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Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

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Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#31

Post by deets »

fylox wrote: post #29
maryrosecook wrote: post #22

Ableton, the company I work for, are based in Berlin and are looking for Python devs: http://www.ableton.com/jobs It's a really nice place to work, and the pay is OK for Berlin. Great summary of cost of living and tech scene from maxklein. You can live very cheaply here, if you work at it. Some bars serve a half-litre of beer for 1€, some reasonable apartments can be got for 120€ a month if you can live with coal-fir…

Cubase user here cough Anyway I'd imagine that working for Ableton is fairly cool. Although I am not qualified enough for such a position I am curious what requirements they have. I check your link and they ask for at least 2 years of experience. Is that "all" ? As a CS drop out I can't even provide bachelor's degree. The point I am trying to make is: As far as I know here in Germany employees always ask for degrees.…

I'm the chap responsible for the Python developer hiring at Ableton.

To sum it up: I don't give a rats ass for any degrees. I don't even have one myself. We send applicants a programming test. I get these tests, and I assess them without even skimming the CV. Because it would otherwise just skew my observations.

If the test convinced me that you can code, you will have a job-interview, via phone or in person depending on if it's feasible to fly you in to Berlin or not.

This interview is pure technical, either.

If this convinced me that you are a good coder, I will arrange a third interview with the CTO, who has the final say on all employments. I won't spoil the enjoyment of that for you :)

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#32

Post by cageface »

BvS wrote: post #10

Ramen-style about 600€/month (living with a roommate, prepare your own meals -> maybe it could be even lower if don't go out at all, don't buy new clothes, ride a bike instead of public transportation... ) Have your own space, go out sometimes, take cab once in a while... about 1.200€+/month (obviously open end). Add at least another 130€/month for health insurance. Unfortunately I don't know about any python gigs bu…

What kind of work visa do you need to do freelance work in Germany? How do you go about getting one without a sponsor?

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#33

Post by andreadallera »

BvS wrote: post #10

Ramen-style about 600€/month (living with a roommate, prepare your own meals -> maybe it could be even lower if don't go out at all, don't buy new clothes, ride a bike instead of public transportation... ) Have your own space, go out sometimes, take cab once in a while... about 1.200€+/month (obviously open end). Add at least another 130€/month for health insurance. Unfortunately I don't know about any python gigs bu…

I'm a ruby programmer and I'd be interested to relocate to Berlin for a while... Do you have something for me? Even just some suggestions on how to get a gig would be very appreciated.

This is my github account http://www.github.com/bolthar . My expertise with RoR is limited but I know ASP.NET MVC very well and they're similar.

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#34

Post by brunoc »

deets wrote: post #31
fylox wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cubase user here cough Anyway I'd imagine that working for Ableton is fairly cool. Although I am not qualified enough for such a position I am curious what requirements they have. I check your link and they ask for at least 2 years of experience. Is that "all" ? As a CS drop out I can't even provide bachelor's degree. The point I am trying to make is: As far as I know here in Germany employees always ask for degrees.…

I'm the chap responsible for the Python developer hiring at Ableton. To sum it up: I don't give a rats ass for any degrees. I don't even have one myself. We send applicants a programming test. I get these tests, and I assess them without even skimming the CV. Because it would otherwise just skew my observations. If the test convinced me that you can code, you will have a job-interview, via phone or in person dependin…

Ableton Live fanboy here -- You guys are doing a great job. I haven't looked into it lately but what's the status on scripting Live (with Python or whichever language) ? I would kill to have an API I could use to create tracks programmatically.

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#35

Post by fylox »

deets wrote: post #31
fylox wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cubase user here cough Anyway I'd imagine that working for Ableton is fairly cool. Although I am not qualified enough for such a position I am curious what requirements they have. I check your link and they ask for at least 2 years of experience. Is that "all" ? As a CS drop out I can't even provide bachelor's degree. The point I am trying to make is: As far as I know here in Germany employees always ask for degrees.…

I'm the chap responsible for the Python developer hiring at Ableton. To sum it up: I don't give a rats ass for any degrees. I don't even have one myself. We send applicants a programming test. I get these tests, and I assess them without even skimming the CV. Because it would otherwise just skew my observations. If the test convinced me that you can code, you will have a job-interview, via phone or in person dependin…

Thank you for your fast reply which was quite revealing.

I've been into electronic music production & sounddesign for about 8 years now. But I never saw a way that this could somehow be helpful when it comes to finding a job.

Two terms of CS gave me some insight into programming but I mainly solved little mathematical problems rather than gaining insight into "real world software programming".

Now I am attending business school and try to figure out how to avoid a typical office job so that I can do something more rewarding, where I can be somewhat more myself, instead.

I should seriously get into programming in my spare time...

Sorry to everyone else for hijacking this thread. ;-)

€: just finished the video. Looks like an awesome working atmosphere indeed!

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#36

Post by mapleoin »

pavlov wrote: post #7
shanked wrote: post #4

Somewhat related... As opposed to Berlin specifically, how should an American software engineer get a job in a different country? I'd like to experience different cultures and I'd like to move to another country (after finding a job) but I'm not sure how I should go about doing it. Initially, I think western Europe is the most ideal place since I do not know any other languages, some place where many people spoke Eng…

Scandinavia and the Netherlands are easy destinations for Americans. Ordinary people speak good English for the most part, and even those who claim not to speak English actually understand the language quite well (mostly thanks to decades of exposure to subtitled American TV shows). At least here in Finland, English has become the de facto working language at many companies and university departments. Nowadays there…

Norway has Opera ;)

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#37

Post by deets »

brunoc wrote: post #34
deets wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the chap responsible for the Python developer hiring at Ableton. To sum it up: I don't give a rats ass for any degrees. I don't even have one myself. We send applicants a programming test. I get these tests, and I assess them without even skimming the CV. Because it would otherwise just skew my observations. If the test convinced me that you can code, you will have a job-interview, via phone or in person dependin…

Ableton Live fanboy here -- You guys are doing a great job. I haven't looked into it lately but what's the status on scripting Live (with Python or whichever language) ? I would kill to have an API I could use to create tracks programmatically.

[edit] sorry, re-read your post. You asked for any way, not python specifically.

The defined API for interacting with Live is Max For Live. Python is only used internally, and to a limited extend.

And for The Bridge, we introduced an XML-based document format, which should be a second option to generate live-sets.

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#38

Post by deets »

cageface wrote: post #27
maryrosecook wrote: post #22

Ableton, the company I work for, are based in Berlin and are looking for Python devs: http://www.ableton.com/jobs It's a really nice place to work, and the pay is OK for Berlin. Great summary of cost of living and tech scene from maxklein. You can live very cheaply here, if you work at it. Some bars serve a half-litre of beer for 1€, some reasonable apartments can be got for 120€ a month if you can live with coal-fir…

Ableton seems like it would be a great place to work. Enabling creative people appeals to me a lot more than putting yet another spin on social networking.

The Python jobs are web-related only though. While Python is used inside Live itself, it's not enough to justify a pure-Python coder position for that.

But the web-team is large enough to also offer more back-end related work, which is the reason we advertise Python-developers instead of Web-developers only.

I fear though that this is not really that much different from another spin on social networking in the end.

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#39

Post by TheFro »

shanked wrote: post #23
TheFro wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an american, only speaking english, I've worked in Germany and work in the UK right now. Basically stick to the following areas: 1. Scandinavia/Nordic areas - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland 2. UK - Obvious english speaking choice ;) 3. "Germanic" - Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland Countries like France, Spain, Italy, etc are very difficult for a non-native speaker. Getting a visa in the UK is quite di…

Thanks for the initial responses. Most of my experience is web development related, and my language of choice is Python (although I've used Ruby, C#, Java, PHP, C++, C). Though being a web developer isn't necessarily what I'd look for (I wouldn't mind it), I hope to find a job that offers more challenging computer science problems than merely cutting-pasting libraries to create a simple CRUD interface. However, I kno…

Yes, learning about visa/work permits is a lengthy process. If you want me to explain to you the UK one feel free to drop me a line at mbesto AT gmail.

My company (IT consulting company, mainly in ERP tech) may have something...I don't know specifically but they have their hands in everything from online MMO to betting website development to big ERP tech. We also have a partner recruiting company, could put you in contact there as well.

Glad to hear you want to get intl experience. I can't recommend it enough. There are some restrictions I have to deal with as foreigner but otherwise it's a great way to see the world.

sidenote - literally just started learning Python myself and love it so far.

Re: Ask HN: Berlin - costs of living, python jobs?

#40

Post by trin_ »

maryrosecook wrote: post #25
robin_reala wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why health insurance? Surely the OP is covered in the EU if they get an EHIC? Or does that not apply for a permanent move?

No, it does not. If you pay taxes here, you have to have health insurance. For a permanent employee, this is about 14% of your salary. All in, I pay about a third of my income in tax (which includes health insurance).

but the 14% are split between yourself and your employer. only your part is taken directly off your paycheck.
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