Melanie Baker

Current

• Community Manager at PostRank Inc.

Past

• Testing Specialist II at Sun Life Financial
• Web Applications System Analyst at World Access Canada
• Information Builder, Online Strategies at Descartes Systems Group

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Education

• University of Waterloo
• Conestoga College
• University of Waterloo

1 more...

Recommended

3 people have recommended Melanie

Connections

183 connections

Industry

Internet

Melanie Baker’s Summary

I am a writer and editor, as well as a liaison with broadly disparate specialties -- the Internet and social Web, Marketing, and Communications to QA and IT.

I'm at my best when I'm talking to a wide variety of folks, learning from them, educating them, and translating communications among the various business, user, and technical stakeholders to keep everyone productive.

Melanie Baker’s Specialties:

Writing, editing, user experience, requirements gathering, relationship development and management, research.

Melanie Baker’s Experience

• Community Manager

  PostRank Inc.

  (Internet industry)

  May 2008 — Present (1 year 8 months)

  Making myself useful:
  
  - Communications via assorted online media - company website, social media, developing and maintaining company and product information, community relations (users, partners, various industry professionals, etc.).
  
  - Educating and learning from current and future users, observing trends and ongoing business issues, researching the needs of various companies, industries, and markets.
  
  - Keeping abreast of companies' relations needs and efforts (PR, blogger relations, etc.), seeing what tools are out there and what they do, determining what tools people are using, finding out what pain points are not being met by the market.
  
  - Product development consulting - observing behaviour, asking questions of and listening to our user community and the tech and business communities, facilitating testing, learning how people in the real world get the job done and find ways to use our products, services, and data.
  
  - Troubleshooting on the front lines - monitoring online media and customer service applications, assisting users, reporting issues.

• Testing Specialist II

  Sun Life Financial

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; SLF; Insurance industry)

  August 2007 — May 2008 (10 months)

  - coordinating releases and upgrades to call centre phone and computer systems
  - phone and computer system software testing
  - knowledge base building
  - application and process documentation
  - content development and evangelism for collaborative technologies initiatives

• Web Applications System Analyst

  World Access Canada

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; Insurance industry)

  March 2004 — June 2007 (3 years 4 months)

  Web Applications System Analyst
  
  • Managed project requirements gathering and specifications development.
  • Liaised between business units and IT groups for all interdepartmental projects.
  • Created and maintained print and online user documentation for applications, customers, and internal processes.
  • Coordinated prototype design with development teams.
  • Spearheaded QA and user testing, including test plans, documentation and tracking of bugs, workflow, and business rule issues.
  • Performed competitive analysis for web applications products, users, functionality and documentation.
  • Researched applications and Internet technologies.
  
  Testing Specialist (prior)
  
  • Liaised with multiple departments to determine testing needs and plan project scope.
  • Provided user interface design feedback on new development projects.
  • Spearheaded web and internal systems testing initiatives.
  • Developed/updated Access databases and Excel forms used in Quality Adherence initiatives.

• Information Builder, Online Strategies

  Descartes Systems Group

  (Public Company; 201-500 employees; DSGX; Logistics and Supply Chain industry)

  July 2000 — March 2004 (3 years 9 months)

  • Created, updated, and maintained content for intranet and corporate web sites, as well as researched and wrote articles and documentation.
  • Assisted in development of marketing materials through updating, formatting, and manipulating content.
  • Researched and managed multi-format prospect and customer-targeted campaigns.
  • Created and distributed monthly electronic newsletter to global employee base.
  • Performed QA testing on corporate website and intranet.
  • Spearheaded development, upgrade, documentation, and maintenance of global contacts management database.
  • Liaised with internal and external contacts on ERP implementation initiatives.
  
  Marketing Coordinator (prior)
  
  • Coordinated administration and support for Sales and Marketing staff.
  • Coordinated events.
  • Managed audio-visual equipment.
  • Managed promotions program.
  • Researched prospects and executed related campaigns.
  • Ordered and managed design customization of promotional items.

Melanie Baker’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch