BlackBerry Employee Reviews about "work environment"

Pros

Great salary, especially for Kitchener-Waterloo and good work-life balance (of course, this really depends on the team you are on). With BlackBerry 10 (QNX) the core technology and development tools have improved immensely. Good opportunities to grow, and small pockets of the company are still doing interesting work.

Cons

Lots of bloat and politics. Different groups can be very territorial, and difficult if not impossible to work with (see QNX). Company morale was very low when I left, with employees openly talking about wanting to being laid off so that they can get their severance packages in front of management. Why? Layoffs seem to be happening stealthily every week and you have to wonder if you're next. Many like myself have left voluntarily: this is a toxic environment to work in.

Pros

Interesting technology, decent compensation and a great work environment. The BlackBerry is a neat tool that is given to every employee to use as a personal device. As a developer, you'll also be using them in your work regardless of what layer you're working on. The compensation isn't amazing but it is decent for being a Canadian company, and job security is pretty stable. The work environment can be busy at times but overall it is pretty enjoyable and can also be relaxing.

Cons

Lack of long-term career development as well as ineffective communication between management and employees. While raises aren't uncommon, promotions seem to be.

Pros

Great people with great attitudes Good benefits like the PSA Great pay Great and safe work environment Corporate perks If you are a self starter and don't mind learning everything the hard way this is where you want to be as the wealth of material you could learn is boundless. improving methodologies

Cons

Management structure (improving) and decision making rigid time-off policies poor training, or non-flexible in regards to the type of training you can receive and how they will assist you (course re-reimbursement, pay, time off etc). Poor/indirect communication to employees ( has improved over the past year) lack of direction Long period of instability, which became very distracting

Pros

work environment and type of work

Cons

embedded os can be complicated

Pros

Nice environment to work and grow

Cons

There are not any major cons

Pros

For a student that hadn't worked in a professional environment before it was a great introduction to the dynamics of office life/work. They also covered my travel expenses to Ontario as I didn't live there so that was pretty great, I don't know if they still do that. Waterloo specifically is a great student city so there was a lot of affordable housing near the offices. They also had a mentorship program within the team so that was really helpful. For a co-op job it also paid pretty well.

Cons

I was there for restructuring and found that didn't make for the greatest work environment because it was so unpredictable. You'd think it was over with and then they'd happen again. As a co-op you are safe but it still isn't the greatest to see people have to leave that you only start to get to know leaving.

Pros

Good benefits, good work/life balance. Friendly and comfortable work environment. Courteous and respectful management. Internal movement to other positions is not too hard.

Cons

upper management not very competent. Salaries aren't very competitive. There isn't much time for employees to think about new ideas because work load is usually quite high.

Pros

The best thing about working for BlackBerry was the compensation and benefits. The company provides room for personal growth. You had the ability to work from home and most of the time there was always a friendly and collaborative environment.

Cons

Ultimately there was a lot of fear because of recent layoffs. It was hard to communicate and bring about new ideas; they liked to stay conservative.

Pros

Good work environment and core tech principles are followed

Cons

Bland company to work at as an intern

Pros

Good place to work. Smart people, hard working environment. Meritocracy. Waterloo is improving all the time culturally and good place to raise family with reasonable cost of living.

Cons

Challenging ; stressful work environment at the time (2010) since company was on a downward competitiveness trajectory.