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Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

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11–20 of 97 posts

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#11
post #8

Also, "without bonuses" part makes no sense, since in Germany some bonuses are contractually enforced and employer doesn't have an option not to pay them. For example, Weihnachtsgeld (Christamas money) is usually 1 or 1/2 of monthly salary and is defined in every contract. In addition to that comes the yearly bonus, which is rarely not awarded in its entirety. In my company it's about 15% of salary for previous year,…

Haha, no "Weihnachtsgeld" is completly optional. Welcome to the Mittelstand.

It is treated as salary nowadays, just with odd payment terms.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#12
Developer here looking to possibly relocate from London to Berlin or other German (or Dutch) place, I have a question for anyone filling out this poll:

I spend on avarage about £700 a month excluding rent, which allows for relatively comfortable life in London. What spending can I expect in Berlin? What about rent? (I pay £425 which is pretty cheap for London)

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#13
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. There are rather huge gaps between Berlin vs. cities like Frankfurt or Munich. Living costs are much lower in Berlin, and so naturally, wages are lower, too.

Take this statement with a grain of salt. Living costs are shooting up dramatically, currently.

Still nowhere near e.g. Munich, and it really only shoots up in the hip, stylish neighborhoods. I've lived in Berlin for 5 years now, in a not-so-cool but still reasonably central area (Moabit), and rents have barely gone up during that time.

I've also spoken to quite a few recruiters in recent years, and many of them were quite blunt that jobs in cities like Frankfurt, Munich or Hamburg usually get you 10-20 % higher salaries compared to Berlin, same kind of tasks, same skills required.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#14

Also, "without bonuses" part makes no sense, since in Germany some bonuses are contractually enforced and employer doesn't have an option not to pay them. For example, Weihnachtsgeld (Christamas money) is usually 1 or 1/2 of monthly salary and is defined in every contract. In addition to that comes the yearly bonus, which is rarely not awarded in its entirety. In my company it's about 15% of salary for previous year,…

  For example, Weihnachtsgeld (Christamas money) is usually 1
  or 1/2 of monthly salary and is defined in every contract.
  In addition to that comes the yearly bonus, which is rarely
  not awarded in its entirety.
Nope. Weihnachtsgeld is not defined in every contract. Either you're working for a company bound by a union rate to pay Weihnachtsgeld or the company pays it voluntarily. There is no Weihnachtsgeld guaranteed by law. As for bonuses, this depends on the employer and usually also on the time you spent at the company. Just my two cents.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#16
post #7
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. There are rather huge gaps between Berlin vs. cities like Frankfurt or Munich. Living costs are much lower in Berlin, and so naturally, wages are lower, too.

But jobs which pay 100k in Munich should also pay 100k in Berlin. If you make more than 60k the living costs aren't much of a concern for you anymore.

> But jobs which pay 100k in Munich should also pay 100k in Berlin.

Why? It's a function of supply and demand - for a long time a lot of people wanted to move to Berlin because it was cool, hip and cheap to live. So there was a steady supply of people wanting to work and live in Berlin, driving prices down for employers and since living in Berlin was (and still is) cheaper than Munich it was economically viable for employees to take a lower salary in Berlin and still come out ahead financially. Things changed a little since costs are converging a little, but as prices went up, salaries went up as well.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#17
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. There are rather huge gaps between Berlin vs. cities like Frankfurt or Munich. Living costs are much lower in Berlin, and so naturally, wages are lower, too.

Take this statement with a grain of salt. Living costs are shooting up dramatically, currently.

Rents have gone up, but there's still a lot of things that are dramatically cheaper in Berlin than in Munich - just go out for lunch for example.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#18
post #7
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. There are rather huge gaps between Berlin vs. cities like Frankfurt or Munich. Living costs are much lower in Berlin, and so naturally, wages are lower, too.

But jobs which pay 100k in Munich should also pay 100k in Berlin. If you make more than 60k the living costs aren't much of a concern for you anymore.

But you'll have a different amount of surplus money, since living costs might cost, 50k in Munich but only 40k in Berlin.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineer salaries in Berlin

#19
post #6

3 points for "€100k or more" already sounds like bullshit to me at this time. Either that or I would love to hear what you do !

Within a few seconds of looking I managed to find a "big data architect" role being advertised in Berlin for 500-600 Euro per day - which is comfortably over 100K a year...

Almost tempted to apply... ;-)

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