The right program (curriculum of study) to qualify to work for Blackberry.....

Ok guys i'm planning on starting college this fall and I live in Canada, Winnipeg Manitoba to be exact. And i'm looking forward to working for Blackberry after i'm done my post secondary studies. And i'm wondering now what would be the right program for my goal i'm guessing its business and technology related. Keep in mind that I live in Canada and not the states because I believe Canada and USA use different education systems and if u provide me info from the states it may not be useful to me. But I'd love to see your responses even if from the states as i'm also doing research from my end. So i'm looking for genuine responses please. Thanks for your help and concern guys! :)

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

There's no one field of study that would qualify you to work at RIM. Like most large organizations, RIM employs different people with different skills throughout their company. Of course you have techies (hardware/software/support) but also finance, sales, marketing, hr, administration/management.... you get the idea.

So it depends where your interests are. Also, you never know what might happen in 3-4 years. RIM may not be that great an option, so you might decide to go work for Apple instead. :P

Originally Posted by luqman24

Ok guys i'm planning on starting college this fall and I live in Canada, Winnipeg Manitoba to be exact. And i'm looking forward to working for Blackberry after i'm done my post secondary studies. And i'm wondering now what would be the right program for my goal i'm guessing its business and technology related. Keep in mind that I live in Canada and not the states because I believe Canada and USA use different education systems and if u provide me info from the states it may not be useful to me. But I'd love to see your responses even if from the states as i'm also doing research from my end. So i'm looking for genuine responses please. Thanks for your help and concern guys! :)

I do not believe that there is a company named "BlackBerry". At least not one that deals with cellular devices.

If you are wanting to work for RIM (Research In Motion), the company that produces BlackBerry devices, then you first need to elaborate on what exactly you are interesting in working on with that company or a similar company. Perhaps you should research the company first so that you understand 1) their correct company name and 2) what the company does, and 3) what their corporate philosophy is. Your philosophy may be incompatible with this particular company. There may be other corporations that are a better fit for you.

As to the question of what you should study, it's impossible to give advice with such a general statement.

Are you interested in R&D, programming, finance, marketing, manufacturing, testing, software development, sales ??

You need to be more specific.

Originally Posted by Motorcycle Mama

I do not believe that there is a company named "BlackBerry". At least not one that deals with cellular devices.

If you are wanting to work for RIM (Research In Motion), the company that produces BlackBerry devices, then you first need to elaborate on what exactly you are interesting in working on with that company or a similar company. Perhaps you should research the company first so that you understand 1) their correct company name and 2) what the company does, and 3) what their corporate philosophy is. Your philosophy may be incompatible with this particular company. There may be other corporations that are a better fit for you.

As to the question of what you should study, it's impossible to give advice with such a general statement.

Are you interested in R&D, programming, finance, marketing, manufacturing, testing, software development, sales ??

You need to be more specific.

Haha ya that's what I meant. And i'm kind of informed about what they are and what they do. I'm also a tech guy i'm really into technology and the latest gadgets and what it has to offer. I've been into technology since I was a kid but idk how I started liking it lol. But since I've been dreaming of working for a company that produces phones, TVs, Computer, now is the perfect time to pursue that dream. So technology would be my specialty and the perfect fit for me. But i'm starting Business Administration this fall so I believe that would fall into the finance category. I also love money so I thought that this would be an interesting program to check out. I was also thinking of exploring the Development category but i'm not sure exactly what they do. i'm thing developing the products idk if i'm right but feel free to correct me if i'm wrong :)

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Some of this may come across harsh and cold but it is given with your benefit in mind. Please take it in the spirit it is offered.

First thing you need to do is find out what you want to do (as in a job) with your working career and not worry about the who you are working for. Having a job with a great company only goes so far when you hate your day to day job because you are in the wrong field. Finding a job that you will love to do and want to do each and every day is the key to a happy and successful career. A lot can happen in the 3 or 4 years you will be in school. (Imagine wanting to work for Palm when they were at the peak only to graduate 3 years later and find a shell of the company that they were) Not to mention what they were be 10 years down the road.

So the question really is: what do you want to do? Do you want to do the management thing (Human Resources side of Business Administration), the finance thing (Accounting side of Business Administration), or the tech thing? What are YOUR skill sets? What are you good at and comfortable with?

Let me break down some of the tech side for you as my career is in this field.

When you talk about tech in a company like that there are many aspects. In general you are looking at software design, firmware design, electronics engineering, testing (this often straddles hardware/firmware/software) and there are a lot of sub categories of each.

Firmware in case anyone doesn't know is the canned program that runs in the device. RIM's OS is firmware and so is all of the code that runs under it like radio code, the JVM and I would guess a HAL (Hardware Extraction Layer). This is a pretty low level field and one of my favorites.

Software is fun too, that's my current job.

If you want into the tech side then start looking to either electrical engineering or lean towards the software world. With hardware you will be exposed to firmware as well as the electrical side which is a bonus.

Don't take computer engineering, that is almost useless IMO. Others will disagree to a point but that's their opinion.

Lots of options, so give something a try and see if you like it.

Go to their career page and look at the available jobs. If you can't figure out how to find that page and use it then most likely a tech company is not for you.

Originally Posted by Steve Rizla

Go to their career page and look at the available jobs. If you can't figure out how to find that page and use it then most likely a tech company is not for you.

Brilliant advice.

Although the main flaw is that current job postings have no relevance to the future or career paths as they change all the time.

Just pick a camp and go for it. If programming appeals to you, go for it. Electronics engineering, same. Finance? Why not. At the end of the day none of it will necessarily get you a job at RIM but at least you will have a skill set which will apply to most other tech companies.

Thanks so much for the help and advice guys. I forgot that there were different departments associated with these large manufacturing companies hehe. And ya i'll definitely look towards other companies like Apple, HTC, Motorolla, and ect for employment...now its my turn to do the in depth research to understand more of what these departments are about and looking for in order to find which category I will like and fits me best. Thanks again for all these great advices once again and feel free to drop more ideas and thoughts as I will take a look at them. I really appreciate the help and concern :D

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Here's a tip: don't limit yourself to just big name companies. There is a lot of opportunity in the little guys.

Case in point, I work for what used to be a small company and I stayed on as they grew and grew until they're a big player. Having been around you get all kinds of perks and whatnot.

On the experience side it's invaluable. Smaller companies not only give you more freedom but a lot more opportunity to work on many things at once. I've worn many hats and have experience in diverse fields whereas some people I know started with big companies and do their work in one specific place as they are told to.

The trick when entering the job market with a new skill set is to leave yourself open to the right job. And by that i mean the one that gets you what you want in the long run. Don't choose a name just because it has weight in the market, it doesn't always mean you are getting the most out of your skills or abilities.