IT and computer science job market in Berlin

Hello !

I will finish very soon my studies in computer science in France, and I am currently looking to work in Berlin.

So I wonder about many things :

• What is the computer science market work in Berlin ? is it easy to found a job ?
• Do you think there is any possibility to work (at least at first) only in English ? As the average English level in Germany is better than in France, and it's in computer science... I want of course learn German, but to start... Maybe these question is often asked here... I apologize if it's the case
• Do you know what salary I can expect, as beginner computer science engineer ?

I hope that someone here could answers to some of these questions, or if anyone have some experience of this situation, any feedback could be great !

bye !

Mat

P.S.: This my first post on this forum, so "Hello everyone !"

hmmm...it depends on what you mean by computer science. If you are willing to program (e.g. work as a developer) then there might be some options.
I work with no German language experience, however, as time goes by, you are expected to learn more German.

There are jobs, and in some cases having fluent English and minimal German is OK - it really depends on the specific job and the company's marketplace.

However salaries for programmers in Berlin, especially without specific market experience are not great. Remember that there are thousands of Java programmers coming out of the universities. In general you will have to expect to work your way into some specific industry knowledge, and then the salaries go up - although even then, Berlin is not the best place for a good salary. However Berlin is a cheap city to live, and in my opinion the best city to live in in Germany, if not Europe.

Hi there-

I was just looking at international job Monster (www.monster.com) and there were definitely some programming jobs.

http://jobview.monster.ca/GetJob.aspx?JobI...3a00&seq=24

Saw that in English- so I thought I would pass it on- might give you an idea of things.

xman99, you say that you work with German language experience, do you mean than when you have started, you didn't speak German at all ? Because this is my case now, I have few notions, but definitely not enough to read a full paper or speak with someone... I will learn of course, but for the beginning...

And when I say in computer science, it's as developer yes, software engineering.

colinmanning, do you have a idea more or less for the salary ? I don't want to go there to became the richest man ever but I will may have to travel... and it could become expensive.
Just to compare, in France, it's around 28 000 - 30 000€ for a year (taxes not included), but maybe it's not correct to compare that with salary in Berlin, as you said, Berlin seems to be a cheap place to live. And for the few I have seen, I agree with you about the quality of life in Berlin

When you say that there is thousands of developers coming out from universities, that mean it's not that easy to find a job in this field ? The situation is the opposite in France, there is not enough student to fill all the needs... (by the way, if someone want to work in computer science in France, there is a lot of offers ! )

Well, a lot of thanks to both of you, and if you have just names of company in Berlin that I can maybe contact, where the working language is English, it could be very helpful for me !

Thanks again !

Mat

Edit : Zobirdie, it's exactly this kind of announce I was searching for ! Thank you !

mat:
I do not speak German at all. I conduct my work in English. All others speak German. But I am expected to learn.
About the salary, i do not know. I would expect to be a little bit higher in germany. I was not straight out of the university when I started to work in berlin, so I got a little bit more. I suppose a normal beginners salary in berlin would be about 30-32 T €.
If you are interested at applying at my company, just send me a PM

not sure what your experience is but ableton is sometimes hiring application developers. ableton.com

Glad I could help, Mat! Just search monster.. there seemed to be many that I saw!

It really does depend on your experience, and what you did in college. What I said is that there are thousands of Java developers, and this is true. Outside the commercial Java world, I am not sure what the situation is for jobs. Most Berlin companies are small, and will take university graduates initially on a "Prakticum" basis (i.e. trainee, and not much money). If the company can afford it, and you do well, then you'll get a regular job. I think if you are a new graduate, and programming in Java, then I'd say don't expect more that 30K for this first regular job.

However beware that many German software companies are more service based, rather than product based, so the employees often have to deal directly with customer issues, and so German language is important. My company is a product based company, and everybody speaks English, and we have customers worldwide - especially in the USA. However developers would be expected to speak German, as that is the day to day language in the R&D team.

I suggest you start working on your German language skills immediately. Go to the Deutche Welle web site - they have a really good introduction course you can download for free as podcasts. That will get you moving with the basics pretty quickly. If a prospective employer sees that you are aworking on your German language skills, then your chances of getting in the door for your first job will be increased dramatically.

Lots of luck, and I hope it works out, and you get to Berlin.

Alot might depend on what lingos you wanna program in I'd say. I see a massive difference in demand for different types of programming between the UK and here, but I've not looked for a job in France for a while, so cannot comment on that.

cosine, I actually don't have this 2 years experience they ask for, but I have made some internship ("Prakticum"), so maybe it can still be possible... So I will try, thanks ! (and funny thing, I will receive a ableton product soon, with a music tool I have order !)

colinmanning, I'm not really "designed" for one language or one technologie, I have learn Java, C, C++, some web, database language etc. It's the purpose of my school, to be able to easily adapt to a new technologie. I hope it could have any interest for a company.
So I will try the program of Deutche Welle web site, I have already done some lessons, it seems to be a good way to (at least), start German, thanks !

so, don_riina, it's what I have said before, I can adapt myself to different language, I'm in a 5 month internship in Flex, a language that I had never seen before, and it's ok. I'm open

and Zobirdie, I will look on Monster now, I didn't knew that it was a worldwide job-research website, my bad !

xman99 -> PM

So, thanks everyone, I will keep you in touch about how it will be !

It's good not to be tied to one language or approach, however in the job market you will really need to build up experience of working with real world solutions before you can expect the money to start rolling. Good that you are already doing a Practikum, so the next step is to build up real world experience.

Do keep in mind, that a German company will of course nearly always take a native German speaker with English language skills (most young Germans have good English language skills) ahead of a non-native German speaker if two candidates have similar experience. So you need to really focus on building up your profile so that in an interview you come out looking stronger than the competition.

Of course I understand that a company will prefer a German native speaker, but if they need a lot of people, more than available people (it's a bit this situation in France), maybe I can have a chance... I will try !

I came to Germany 7.5 years ago without any knowledge of German language. I started working in English and my company sponsored my German classes. After a while they expect you to start speaking German since even if we are an international company, speaking the local language helps. Speaking French can be useful depending in the type of company you work (I speak Spanish and Portuguese and that definitely helped), you might try French companies in Germany.

The big difference is that I have/had lot of experience in an specific business and that's sometimes more important than your technical know how.

Salaries are not the best in Germany, you can expect something around 1200 Euros nett if you just graduated, at least in the Berlin/Brandenburg area.

There is the crux of the problem - as I said earlier, I think there are more Computer Science (Informatik) graduates in Berlin that there are jobs, so I don't expect it to be easy. Again, as I mentioned earlier, and Krieg indicates, you need to get some form of specific business experience to be able to move up the ladder. Thus it may be best to get this first in French speaking countries, and in a year or two look to make the move here - when your value will be higher.

I actually work there... It's a good company. Being French-Canadian I would like to have a French speaking coworker. They don't expect me to speak German... but it helps if you can after some time. You can expect between 1500 and 2000 € nett (after taxes, health insurance, etc).

Tell me if I can help you.

I was just about to post a new topic on a very similar subject, but just saw this thread instead.

I am a freelance IT project manager specialising in mobile telecoms. I was in Berlin earlier this year for a temporary assignment and loved it. So, now I am thinking about whether to move here permanently.

However, I am really not sure about what kind of work would be available for me in Berlin. I've been regularly checking Gulp, Monster and Stepstone, but there are very few project management jobs requiring English language ability and certainly none in telecoms, let alone my specialist field. As a project manager, you are really expected to know the local language as you have to communicate with everyone on the project, plus stakeholders. So, I would be looking at a total English environment until my German got up to scratch. I speak basic conversation, but nowhere near business level.

I have had mixed advice from my former colleagues in Berlin. Most tell me there is no telecoms work in Berlin - a lot of the big firms, eg Alcatel have packed up and left. The big operators are elsewhere - Vodafone in Düsseldorf, for example. The alternative would be to go for a general project management job outside of telecoms. However, this would mean a massive pay cut.

So, I have a couple of options: return to Berlin and study German full time while job hunting; alternatively, take an assignment elsewhere, keep checking the job sites and then make a strategic move back to Berlin. I guess at the end of the day it depends on badly I want to live in Berlin.

So, if anyone had any knowledge of the local IT market in Berlin, especially wrt freelance work or telecoms, don't hesitate to reply to this thread or drop me a mail.

30k gross is more than enough in Berlin. The average household income for Berlin is only 1600 netto...
When I first came to Berlin my girlfriend was earning that and it supported the two of us comfortably...

Unfortunately I had to then get myself a job...

Hello all,
I'm looking to relocate to Berlin. I speak good German and have a higher degree in Computer Science. One of the areas I would be looking for find work in would be software development. Pretty much all of my programming experience comes from the stuff I developed during my PhD. One thing I know from here in Ireland is that employers/job ads specify a certain level of corporate experience, (say 2+ years for example), which I obviously do not have so my applications aren't really considered. Similarly, when I apply for Junior/entry level developer positions my application is rejected because I am deemed to be overqualified. Can any IT guys or software developers currently working in Berlin give me an idea of the state of the job market over there? (I can work in Java [although with limted J2EE exp admittedly], Perl, PHP, and have some C++ development experience).

Thanks for any help

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