Meet Melanie: Functional Business Analyst

Don't worry, we started with "what the heck is a Functional Business Analyst??"

This episode launches a series of informational interviews with a variety of people working in a variety of jobs and taking a variety of career paths to get there.

In this episode, Devon and Sarah-Jane interview Melanie Maloney, a Functional Business Analyst at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario. 

Some topics we covered:
How do you go from never having heard of a thing to working in it?
What do you do with a credential in environmental science?
Why choose college instead of university?

For more info, check out the International Institute of Business Analysts: https://www.iiba.org/.

Transcript

Welcome to The One About Careers with Devon and Sarah Jane. A career podcast for
adults involved with teens navigating life after high school. We help you help your
teens make informed education and career decisions by providing quality information and
resources. Join us for weekly bright -sized conversations covering various aspects of
careers, including insights from professionals and different fields. - New episodes
available every week at theoneaboutcareers .com.

- Well, welcome back to The One About Careers. It's Sarah-Jane, and Devon.
And today we have a surprise for you. Devon, can you introduce us to our surprise?
- You make it sound like I'm gonna pull out cake. It's gonna be just a pointy one.
People say that. - Well, you never know, you know, if if if any of the robot
overlords figure out how to serve cake through a podcast I'm in. Okay, so we have
a guest today. So we are kicking off what we hope is a rather lengthy series on
talking to people about their careers. So we want to give you an idea of what it
looks like to kind of do a bit of an informational interview, but also to give you
an idea of what careers actually look like. So today with us, we have Melanie
Maloney, who is a functional business analyst with Durham College, which is in
Oshawa, Whitby, Durham region in Ontario.
And Melanie actually worked together in recruitment and admissions back in the day.
So welcome Melanie. - Thank you for having me, I'm excited to be here. - Thanks for
talking. We're so excited that you're here. And of course, I'm going to start start
with the most obvious question What the heck is a functional business?
Analyst and I ask it because you know lots of high school students and and like
lots of us do different career assessments throughout our years and They they produce
like job lists, you know, I'd be a great funeral director by the way and And they
never update the job lists. So I've always like, how are people ever going to know
about actual jobs unless they start engaging? So I'm intrigued.
Tell me what the heck it is that you do. Yeah. So I do a whole bunch of
different things, but I had the same question when I started this job, I'll be
totally honest with you. I was actually approached with the job and passed the job
description and was like, what even is this? This doesn't even make sense. So
there's actually an entire Institute of Business Analysts, which I learned. So
business analysts and project managers typically work very, very closely together. So
if you have an idea about what an IT project manager does, or any project manager,
really. A BA typically works very closely with a project and also sometimes a
product manager as well. So it's over in the realm,
typically, of IT. And basically, our job is to go in and look at a business or a
business function or a business process, analyze it. So ask questions,
re -documentation, look into what it is that they're doing and then how we can
approve it. So my job specifically, so the functional side of my job means that I
only deal with the functional side of IT system. So I don't actually do SQL or
code. I only work with the end users of a system. So you'll have business analysts
who work on the IT side, who typically also know code and SQL,
or they're a DBA or a developer, I am not any of those things. I'm an end user
business analyst. So I'll actually talk to the users of the system, figure out what
is they need from a new system or a changing system, and then relay that
information to IT, so to the developers.
Crazy idea. What a crazy idea. Yeah, so I obviously know a bit of your work
history because we worked together for a number of years But how did you and I'm
curious even from where I left you where you got? But how did you get to where
you are now like when you look at like high school to where you are now? What are
some of those steps look like? Yeah, so I was a student at Durham College So
that's how I ended up at Durham and I was one of those very involved students. So
I was on, you know, the Student Association. I worked very closely with my program
coordinator for different things. I just I liked my program. I was motivated by the
content and that caused me to get involved at the college. So after I graduated,
I was like, job, job, job, I don't care where I don't care what. So I actually
moved to Ottawa and worked for an environmental consulting firm. So I went to school
for environmental science. So I worked in environmental consulting for about two and
a half years. Travelled all around the province, loved it, loved the travel. Didn't
always love the work schedule, I went along with the travel. But because I was so
involved when I was a student, I actually got a tap on the shoulder from someone
at the college Because they had a position open in student recruitment and they were
specifically wanted someone with a science background because that's where the gap was
So as an admissions and recruitment officer for the school of science, so I kind of
got a tap Saying hey any interesting coming back? So I took a pretty big leap of
faith like I left full -time permanent position full benefits everything for a one
-year contract. So I came back to the college for a year, was in student recruitment
admissions for about five years, loved it. But then life changed and I got married
and I started a family so I didn't want to be traveling out of the province. So I
started going to some college networking events to figure out what other jobs they
were at the college. So I went to student advising because at one point, because
when you're a recruitment officer, you go to high schools. So naturally, I was
dealing a lot with Dines counselors and I thought, wow, what a great job. I wanna
be a Dines counselor. So I thought the best way to dip my toes into that water
was to become a student advisor 'cause you're basically a Dines counselor for college
students, hated it. Not the job for me way too heavy.
Yeah, just that was not a good fit. So I didn't last there too too long,
I'll be honest, I wasn't even there for two years.
And then a job came up back in the school of science based in their office,
like an operations manager. So helping to look after staffing for the science labs,
scheduling for the labs. I did a lot of front office support work as well,
a lot of work with the faculty, making sure that they had the right space and
equipment to deliver their curriculum. And I absolutely loved it, loved that job.
Went on a leave and ended up when I came back from my first or second maternity
leave. I just wanted to change. There was also some changes in the college structure
as well which
got a new boss while I was away and just you know just some structural changes. So
I came back from my leave and I thought if I'm going to make a change now's the
time to do it because I wanted to be able to better support my family. So again
me being me I started going to those college networking events sending out emails to
different contexts than you at the college and was basically actually interviewed for
a different position. And the hiring manager for that position was like, but you
have this experience like, why are you interviewing for this position? Because this
would be such a better fit for you, which was the role of the functional business
analyst. Cool. Cool. Back, well, back in the, I say back in the RO because it's
back where I kind of started different from area for the last two years. - And so
what do you like about the work that you're doing or the field you're in or the
industry because you are working within a college environment? - Yeah, I mean,
post -secondary. I mean, I think everyone who works with post -secondary is a lifelong
learner in some regard.
So, I've just realized, I've mentioned I went to Durham College for a diploma is
when I got hired on full time I actually ended up doing my degree part time, which
the college paid for a good part of that. And I've also done you know my PMP
certificate, you know, so you'll have to spell that out because we're dealing with
people who are in our world right so they don't know all the little acronym. So
yeah, so PMP is project management professional. Thank you. I did my OSSE,
which is the Ontario College or Ontario Association of Technicians and Technologists.
I basically never stopped learning, right? So that's part of it.
I mean, it's great when you get to see students succeed. The one, I mean, I say
student advising wasn't for me, but the most rewarding part about that was when you
actually did get to see your students across the stage. But I mean,
but I mean, it's always changing, especially the world of IT systems are constantly
changing. There's always upgrades to existing systems, which we have to test and
analyze. And then there's, you know, new systems coming in or having to migrate to
a newer version of software. I just, I love presenting. I like standing up in front
of people. I clearly like talking. Hence why I offered to be on this podcast.
And I mean, it's great to like, I find in the role I'm in now, like I'm
constantly, constantly teaching people how to use systems, right? And I learned pretty
quickly when I go into this role that you're only as good as those around you. So
that part I like is, you know, even just working with my own coworkers or people
who are, you know, a couple steps behind me in their career, but are seeing the
things I'm doing and saying, like, how did you get there? You know, and there was
a time in my life where I would, you know, it's all about me. It's all about me.
But I very quickly realized that promoting those people and helping those people is
how you ultimately become the best version of yourself and the best employee as
well.
Cool. Cool. Awesome.
What's something maybe you're not a big fan of or something you would change if you
could in your work? It can be boring. It's a lot of writing. It's a lot of
documentation.
You know the fun parts are when you get to see something be successful, but the
boring parts are okay I got it to be successful now I need to document exactly how
it is that I got it to be successful.
What career did you want or think you wanted when you were 15 years old?
Yeah, I think around 15 is when I, I mean, 15, 16, I, getting close to high
school senior, I'd started being interested in the environment and in science, right?
So, I mean, you get this like list of courses in high school that you can pick
from and I was in the biochem physics stream, right? There was no business courses.
There was no extra math or arts or cosmetology or foods.
You know, it was my end goal was environmental science, biology,
chemistry, physics. So I would say that was the route I was going down. My mom
also worked in healthcare, so science was probably the most natural progression.
That's my older sister also was, you know, University for Bachelor of Science. So I
think that kind of is where that interest came from. So I think around then is
when I got really interested in environmental science specifically and around,
I don't know, a long time ago, this is 20 years ago, environmental science was just
kind of the new thing to on the block, right?
So we had environmental committees at school, and it was a lot more at that point
about advocacy. So you started to see more youth advocacy groups, not like they are
today, but you started having kind of that movement. And then I always, I think,
I just, I don't know, I always leaned more towards the PR side. I So like, I say
science, but in order to get into PR or communications or anything like that, like
you also have to understand what you're talking about. So to become like an
environmental advocate or strong about your causes, it was, well, I also need to
understand what it is that I'm talking about. Knowing what you know now, what advice
would you give your teenage self about careers? Um, I mean, my advice is don't ever
close any doors, because you never know where you're going to go. And saying that
has actually gotten me into trouble before I'll be honest. I once said that to one
of my cousins, because I was, I went to school for environmental science and I came
when I came back to Durham, and we were at Christmas one year and I said, well,
who even works in what they went to school for anyways?
And he was like, Well, I want to I'm I want to design video games.
That's why I'm in game development. And I was like, oh Oh, I'm so sorry.
So that has caught me in trouble saying that before so I mean It's not always the
case Where you don't work in your field, but a lot of people around me didn't so
that's kind of I guess where my perspective came from And I remember, You know, and
I guess like follow your gut too. I When I was thinking about this interview a
memory came up to me because in grade 12 I actually dropped all my U level courses
so my university level courses, which is what we have in Ontario So it's you know,
you choose are you on the college path or are you on the university path? So I
always stuck on the university path because I didn't know really what I wanted to
do But by the time I got to grade 12, I decided that university was off the table
for me. I had at that point done a ton of research into pathways. So doing college
then university after, and I knew that that was the route I wanted to go. I also
had kind of a feeling as well that if I worked really hard, my employer would pay
for university, so why would I pay for it myself? So my track was go to college,
get a job, find an employer to pay for school after that.
So that was, you know, the road I went down and I remember that I think it was
like the second or third week of September after I had dropped all my university
courses 'cause I was like, why would I take calculus when I'm clearly going to
college? Like I didn't even fill out a university application. And a teacher stopped
me and one of my friends in the hallway And he was like, why aren't you guys in
my class? And we were like, oh, well, we're not pursuing university at this time.
Like, I forget what we said. And we were like, whatever, leave us alone. And the
teacher stopped us in the hall and asked why we weren't in his class. And I
remember he was like, well, you'll never amount to anything without university, is
what he said to me. And I remember being like, how inappropriate for a teacher to
say that to students of one. Yeah, big. And yeah, and so the friend I was with,
he now owns a very successful roofing business in Brantford, which is where we grew
up. I mean, and I work as a business analyst at Ontario College.
So I'd say we're doing OK.
Yes.
So, I mean, it's just wild to me, you know, I just, I'll always remember that
like, oh, you'll never amount to anything. And I remember like, I did a three year
college program, right? So I finished school when I was like 20 years old. I moved
out on my own. I got my first job. I was making an income and all of my friends
from high school were still in school. And I remember thinking like, how proud of
myself am I right now like all you guys are still in school rocking up debt and
here I am 20 years old supporting myself you know paying my own rent by my own
groceries you know living on my own in a new city and and that was a huge
accomplishment for me so um yeah don't close any doors and and follow your guide
university isn't the only pathway uh and you don't have to go into debt it's good.
Well thanks so much Melanie for being willing to share your story and being on the
one about careers. You've certainly enlightened us and shown us you know there are
different ways to get somewhere. We don't always know what the path is going to
look like and utilize networking as well. That was one of the things that I thought
you were like every time you got a little inclement maybe it's time to move.
You just started exploring. Finding out what was the next off and what options might
even be there so that you could consider. So I really appreciate that. Thank you so
much.

Thanks for listening to the One About Careers podcast. You can catch up with past
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