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An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

reuters.com

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Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#71

Post by MichaelZuo »

et2o wrote: post #24
AdrianB1 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You fail to mention parity. I worked for $100/month 25 years ago and that was the average income in the country, a 2 room (1 bedroom, 1 living room) apartment in Bucharest was $8,000 (I bought one). Yes, nominally an US plumber was earning more, but his living condition were below mine at that time. I am taking my example because we used to be part of the Eastern Block, Russian engineers were earning a bit more. Now…

Plumbers in NYC can make >200k

Do you have a source?

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#72

Post by dang »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #15
Rompect wrote: post #11

Remember that this guy already has had British citizenship, but he decided to immigrate to Germany despite the language barrier and not being a citizen.

Language is probably the biggest roadblock in getting a job in Germany and most people ignore it. German is not easy (my grandmother was a German teacher, some of my family members are of German descent and none of us is speaking any decent German) and Germans are more xenophobic than they will ever admit. Even in my American company meetings with German people sometimes we have very awkward moments when the Germans…

Please don't take HN threads into nationalistic flamewar. It's a road to hell, and a particularly avoidable one.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#73

Post by blix »

CryptoPunk wrote: post #55
vharuck wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A better explanation of the growth from 1870 to 1900 is the Second Industrial Revolution[1]. This was a short period of massive changes to logistics (better railways), society (electric lights improved factory productivity), and what was even possible to make (improved materials and precision machining). Labor only comes into the story because less labor was needed to make things. Wages went up because productivity s…

>>This was a short period of massive changes to logistics (better railways), society (electric lights improved factory productivity), and what was even possible to make (improved materials and precision machining). There have been just as many opportunities to raise productivity in modern times, with the development of computerized production, internet communication, robotics, rocketry and space-based industries, pla…

The changes in productivity due to computers, robotics etc. are probably closer in economic impact to the first industrial revolution than the second.

The second industrial revolution increased demand for labor, raising wages. The first vastly decreased demand for labor, leading to falling wages, increasing inequality and social unrest.

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#74

Post by the-dude »

BoorishBears wrote: post #21
baybal2 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Common instances of this included civil engineers in AFG who couldn’t get licensed here, Welcome to reality of 3rd world immigrants to the West. Near complete untransferabbility of career, skills, and credentials.

My father had no trouble transferring his education into getting his PhD. My mother's skills carried her to a doctorate in nursing My uncle's medical skills carried over well enough for him to be an orthopedic surgeon My aunt's carried well enough to run her own medical clinic in Norway Do you think they're learning to count sticks or something to get their degrees in other countries? Why wouldn't thinks as internal…

Which country did they emigrate from?

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#75

Post by noodlesUK »

chmod775 wrote: post #63
CryptoPunk wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>You can have unions without the government mandating anything. Unions have no power in a free market, which is why unionization rates were so low until the unions successfully hoodwinked society into believing their victim narrative, and had the government pass laws in their favor. >>Here's an example: I know I'm worth considerably more to my employer than they're paying me, but were I to ask for appropriate compen…

> Unions have no power in a free market, which is why unionization rates were so low until the unions successfully hoodwinked society into believing their victim narrative, and had the government pass laws in their favor. Unions have been outlawed (or taken over by the state) at several points in German history. Nowadays guilds and unions don't enjoy many special protections except for such things as the basic right…

This is a common misconception I have when discussing unions with US people. They are generally familiar with things like airline, police, or teachers unions where all employees are required to be members of that one specific union. That’s not generally how it works in European countries.

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#76

Post by gruez »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #71
et2o wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plumbers in NYC can make >200k

Do you have a source?

my guess is that he's referring to the ones that are essentially running a business. Making 200k gross (before expenses) is very feasible.

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#77

Post by LatteLazy »

Rompect wrote: post #11

Remember that this guy already has had British citizenship, but he decided to immigrate to Germany despite the language barrier and not being a citizen.

>He chose Germany because he expected it to have a better economic future and a leading role in the telecom and IT sectors in the long term.

Seems logical to me. The UK is at the start of a lost generation.

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#78

Post by gruez »

baybal2 wrote: post #50
vostok wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The word "banker" is a homonym and you're using it in two different ways in your comment. When people imagine bankers making a lot of money, they are talking about investment bankers. When people talk about bankers making $30k, they're talking about retail bankers. These careers have nothing in common with each other. It's like comparing a McDonald's retail employee to a chemical engineer.

Believe me, I had no shortage of classmates who ended up starting careers in "boutique investment funds" paying not much better.

What roles were those? On bloomberg they said goldman sacs were paying $100k to junior bankers starting.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-18/junior-ba...

Re: An Afghan minister who became a bicycle courier in Germany

#80

Post by markmark2021 »

Too bad the article was a fluff piece. There could have been a lot more depth to the story, the value of health, of not being motivated by position or title, of keeping yourself mentally and physically busy as one works through a transition.

One thing the article only hints at is he doesn’t speak German! Of course he couldn’t find a job in Germany.

I think this guy is going to be OK. He knows how to market himself at least.

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