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

Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 269 posts

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#41

Post by Sweetio »

bartminton wrote: post #21
giantg2 wrote: post #11

"politics, social life, social net" I think it will be hard to recommend depending on your exact positions on these. I think it will be difficult to recommend a place with low taxes and robust safety net. Generally the taxes are what Pay for a safety net. On that note, the US could be an option (southern states) for you since the taxes tend to be lower than other developed nations. The safety net is fairly robust, bu…

> "politics, social life, social net" > I think it will be hard to recommend depending on your exact positions on these. We're both educated and open towards a liberal, future oriented society. Same goes for paying taxes, since the "overall standards" in Germany are still very high. Nevertheless, the last 10 years spit society, family and friends. Hardly any healthy discussion culture, you're either on the one or the…

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#42

Post by foobarian »

bartminton wrote: post #24
mr90210 wrote: post #5

Unfortunately in Europe there aren’t many options if seek reasonable taxation. The challenge with Islands near the equator are the natural disasters. Have you considered Asia, or even the south of Europe? Portugal maybe? I have a friend who moved from The Netherlands to very small town in France. He was mostly seeking quality of life for him and his family.

Yes, Europe, especially Spain or Portugal are on our list. France not so much, since it suffers from very similar issues than Germany. Regarding the equatorial zone: Agree - especially considering, that we have roughly 30 to 35 years more to live, it would have to be a spot that "still exists". We're aware of that, also of the fact, that one can not escape one's own problems by escaping a certain place. But since our…

I might consider Hawaii or Massachusetts. School especially would be excellent in the latter, when time comes. Progressive and liberal politics. Cold winters unfortunately but at least the gas does not come from a hostile superpower.

One other thing about most US locales, is property taxes are relatively high, and they fund the local government (i.e. your town - they pay for police, school, etc.) which is something a lot easier to control than state or federal government. I've known fellow engineers who ended up investing time/effort to join the local town government and have impact on how that money is spent.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#43

Post by jacquesm »

clintonwoo wrote: post #7
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #4

Sorry to hear that you need to leave your country. It's never easy. I left Italy in 2008, in search for opportunities (AWS), then left the US in 2020, back to Italy. What made you leave Berlin, if you don't mind sharing a bit more? Finding the right place is always a compromise. E.g. : 1) quality of schools for your son (eventually; he's still super young) 2) VISA, how easy it is to get a permanent resident, and/or c…

Just providing a cautious view: living on an island sounds like a fantasy but in practice it's very isolating, many supply chain issues and it can be hard/expensive to get a hold of items produced off the island

I've lived on an Island for nearly five years, hardly ever left for the mainland. Depending on your personality Island life may be 'just the ticket' or indeed 'isolating'. For me it provided the lack of through traffic and quiet that I was very much longing for.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#44

Post by Sweetio »

bartminton wrote: post #32
theriddlr wrote: post #25

Malaysia or Singapore (island on the equator). Spain Balearics or Canary Islands.

We've traveled to Malaysia and Singapore. Climate-wise both fine, we're just not sure, how easy it is, for Europeans to establish there. Spain is an option, but especially Gran Canaria is on top of our list, I lived there for a while and really enjoyed it. Thanks for your recommendations!

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#45

Post by jacquesm »

Sweetio wrote: post #41
bartminton wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "politics, social life, social net" > I think it will be hard to recommend depending on your exact positions on these. We're both educated and open towards a liberal, future oriented society. Same goes for paying taxes, since the "overall standards" in Germany are still very high. Nevertheless, the last 10 years spit society, family and friends. Hardly any healthy discussion culture, you're either on the one or the…

Quoted post unavailable.

This is really not up to standards.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#46

Post by kblev »

janekg wrote: post #30
bartminton wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You touch a number of very important points here. Thanks for that. We're aware of the fact, that the overall situation in many countries in the world is much, much worse. So it's kind of a luxury problem. What is actually a challenge, is that I work as a freelancer for 20 years now and still have to go a long way to secure my private pension. I once calculated my personal "real" tax rate in Germany, and ended up at a…

How do you come to the 72%, I'm just interested.

VAT + Income Tax + Socials?

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#47

Post by xioxox »

freemint wrote: post #2

Both the UK and especially the US are going through a rough spot. I would look into Ireland (not so warm climate) or English speaking Asia (maybe insane property prices in tier 1 cities).

I've read lots of Irish people currently complaining about the housing situation there. Perhaps it's not as bad as Berlin, though of course it depends on one's wages. However, I live in Munich where prices for buying accommodation are absolutely ludicrous compared to wages.

One suggestion is the Isle of Man. It has very mild winters. It has very low tax. There are some tech jobs. If you don't mind living on a quiet small island without much to do, with a lot of grey skies, it could be an interesting possibility. The one disadvantage is that housing is relatively expensive.

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#48

Post by cal85 »

kramerger wrote: post #31
bartminton wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "politics, social life, social net" > I think it will be hard to recommend depending on your exact positions on these. We're both educated and open towards a liberal, future oriented society. Same goes for paying taxes, since the "overall standards" in Germany are still very high. Nevertheless, the last 10 years spit society, family and friends. Hardly any healthy discussion culture, you're either on the one or the…

> which to us especially means escaping crazy black/white discussions, But the decision to leave instead of trying to engage and improve things is pretty black and white mentality in itself, isn't it?

The decision to leave is a decision to leave. It is not a ‘discussion’, black and white or not. What is your point exactly? Could you spell what you are insinuating here?

Re: Ask HN: Leaving Germany – where to find quality of life as experienced engineer?

#50

Post by goethes_kind »

bartminton wrote: post #34
kramerger wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which to us especially means escaping crazy black/white discussions, But the decision to leave instead of trying to engage and improve things is pretty black and white mentality in itself, isn't it?

> But the decision to leave instead of trying to engage and improve things is pretty black and white mentality in itself, isn't it? You've got a point here. Yes, it's giving up. And to be honest, we both gave up. But since we're responsible for our little one, we still try to make the best of it, hence want to restart somewhere else. But I get your point. It's just that we both spent all of our energy over the last 2…

Can you be more specific about what status quo political position you are against? I do not want to render any value judgements.

I am just thinking, because I grew up in Southern Europe, I have the opposite opinion to you regarding this. I think Germany is much more open to "skepticism" than you believe. Where I grew up people differentiating from the mainstream view are labeled as idiots and are in a very tiny minority, whereas in Germany, they go parading in the streets every other month and make up 25% of the population...

Post reply on HN