Hi guys, I am Senior Backend Engineer with 5years of experience. I am still in the late 20's coming from an asian country planning to relocate on my own. I don't have any idea about working in Berlin, Germany and I am eyeing a role with a top German tech company I don't have any concrete idea about the following: - Typical company culture and environment - Typical salary for Senior backend engineer with 5 yrs exp - I'm thinking that they might give lower salary to applicants coming from other countries. Is this credible? https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/germany-senior-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,7_IN96_KO8,32.htm - Government policies for immigrants - Visa - Tax - Benefits - Rent/Housing - Transport - Cost of living - Others that you can think of I would appreciate if any of you guys can share your insights and good/bad experiences! Cheers!
I travel to Berlin fairly often, I can answer some of your questions: Government policies for immigrants: Allot friendly than US Benefits: - German Employment Unions are very good in terms of protecting employees and getting them good benefits - you get 2 months vacation - Good retirement plans Transport: 🚇 🚊 are awesome, u don’t need to buy a car. - Not sure is what company it is, but 80k seems good - Berlin is a hub for startups in Europe, definitely a great place to be - Everyone in office speak English and even locals are ok.. u can get away with English. But other parts of Germany will need German
How come you can get 2 months of vacation?
Thanks for the insights @sio! Is 80k high | mid | low for Sr. Backend Engr - 5yrs exp? I've seen that the average is around 55-65k euro a yr?
80k a year sounds high. Great if you can get it 😊
Feel free to DM me and I can help you with all of your questions
Great!
Could I DM u also? I'm in the situation and need help after getting an offer from Amazon
80k for that yoe and Berlin is high.
Berlin is very awesome. Compensation is much lower compared to the US. £80k would be the highest you would most likely get. English is spoken in most companies. However, developers and non-customer facing roles don’t really need German but learning German would be a BIG plus. Transportation is awesome! Berlin is very multicultural and there are lots of startups in Berlin. The glassdoor link is pretty accurate. Tax is about 40%+
What about cost of living after tax and finding an apartment? Tax is kinda high
Decent studio apartment is around £600-£800 per month. 1 bedroom: £900-£1400 per month. Shared apartments are like £350-£500 Housinganywhere.com is a good place to look. Food is not too bad. Groceries for one person is about £100 - £150/month Monthly transportation is £81/month (includes buses, trains, trams)
Berlin is a pretty cool place many diverse people there. Rent used to be cheap but recently has become more expensive and it’s actually quite difficult to find an apartment. 80k in Germany is probably gonna be hard even for Germans.. won’t compare to US TC
I am going to give it to you straight chief. People like to say Berlin is diverse & multicultural, IT IS NOT! It’s just different kinds of white people. It is 10years behind in terms of race relations & there has been a lot of anti immigration going on. Finding an apartment in Berlin is harder than leetcode hard & I’m not even joking. Transportation is awesome! Berlin is also beautiful Apartment prices are also going up. Food is cheap. It also very racist. I lived there for almost 2yrs. ✌🏽
I lived in Berlin 20 years. Can’t say I agree with you that it’s racist. But sorry had some bad experiences apparently. I know especially the eastern parts have some red necks
Are you white? Ehrlich
Surprised to see this side of the story. Care to share an overview of your bad experiences?
Culture and environment varies with the company. Most big ones and startups are full of international people and tend to be ok. 5 YoE will be something like 65-75. There is a cap for the blue card but companies offer slightly more than that for IT. 80 is a great salary for 5 YoE but I see people offering more than what I just mentioned. For senior you might stretch a bit but that would be 7+ or if you are really good why not. 10k does not change any life so worst case scenario you can come and eventually if you don’t get a raise you can easily find another job. That is what I did. Depending on your visa it will take longer or not to be able to switch easily, most of the people with a bachelors at least come with the blue card. Government policy for expat is great. As they heavily invest on getting people from abroad. Your experience will vary depending on the city but Berlin is pretty good. There are multiple tax calculators to help you with that. Benefits also vary heavily from company to company. Good thing is that by law you have 20+ days of vacations and there are companies offering like 30. Rent is ridiculous, do not underestimate how hard it is to find a good place to live. I knew it was insane and still impressed me when I moved here. Transport in any big city is great on public transportation. Yeah salaries are not like in the US for Blind but with that range you can have a good life. Not invest or save like crazy of course. Living here is awesome. Learning German helps a lot but on the big cities you will survive with English. Hope that helps, good luck!
Any recommendations on where to find an apartment if it's super hard to find one in Berlin?
For 65-75k, can you give an estimate net income? I saw that 42% tax is applicable also for expats? Not sure about the taxable income. If tax is high and net is low it's kinda hard to move.
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If u relocate to Germany, I think u will have to learn German
Is it a "need"?
Generally, German's speak good English, but not knowing German may still hold you back socially.