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How to find a job as Software Developer in Germany

germantechjobs.de

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

#251

Post by martin_a »

Rompect wrote: post #207
martin_a wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, that's fine. Everybody will also pay for all the infrastructure you might be using and the others not.

Literally "Who would build the roads" lmao

Nah, there's much more than roads in a welfare state.

There's a nationwide pension fund, unemployment "insurance", long-term care insurance and what not. All of this is cross-financed in a mix by everybody who's paying into it.

Also: Lots of people switch from private health insurance back to public health insurance once they get old, because then costs are rising. A welfare state also supports those who have "suddenly" become poor so they had to make that switch... ;-)

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

#252

Post by martin_a »

dsnr wrote: post #108
martin_a wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, that's fine. Everybody will also pay for all the infrastructure you might be using and the others not.

Non-welfare states also have infrastructure, so no worry about that.

You know that there's more to the German social insurance system than public health insurance that you profit from now or later.

So it's just lame to frame it like that's the only thing.

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

#253

Post by HDMI_Cable »

kalnins wrote: post #248
namelosw wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one of the outstanding problems of the current world. Not only in Germany, but there are also even crazier countries that most people can't afford to buy a small apartment their whole life. Old houses belong to older generations, and new houses are bought by rich people. Young people don't stand a chance, for some cities even not with a lifelong mortgage - unless they live in countries like Singapore which expli…

How did Singapore tackle it?

I believe it was a combination of two factors (I'm not Singaporean so it would be nice if someone could correct me). Most of the housing units are owned by the government and are leased out to prospective owners based on a pseudo-waiting list type system for a fixed term (50 years?), and Singapore tends to build more housing than the west.

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

#254

Post by pyjug »

The salaries in Germany for engineers are astoundingly low. Good engineers from India (I'm Indian working in SV) often ask me if it's worth migrating to Germany since US immigration is so hard.

The answer is absolutely not -- you can easily make 70k USD in India as a decent mid-level engineer which is the same as Germany. And you get to live like a king in your own country, don't have to learn German, put up with racism etc. In fact, a lot of US companies hiring in India pay more in India than Germany! I know a couple friends making ~200k in Amazon India at 8-10 years of experience.

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

#255

Post by FalconSensei »

dasil003 wrote: post #184
FalconSensei wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem with your comparison (and I'm not saying devs don't make less money in EU) is that you can't just convert one currency to the other. You have to compare purchasing power and quality of life. The same salary in US could be viewed as 'you are rich' or 'you can't pay rent' depending on with city you live in. Now, you are talking about different continents. I would compare the possible lifestyles and qua…

Fair point, quality of life has a lot of non-fungible aspects (and I saw this as someone who has lived in 5 metro areas and 3 continents over the last 15 years), however the difference does not all get eaten by cost of living, especially if you stay disciplined. A single reasonably strong SDE you can pretty easily be making $250k, even after exorbitant bay area rents you can still save/invest 1-2x your total equivale…

Sure, and I'm in no way doubting that developers make more in US than EU. I'm just saying that it would be better if we had a comparison that was more realistic in terms of what you can actually get with your money - and also other things like healthcare, overtime, vacations, work culture.

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

#256

Post by FalconSensei »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #188
FalconSensei wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem with your comparison (and I'm not saying devs don't make less money in EU) is that you can't just convert one currency to the other. You have to compare purchasing power and quality of life. The same salary in US could be viewed as 'you are rich' or 'you can't pay rent' depending on with city you live in. Now, you are talking about different continents. I would compare the possible lifestyles and qua…

> The same salary in US could be viewed as 'you are rich' or 'you can't pay rent' depending on with city you live in. Now, you are talking about different continents. "You can't make rent"/"You can't buy a house with a reasonable commute" an a software dev salary is almost entirely a California and NYC-area phenomenon. A "typical" software developer (even a junior) could afford a decent house within a reasonable comm…

Sure, I agree with you on everything. Your comment is a bit more detailed than just converting EUR to USD, and gives a better feeling on the actual difference. As I mentioned on my comment, I was not disagreeing that the dev make more money in US, but just that the parent comment was not considering some things you have to pay in US, that makes the difference a bit smaller

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

#257

Post by jakub_g »

cyminum wrote: post #235
jakub_g wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I exaggerated in my post, but the general difference is: in US to access high paying jobs, you can either live in city centres where rent is sky high, or suburbs which are very car-centric. This is not compelling to many Europeans. I might not be earning six-digit salary, but I don't share a room with 3 people and don't live in a van (this is probably grotesque but there were many stories like that on HN alone). Abou…

1. Even if you spend another $3000/month on housing (ridiculous and unrealistic), that's just $36000 a year. That's far exceeded by the pay increase in the US. 2. There is a long long long distance between the average case and the worst case that you are describing, especially for engineers. Sharing a room with 3 people or living in a van is very very very far from the average case. Pretty much no engineer needs to d…

Thx for the reply. It's always difficult to evaluate things from the outside without having full context.

Re: housing + medical costs, yep, the quick math says that unless things go really terribly wrong, in a few years one should build up a substantial safety net despite the costs.

For young and healthy (new graduates etc.) it definitely makes sense to go to US for a few years (and then perhaps come back as a remote person in Europe and start a small EU office, I know that's how many EU offices of US second-tier (non-FAANG) big techs have started).

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

#258

Post by dzonga »

pyjug wrote: post #254

The salaries in Germany for engineers are astoundingly low. Good engineers from India (I'm Indian working in SV) often ask me if it's worth migrating to Germany since US immigration is so hard. The answer is absolutely not -- you can easily make 70k USD in India as a decent mid-level engineer which is the same as Germany. And you get to live like a king in your own country, don't have to learn German, put up with rac…

> you can easily make 70k USD in India as a decent mid-level engineer

not that I know anything about Indian tech companies but please don't say that compensation is at FAANG companies. because those are not representative of the industry in general. Otherwise why would India be known for cheap dev's if Mid-levels can easily earn 70k.

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

#259

Post by codr7 »

ramraj07 wrote: post #219
codr7 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Everything about the place; the food, the space, the people who work there, the music; they have exceptionally good taste.

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

#260

Post by maccard »

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).

The actual number is irrelevant; If you make in SF, and pay for rent, post tax and rent, your leftover money is still more than a mid level engineer in Europe, even in London where the costs of living are proportional. If you make 2/3/500k it only skews in the balance of the bay area.
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