Conservative, 1980s, Dying SW Company...If You Like That Sort of Thing - Senior Software Engineer BlackBerry Employee Review

1.0
Jun 26, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You may get the opportunity to work in the Cylance division BlackBerry acquired and gain valuable experiences to industry (you basically have to be hired into the Cylance dept because it will take months for a non-Cylance BlackBerry employee to get transferred into the department).

Cons

The BlackBerry execs are not with SW reality and its reflective in the Cylance worker attrition happening. I came to BlackBerry via Cylance purchase and I would not have taken a job at the BlackBerry proper. So my "career opportunities" and "compensation" ratings comes with caveats because I was in the Cylance dept where I felt I had lots of great opportunities valuable to industry. BlackBerry is the opposite of Cylance. Cylance was a very aggressive, modern, forward thinking SW company that offered great salaries and bonuses to attract top talent because Cylance was shooting for the moon. BlackBerry is the opposite, they are one of the few security SW companies not hiring or growing or making money in the COVID-19 WFH paradigm. In fact the BlackBerry execs there are even against a WFH or remote-work policy. Seriously. Some people do it, get away with it, but if the BlackBerry execs really had their way, they'd ban it. During the COVID-19 lockdown crisis it was Cylance leadership that took the initial lead to start sending people home, not BlackBerry execs whose company owned Cylance- BlackBerry execs waited until the last moment to where they were forced to lock things up by the governments. With security companies trying to cash in on the WFH paradigm with various WFH security solutions, do you really think BlackBerry is going to be successful selling a WFH SW solution to potential customers when the BlackBerry execs deep down don't believe in it and are not at all experienced in managing a WFH or remote-worker workforce? BlackBerry's reliance on QNX sales is another worry- one reason the company is hurting is because of lack of car sales in the current state of the economy. Automotive grade Linux is the fastest growing (and free) autonomous OS, and if the company's past on how it handled the iPhone/Android threat is any judge, there is more hurt to come for the company. If you search finance.yahoo.com you will find rumors of a company takeover (in addition to seeing a low-stock price). Where there is smoke there's fire, but a company takeover may be the best thing that happens to the company. If it happens it should happen soon because BlackBerry is slowly killing its biggest asset, the Cylance division. BB is not even with society taboos and movements. For example, the company observes Columbus day and has it a paid holiday but does not have MLK as an official paid company holiday. What would these latest protests think about that? The two touchiest subjects this year are COVID and BLACK-LIVES-MATTER and BlackBerry fails miserably at both. Note, HR exit could be messy. They overpaid me a paltry amount (enough for like 1/2 month rent in a 1 bedroom apartment not located in California) on my last paycheck and threatened legal action if I don't pay it back. How about owning up to mistakes like I'm expected to do every day? Also note on HR exit: PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO THIS ONE- YOUR TERMINATION/EXIT DATE IS THE DAY YOU LOSE HEALTHCARE COVERAGE. I've worked for 3 respectable companies before this one, all gave me 30 days health coverage after my termination date, plenty of time to work out health care coverage going into the next job. Not BlackBerry.

Explore other reviews about BlackBerry

5.0
May 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good work life balance and benefits

Cons

nothing as of now here

See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All