Average salary for software developers in Germany

Hi,

I've been working in Germany for about two years as Software Developer and my salary is unchanged since the beginning. Now it is €40k per year.

I want to know - average salary, that I can ask after two years working in the company. This means, after probation period has passed. I'm really tired of waiting for an offer from the bosses - I already asked, but no answer - so I want to make last question before looking for a new company.

About my current role in the company: "Key Developer" - creating core components and frameworks for other developers from company (in result - additional activities: consulting developers and tracking deployments of solutions to customer's systems). About 7-10 developers regularry come to me to ask about various things: Win32 API, XML, COM, ActiveX, C++, JavaScript, ASP.NET, C#, SQL, MAPI, CICS and DB2 on OS/2, LotusAPI, LotusScripts... (a lot of things - company provides solutions that are integrating with lot of environments). Company at this moment growing - so financial conditions are not bad. Can you suggest amount, that should receive Key Developer with very good technical background/experience?

Thank you!

In my humble opinion, and if you have savings that you can live on for 6 months, I'd demand €50k.

At least, that much.

But they will base your salary on things that don't necessarily relate to the importance of your work. Therefore a young, less educated, female foreigner will earn less than an older, doctor of blah blah, stupid white guy. (I actually had a personalleiter tell me this to my face once, needless to say the next 5 minutes of that meeting weren't very quiet) SO be prepared for these (even if bs) arguements.

And - one of the best raises I ever got was the same year they axed over 200 people from my division to save costs. So the company's financial status shouldn't make a difference. (The absolute best raise was after the I blew up at aforementioned personelleiter, but I'm not sure if this would be a good suggestion)

Good luck

Thank you for answers. I thought to start from €60k. I understand that it is +50% to current salary but story about "young, less educated, female foreigner will earn less than an older, doctor of blah blah, stupid white guy" forces me to think again about amount.

Will write here in couple of days continuation of my story...

€50k is the very minimum you should accept (Before bonus.) Good luck !

Hello Everyone.
I have read through the salary discussions in this forum

I wanted to know if an offer for EUR 46K + 9K bonus (perks include company car) for a software development job in the Baden-Württemberg region is good enough ! I have a bachelors degree and close to 4 years of experience. How about the living expenses in the region ?

oh no, that is a miserable salary. where is that frustrated rolleyes emoticon?

EDIT: i'm not sure how much you really did research, friend.
also, where in BW do you plan to live? where are you from? your marital status, yada yada yada yada.

I am looking at places like Karlsruhe or Mannheim to live. I did not know that 55K gross is a miserable salary ???

After some initial research, my expectations were around 60 - 66K gross. Do you think that is a reasonable salary to negotiate with the employer ?

One more question is that while negotiating salaries, do we look at the base salary or the gross salary ??

It would be nice/helpful if you would put some infomation into your profile. You want help from us & tell little about yourself.


IMHO isnt not miserable at all.


Let me say I'm in IT, have been with two employers in Germany totalling 20 years, current one
for 9 years (its German branch of international company of which you will have heard of) and what you are expecting above is not much
less than what I currently get. Hence I suspect that is rather optimistic unless you have some special skill that their future depends on.


I believe total annual salary before deductions.

Some background about me is that : I am single and from India.

About my skills, i believe that the offer has been made because of my unique skills

For a software dev with only 4 years exp, 46k + bonus + car is not a bad offer I'd say, but if money is what you want, then I'd move to London to work if I were you.

Ah, your 'unique' skills. Well you should have said. In that case it all makes sense.

Oh we all have unique skills - I'm uniquely good at staring out of the window and going on extended coffee breaks. But I don't code, we got monkeys staff for that.

Sorry, a bit more info will get you a lot more info back as there will be a price scale difference between genres.

*sigh*


then you didn't research German salaries.


Not if you want a job.

I know I'm repeating myself, but I know where I work, university grads with an computer science degree start out with 39k a year, not including bonuses. pay raises are pretty pathetic, it's the bonuses that count, but those are also very fixed. you cannot negotiate them & how much you get depends on your performance at years end. but as a rule of thumb, they equal to around a 13th and 14th months salary (i bet you can figure that out yourself). negotiate a 12 month gross salary, then discuss bonuses on top of that.

What are these unique skills you speak of? If your username is any form of pointer, does it have anything to do with this?

As you said, if university grads start with 39K per year, 46K seems pretty low for a person with 4 years development experience. If that is the case, IMO 55K (not including bonus) should be a pretty reasonable negotiation !

Let me just say the same thing as above. I'm in IT in Munich and I have almost 20 years of experience - 5 years with the current company - and 66K€ is pretty optimistic for you - even if you were going to be working in Munich.
So, 46K + bonus and car - you're doing well with that.
If it's money you're looking for, go somewhere else other than Germany because it ain't here!

loader used to be my nickname in university because my friends used to compare my computer skills with Neo loading programs into his brain in Matrix


it isn't that money is the only thing i am looking at, i am just making sure that i am not underselling myself

Loader, is there any chance at all you might say what your four years experience are in. That might, just might, prove useful.

<shakes head>

like i wrote, pay raises are pathetic. you might get lucky if you get the equalization to inflation. what, is that around 3% a year? i have no clue. even so, that person with 4 years experience would still not be at 46k. a 10k pay raise in 4 years? not in most german companies. that is BEFORE bonuses.

search around for the cost of living in KA, then you'll see you're worrying for nothing. there was a discussion about this. if you want to negotiate 55k, go to the US or London. I'm not saying you might not be worth it, it's just in Germany, the days are over when IT guys earn the big bucks.

~2%

And a company car on top? Methinks we are on different planets...

I think he should go for it. even HR managers need a laugh sometimes.

hmmm.. 2% pay raises every year. That sounds pretty interesting. May be i was wrong in my calculations because here in India the avg pay raises are 15 - 20 % and even 40 % raises are not very uncommon here

And whats your inflation rate?

BTW I would have been happy to have had a 2% pay rise on some recent years...

Loader, please to be answering the question. What do you do? What is the job?

~ 4 %

In that case maybe you should... never mind.

I'm entitled to one after 3 years. has nothing to do with my job title or whatever. standard policy, unless you had one in your old job, then you can negotiate one at employment start.
lucky guy, you are to get that offered. really.

otherwise car is germany is expensive. if with company car, they pay gas, then cheap. but you get a fancy BMW or something, you pay each month, still 450 Euro.

That all depends very much on your company. Management above a certain grade get a car otherwise
with us its only those with frequent customer contact. I used to have frequent customer contact & hence a
car - now I've moved into a more global role there is a risk (if my new manager wants to annoy me) that
I no longer qualify for a car.

WIth ours we initially had to pay for fuel ourselves (except on company travels), now we get a Tankkarte
but have to pay 50 Euros per month (before tax) for the privilidge...

Be also aware that the tax levied for having a company car is fairly high - the further you live from your office the higher the tax is!

That sounds good to me. I've 8 years IT experience in development and I'm on 44k + bonus (usually works out at €3k) and get no car and have no future option to get a car. Been here 2 years and they won't give me a payrise! Go for it!

Hi,
I think you got yourself a decent deal if its a permanent offer. Maybe 5k less as per current going rates . If you are working for or as a consultant then anything less than 65k would be a raw deal.
Dont be tempted into converting the Euro(w.r.t your savings) ,as you would wind up paying atleast 500 Rupees for a simple chicken curry :-) ,no doubt you earn more but you spend a lot too. Having said that,it all boils to your lifestyle and financial targets.

Good luck!

But, really, you can't expect that in Germany. I have received (even in the best of times) 5% of my salary as a raise. I haven't had a raise in the 5 years I've been in Germany.
I think you'd be doing OK with the offer you have (well, better than OK). But, keep your expectations about the raises to yourself or you will have a load of Germans laughing in your face.

It is a permanent offer and as you said, it is a decent offer. Also, since the payraises per year are very minimal, i am just trying to land up in a good deal and IMHO 50 - 55 K without bonus looks to be a good deal

So, like, tell us what it is you do...what is your 'special' qualification?

Jesus Christ on a fucking pogo stick! What...is...the...job? What...do...you...do?

he...is...TheOne!

Thank feck for that, maybe he can clear up the whole spoon question, that's worth 50,000 a year for starters.

spoon there is none!

I thought you were the One?

I do not exist.

_{This is an automated response please do not reply}

yes, i know. unbelievable! the car is cheapest for those who live closest to the company, but if so, they could take the bike or public transport!

take the offer TheOne!

Now that I officially have "work from home" the distance to my office is zero

Are you quite sure this is why your mates were calling you this?
Nothing to do with Betamax?
Or were they all lazy Geordies who never finished a sentence?
Can you fit an entire computer in your head?
Peripherals included?
Do you talk to mice?
On what day did Marathon become Snickers?
Why do my farts smell like toast?
Is it rude to shake hands when you kiss?
Who killed Bambi?
Was Vasquez a lezzer?
How come Janeway used to eye up Sevenofnine like that?
What was that dinner with Darth Vader and Han Solo really like in Empire Strikes Back?*
Why do women always break into pairs to go to the toilet, yet it would be unwise to have one as a wingman?
Without consulting Google, why is Javascript called Javascript when it has absolutely sweet McFecal to do with Java?
What is my main purpose in life?

_{*"Would you like some more wasabi with your nerf giblets Captain Solo? You'll need all your strength if I'm going to torture you for the fun of it."}

40K per year ain't bad for a software developper with a few years experience.. The annual average salary in Germany for a programmer is reported by the government to be 34980 euros for a computer programmer.

I'd expect it to be a bit higher in the big cities thus.