish? I am a BBQ enthusiast. I have a Big Green Egg smoker and find a lot of parallels in doing 15-hour smokings with being a parent. You think you’re a pretty patient person until you’re scrambling with an hour left to put dinner on the table. As with parenting, though, you can’t rush things. You’ve got to give it tons of love and attention early on. If you’re patient and don’t rush it, it’ll turn out. My family’s go to is pulled pork nachos. After a full day’s wait, there’s nothing more satisfying.