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Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
11–20 of 80 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#12Does Berlin give you permanent residency ?
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#13German here, living abroad. - 5k/month -> 60k/year sounds reasonable in general. You might be able to get more, but honestly I don't think that's a bad salary for programming position. Tax sounds about right. - 24 days of leave seems on the low side of things. I'd expect 28-30 OR more pay. I had 30 in Germany. - 1500 for the relocation seems low as well. What are you supposed to pay for with that? Flight is covered b…
- Permanent residency in Germany after 3 years (what I have heard, if I learn German or 5 if not)
- The tech scene, lots of meetups and exposure
- Lots of big companies and startups
to name a few.
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#14The total tax burden for well-earned singles is rather roughly. 50%. After you can deduct some lump sums from your tax, we expect 40% for the tax. However, since you also have an employee's share of the health insurance, you should stay at 50% for the time being.
A small apartment, or a room is around 400 EUR warm if you have little claim to location and equipment. Find out more at immonet. de. The user interface is simple and even if you don't know German, you should be able to use it.
The cost of living for a geek who lives sparingly would be 400 EUR per month. Insurance and miscellaneous costs 150 EUR.
Leaves you with 5000 * 0,5 - 400 - 400 - 400 - 150 = 1550 EUR should be doable as a monthly saving. With a buffer, a monthly saving of 1400 EUR should be possible.
60000 EUR annual salary is ok for the beginning. If you perform well, you should earn a six-digit salary as a Senior Software Engineer, especially in Hamburg, Munich and Düsseldorf. To do this, however, you would have to set the right course at your first job in Germany and not start with less than 75,000.
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#15You will have to pay up to 42% in taxes and security expenditures. You will not be able to save much in Germany as the state takes most of your money. Berlin is not as expensive as Paris or London but the rent costs went up in the past 7 years. The weather is also very shitty.
You will have to wait / work at least 7 years to get German citizenship.
I would aim to get into Switzerland with your skills / knowledge.
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#16I live in Berlin. I would say, money is not why you would want to move to Germany. It's social & medical insurance/stability/security.
I've been to Dubai for vacation, and I found it pretty boring TBH. In Europe you'll have more opportunities to find something interesting, even if now you're a type of guy who would spend much of his time in front of the laptop. Maybe that's because there is just boring in Dubai?
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#17tl;dr yes you absolutely should
Yes you should move to Berlin if you have the chance to get permanent residency or even the citizenship. If you live in Germany, you live in Europe and can relocate to another country within the EU easily. The German citizenship is THE most valuable in the world ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/lists/most-powerful-passpo... ). The German economy is one of the strongest in the world. You'll live in a free, welcoming and open democracy. I wouldn't care so much about the perks, but about the fact that you're in the EU, and specifically in Germany.
ps: If you got so far to get a job offer with relocation in Germany, you'll also easily find another job here. Maybe not in Berlin, but Munich for example has all the big names: Google, Microsoft, IBM, Autodesk, Salesforce, (the list goes on and is really long).
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#18Does Berlin give you permanent residency ?
As a well earning IT professional you should be able to apply for the so called blue card. http://www.bluecard-eu.de/
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#19Your net salary would be about 2900 euro monthly. Then you'd need to pay for an appartment, it would be at least 400-500 euro. Then you have to eat and sometimes buy new clothes since it's a cold country :) This would cost you maybe another 500 euro. So you could save about 2000 euro each month.
€500 for an apartment in Berlin? Are they really that cheap?
No, that time is over, except maybe in the outside districts. Lots of rooms in the central areas are more expensive than that.
Re: Ask HN: Should I move to Berlin?
#205000 € "brutto" per month is a good salary in eastern Germany.
You will receive around 3300 € per month "netto". The difference pays for taxes, pension insurance, health care, unemployment insurance and nursing care insurance.
Rent is quite high at the moment in Berlin as well as in almost any larger city in Europe. It's unlikely that you will be able to find a flat for less than 500 € per month. Depending on your habits, you can get by comfortably with 500 € for food and beverages monthly. This will leave you with at least 2000 € per month for savings.
A 13th salary and 30 days of holidays are quite common in Germany, the latter being a requirement for me personally. Companys that only give you 24 days/year make a cheap impression on me - this is the bare minimum that is required by law but it is uncommon for larger companys.
Also note that you'll only be allowed to apply for permanent residency after 5 years of work.
My advice would be to keep looking. Not because the money isn't good enough, but because the company makes the impression of being cheap to its employees.