FREDERICTON – RIM’s subsidiary Chalk Media Corp. is doubling its workforce in Fredericton making the firm more competitive, company representatives said at an announcement Monday.
With the help of an $800,000 payroll rebate from the provincial government, over the next two years Chalk Media will hire up to 50 programmers, quality assurance workers, analysts and project managers.
“The goal is to make sure that the product is something that is highly stable and a high-quality offering, which is why we need more software developers to bring it to a new level,” said Dave Jaworsky, Research In Motion Ltd.’s (TSX:RIM) senior director of corporate relations. The spokesman for the BlackBerry maker flew in from Waterloo, Ont. for the announcement.
The new jobs will bring the Fredericton office to more than 100 employees, which will shorten the development cycles, said Susan Holt, a locally-based global programs advisor for RIM.
“The product is already in the market now, but the enhancements that we’re making to it can happen more quickly,” she said.
Holt wouldn’t say what the planned upgrades will be to the Blackberry service that allows secure access to complex content.
RIM revolutionized communication in 2002 when they put email capabilities into a cellphone. Then in 2006 Chalk Media built off of the Blackberry innovation by adding the ability to deliver multimedia-rich content such as training programs or full-length TV shows. RIM bought Chalk Media last February.
RIM employs about 10,000 people in offices across North America and in Europe, but when it came time to expand Chalk Media, the Waterloo, Ont.-based company wanted to keep the jobs in Fredericton.
“We’re the kind of company that tends to grow other aspects of our company in place,” Jaworsky said. “Other companies take on a new technology and move it back to head office, but we’re not that kind of company.”
This combined with the “partnership” with the provincial government made it “a natural evolution to continue to grow here,” he said.
The $16,000 per worker will be given as the company completes the hires, and will be used to recoup recruitment, training, equipment and office space expense to expanding.
Jaworsky said the money is more of a gesture.
“The key thing is that it really demonstrates the partnership. It shows that the government cares about growing this industry,” he said. “Much like an engagement ring is for a marriage: it’s not required, but this really is a key demonstrator.”
Without the government funding Jaworsky said the Fredericton operations would have expanded, but more gradually instead of a committed 50 jobs in two years. Recruitment for the positions began late last year and about 10 people have been hired.
“When Jim Balsillie (co-CEO of RIM) and I talked about this acquisition,” Premier Shawn Graham said, “he said this was just the start of a long partnership, which we would see substantial growth over a long period of time. And we’re witnessing that growth.”
With the jobs expected to be in the $60,000 to $75,000 a year range, New Brunswick computer science graduates will have a great incentive to stay in the province, said Graham.
RIM has relationships with universities in many of the cities it has offices in and the premier said the University of New Brunswick will benefit from the expanded Chalk Media office.
“There’s going to be unique opportunities that will show themselves in the future,” said Graham, declining to comment further.
