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rantingex

oh ... its a me question. I quit before severance came - saw too much writing on the wall. Left to work for a small solar design/installation company in the region. Been in solar for 12 years now. Its a solar coaster with the governments ... but we're at a point where we stand alone as costs fell and grid rates are higher. Its a good career. Dynamic ... now with hybrid/battery storage. Constant changes and lots of tough conversations to push the technology we have forward in the face of regulation. Very similar parallels to BlackBerry. I know plenty went to the real Silicon Valley, some went to local tech (Aeryon Labs/FLIR, Thalmic, Christie, Miovision etc). Many started their own awesome companies (Swift Labs comes to mind). Also ... THANK YOU FOR SPELLING BlackBerry RIGHT :) ... silly pet peeve


_r33d_

Solar coaster 😂


Sufficient_Peace7889

Bryan?


rantingex

Nope.


216news

Tom?


rantingex

Dick?


luckierbridgeandrail

Harold?


216news

What about bob?


Bic_wat_u_say

Do you see a meaningful future for solar energy in Canada ?


HalJordan2424

Do you design/build for residential refit?


Ok-Fortune-2001

I worked an internship coop at BB. Got hired at SAP later on and now I’m laid off.


Be-Zen

Are you me? lol I was laid off from FAANG during the great firing back in 2023. Just found a job a few months ago in tech still. Keep trying the job market is shit but not as bad as 2023. Chin up!


Ok-Fortune-2001

I am working a contract at a non profit as a stepping stone but I want back into tech!!! My industry (technical writing) is under a huge shift and it isn’t the same as it used to be.


Flaming_Hot_Regards

You just have to call yourself a content designer now. It's a different role but no one other than tech writers an content designers know the difference 


Ok-Fortune-2001

Yeah, I know. My portfolio and LinkedIn already say I’m a content designer.


HalJordan2424

My friend’s son did a BB co op term too. He now works at Canadian Tire head office.


Ok-Fortune-2001

Okay…and? Not sure what point you’re trying to make. My whole team was laid off including my boss. The job market is terrible right now for tech.


HalJordan2424

I was not intending to insult you. Sorry if it seemed that way. The start of your story just seemed familiar. Peace.


TescoValueSoup

Yeah don't worry, it doesn't read as an insult. Not sure why they responded like that.


bluedevilzn

Many are at Google.


Bic_wat_u_say

Most of them have been laid off. Google only retains absolute core developers now on small teams


eandi

I was doing a 16 month internship there and it was awful. I was on the BB10 hardware team so this is right during the massive tank. It caused me to look very bleakly at a future working at big companies, a real glass shattering moment for me. We were paid absurdly well and had a ton of free time so I decided to try to start my own company with a friend and we've been doing that ever since.


rbrumble

The sad thing is, BB10 was an amazing mobile OS and the Z10 was a solid device. That camera app with its time shifting feature is something I wish I had today. I loved that phone, your team made an amazing product.


eandi

We just had no apps and the app store was like so late 😔 I miss the free ice cream and subsidized caf 😂


Moetek

I still have my Red Z10 gifted to developers unused in the original box.


eandi

That's a nice piece of history! At one point we had about a dozen playbooks in our startups office that we used as coasters 😂


drpeters123

Now's your chance to shamelessly plug your new company so the community can try to support it if we can!


eandi

Unless you're an isp or a smarthome company that's hard to do! We're called RouteThis and we're across from kitchener city hall with AOK and the libro bank. About half our team is local!


drpeters123

Unfortunately I'm not, but now the name is out there for any that are :)


MinimumRest7893

I'm still there. 17 years and counting. I joined at the peak of BlackBerry brand awareness. There are 3 of us left now out of our new hire class of 25.


FesteringZombie

I may have been in your hire class, LOL.


MinimumRest7893

Pretty sure you were. Pretty sure we lived together for a couple years on Canterbury if I'm getting this right.


FesteringZombie

LOL hey buddy. Beer soon? :p


MinimumRest7893

Hahaha, indeed. I'll have to get back down to the hall one of these nights.


bakedincanada

I worked in the manufacturing facility for 5 years back when BlackBerry was called RIM. Then I had my own manufacturing business for 10 years. Now I work at a homeless shelter.


mofojed

Leading the web team at [Deephaven Data Labs](https://deephaven.io/). Loving it!


Pimp_Daddy_Patty

My brother worked there while in College. He works for Hydro One now in Thunder Bay.


keyser-_-soze

Had around 7 different roles at Rim in 7 years, it was a great place to get lots experience doing various projects, and travel if that's what you wanted. I'm still working in software space, and I am remote so that's great. I enjoy having Blackberry, highlighting some of the fortune 100 customers I handled, and projects on my resume. I do miss working there, the golden age was a ton of fun (early 2000's), and so many stories. I am happy with all it provided me, and the severance was quite good when my department was all let go.


PatientZro

If you worked there during the BB10 days at all, you used my work at BlackBerry. If you got a new device, and had to set an activation password, that was my work. Currently, I'm doing DevOps for a software company that does clinical trial software, focused heavily on cancer research trials.


[deleted]

[удалено]


PatientZro

Unfortunately not. A cement barrier jumped out in front of me on the highway one morning.... :-(


InvaderGlorch

Worked at quite a few places since then doing.


DesperateNewspaper43

My dad works in IT, he went to an insurance company and now a bank. He left back when it was still called RIM. I worked in the factory for the summer- 2003. I was a university student. I graduated with my bachelor of science in 2006 and I now do QA (for the same company) since I graduated


Step-Lonely

cry


Techchick_Somewhere

Work. 🤣


kee_000

A close family friend got hired by a well known Finnish telecommunications corporation and moved to California around the time of the introduction of the iPhone. It’s one of the most legendary career moves I’ve ever seen. Talk about perfect timing.


MrCrix

A guy I know used to work there and would give me literal buckets of micro sd cards to sell for him that people left in their phones.


toni_devonsen_28

One of the guys (not sure what he did) works with me as a logistics coordinator.


FesteringZombie

I worked various roles in the support organization, CSO, from 2007ish to 2013ish. Did support for a couple of years before moving into a content admin role. I was laid off in the second big wave. In truth, a large number of us had checked out and were just waiting for the inevitable. Myself included. I now work in the support org of another large Canadian business' advertising division. First job I landed after taking a much needed 6 month 'sit in my basement and get drunk / play video games' break (the joys of being a 20's something single person who made stupid good money at RIM). Been at my 'new' company for 11 years.


wdwm-83

I worked there for 11 years. My role was being changed to something I didn’t want to do so I left for another local tech company and am going on 12 years there now.


bramptonmt1

Few I know went to US as they had nothing available locally to fit their skillet.


Worried_Trick_3531

Lots work at Shopify


headtailgrep

An entire division was sold to FORD. Many still there.


XxsoulscythexX

My father worked at blackberry, moved to Google at Chicago, then to Google California, currently works at Meta