Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

germantechjobs.de

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 316 posts

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#211

Post by sneak »

Nimitz14 wrote: post #191
sneak wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, for some additional anecdata: I've been mugged/attacked twice as much in Berlin (where I live) than I was in Detroit (where I grew up). I think perhaps the perception of risk in the US is blown way out of proportion due to the media frenzy around shootings, which are still pretty rare overall in the US. If you consume mass media, you will generally overestimate the risk by several orders of magnitude. (This is,…

Ridiculous statement. The homocide rate is so much higher in the US. Hard to believe anything you say.

It's much higher in about five specific counties in the US. The vast majority of the US has less violent crime overall (guns, plus everything else) than most large cities in Europe. For a simple example in Berlin you get pepper sprayed by stick-up kids, whereas in the US mountain west there isn't much mugging at all (due to the fact that a mugger is about 50/50 to get a wallet or a bullet in response).

The mistake is to think of the US as uniform. Most of it is extremely peaceful.

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#212

Post by clpm4j »

spaced-out wrote: post #183
maccard wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've made this point many many times on this site, but if you make 150k in san Francisco, and pay 4k a month on rent, you have more left over after rent and tax than a mid level developer in europe makes as a gross salary.

If you can only make 150K in San Francisco, you'd be better off moving to a MCOL or LCOL US city where you can make nearly that much and have no trouble paying rent. It's only worth working in San Francisco if you're making 200K+ and think you have a good shot at making 300-500K in ~5 years or so (or if you're already making >300K, obviously).

When I made ~$150k in SF, that equated to $8k/month after-tax. $2k/month for a decent studio/1-bedroom apt near Golden Gate Park. I felt very comfortable and very much enjoyed my quality of life on that salary.

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#213

Post by mercutio2 »

_petronius wrote: post #172
light_hue_1 wrote: post #140

Any time these guides come up they are simply shocking. I love Europe, I grew up there. I don't understand why anyone would stay as a developer in the EU. Software is simply not valued. Dev salaries are astounding. Senior engineers in the EU make less than entry level undergrads in the US or Canada. 60k Euros is 70k USD. People out of bootcamps with zero experience make more than that in the US. I don't have a single…

As someone who grew up in the US, and works as a software engineer in Europe, I can't understand why anyone would ever choose to work as a developer in America. :) I have a very high quality of life here, strong protections as a permanent employee (increasingly less common in other industries in Germany, but not in tech!), a salary that is excellent compared to many of my peers, and comes with a purchasing power that…

> comes with a purchasing power that I imagine meets or exceeds someone in my same position in New York or the Bay Area

That seems very unlikely. Housing is expensive in most of the major metropolitan areas in the US, but you more than make up for it with higher salaries.

The rest of your argument makes perfectly good sense, there's lots to love about living and working in Europe! It may well be worth it to you.

But it's disingenuous to mix those quality of life arguments with an argument about money. Tech workers in the US tech hubs live a financially/materially more comfortable life than those in Europe.

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#214

Post by IdiocyInAction »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #140

Any time these guides come up they are simply shocking. I love Europe, I grew up there. I don't understand why anyone would stay as a developer in the EU. Software is simply not valued. Dev salaries are astounding. Senior engineers in the EU make less than entry level undergrads in the US or Canada. 60k Euros is 70k USD. People out of bootcamps with zero experience make more than that in the US. I don't have a single…

Where and how did you move? Visas aren't all that easy to get.

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#215

Post by codr7 »

scanny wrote: post #96

My 2 cents: Just finished my first month in Munich as a Web Dev after moving from Australia. Company is great and colleagues are lovely. German bureaucracy sucks but apart from that it has been an experience of ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’ when it comes to the job and culture. Honestly linkedin has had the best results for jobs, that and using a template for CVS and cover letters. There’s plen…

I would consider moving to Munich just to have this place around the corner, simply awesome:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187309-d12010...

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#216

Post by lbrito »

lbrito wrote: post #10
gigatexal wrote: post #2

What I did: Check who’s hiring in X on HN. Apply. Realize the company is located in Hamburg, Germany. Get hired. Move. Enjoy life in a stable, wealthy, European country.

>Move. Ah, the pre-covid days. Nowadays you might as well say "move to Mars".

Wow, surprised by the downvotes. I'm genuinely curious to know if this sounds absurd to HN commenters. Are people really starting jobs abroad and relocating in these times?

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#217

Post by eudajmonia »

_petronius wrote: post #172
light_hue_1 wrote: post #140

Any time these guides come up they are simply shocking. I love Europe, I grew up there. I don't understand why anyone would stay as a developer in the EU. Software is simply not valued. Dev salaries are astounding. Senior engineers in the EU make less than entry level undergrads in the US or Canada. 60k Euros is 70k USD. People out of bootcamps with zero experience make more than that in the US. I don't have a single…

As someone who grew up in the US, and works as a software engineer in Europe, I can't understand why anyone would ever choose to work as a developer in America. :) I have a very high quality of life here, strong protections as a permanent employee (increasingly less common in other industries in Germany, but not in tech!), a salary that is excellent compared to many of my peers, and comes with a purchasing power that…

I'm from New Zealand, but work in Europe. Recently I started working remotely for an American firm part-time. Those few hours I work for the Americans equates to about 3x the amount of stress from my EU job but with absolutely no protection (at-will clauses). There is such a palpable difference in culture, management style that I am fairly certain I would never work for an American firm again.

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#218

Post by AlchemistCamp »

comodore_ wrote: post #155
allendoerfer wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To add to that: Taxes are not 50%, but there are mandatory social insurances you have to pay: Health insurance (+elderly care insurance), unemployment, pension system. They make up the biggest chunk for low to medium sized incomes. Your employer also pays into these insurances for you, which does not show up on your job-offer. So effectively you get 20% more than advertised.

It's a total of about 50% in social security contributions AND taxes. Assuming you are single and have no kids and your gross salary is 100k, you pay about 15k in social security contributions and 29k in income tax. And additionally 2.5k in church tax if you're catholic or lutheran.

> And additionally 2.5k in church tax if you're catholic or lutheran.

Woah, what? How does that work and why?

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#219

Post by ramraj07 »

codr7 wrote: post #215
scanny wrote: post #96

My 2 cents: Just finished my first month in Munich as a Web Dev after moving from Australia. Company is great and colleagues are lovely. German bureaucracy sucks but apart from that it has been an experience of ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’ when it comes to the job and culture. Honestly linkedin has had the best results for jobs, that and using a template for CVS and cover letters. There’s plen…

I would consider moving to Munich just to have this place around the corner, simply awesome: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187309-d12010...

Salads? What’s so special?

Re: How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

#220

Post by phendrenad2 »

lacker wrote: post #154
wasmitnetzen wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also get (probably) 30 days of paid vacation a year and up to 6 weeks of sick pay paid by the employer (and after that by your health insurance). You can't just compare the raw numbers to get a full picture.

I mean it's just so far off. Check levels.fyi, Google/Airbnb/Coinbase will be paying $300k+ for software engineers with 4+ years of experience.

I don't think any German companies compare to Google/Airbnb/Coinbase. And it's not guaranteed that if you move to Mountain View you'll get a job at Google. Just saying.
Post reply on HN