Jobs in Munich without speaking much German

I'm an Aussie currently living in London for the past 2 years who is thinking of having a break from that city and trying somewhere else in Europe. I don't want to try and make another Munich vs London comparison thread as I've read plenty of those on these forums already. I was just wanting to get an idea of how realistic this is given that I will probably only speak fairly basic German by the time I get over there.

In particular how difficult would it be to get a job in the IT industry, I've got about 4.5 yrs experience total with a mix of programming, sysadmin and technical support. I had the impression that most large companies and IT-specific companies (eg. software companies) would operate in English? If this is so is lack of German-fluency likely to be a show-stopper when looking for work? Does anyone here have any experience with being in this situation and looking for IT-related work?
(I'm a UK and therefore EU citizen so don't have to worry about visas/sponsorship etc.)

http://www.amadeus.com/careers

I'm guessing but I dont think lack of German is a problem. Ive met quite a few people who worked in IT with little German, but I cannot say for sure.

Depends...not having it will limit you in a lot of places.

It depends on what you want to do in IT world. If you want to be consultant you may experience difficulties because you won't be able to read the specifications which are in German for example and also you will have communication issues with the client if its english is not good. And this is the reason why some company may hesitate to hire you. But if you have a good experience, they also may don't care.

If you want to work in "intern" (I mean without direct contact to the client, for instance in a software editor company, there shouldn't be any problem.

I work in IT consulting and I had difficulties to find a job because I didn't speak German and I had no experience but I managed it however so you can do it too!

Over the years I've had three IT related jobs in Munich without any need for German.

And I know quite a few people who have worked here without the language.

There are even jobs advertised in the big papers' job sections that are only in English.

Having said that, not having business level German does, of course, limit your choices.

Gulp.de is a very good website for IT jobs.

Good luck.

TPWNN

Thanks, that's encouraging. I'm making an effort to learn as much German as possible before I go but realistically there's no way it will be up to business level by the time I get there. Of course one of my reasons for living somewhere in Europe besides the UK would be to learn another language, so hopefully I'd pick it up properly once over there. Of course to live there in the first place I need a job :-)

I have been here for the last 7 years working in IT...didnt need German when I started! Of course I have learnt it on the way. The company I am in is very international so they need English speakers. I think we are also looking for programmers - support...got any SAP knowledge?

drop me a PM if you want and I can give you more details about the company, give me a brieft description of your experience aswell...