Your ticket to Berlin as a Software Engineer — Part 1
Germany is the 4th largest economy in the world as of this writing. Berlin is the capital of Germany. After Brexit, Berlin became the biggest tech center in Europe. 1000s of new opportunities are created daily for tech-related jobs here in Berlin. From Meta and Amazon, there are a lot of tech companies out there here.
Software engineering in Germany is driven mainly by new technologies and practices. Generally, companies don’t have many QA engineers, so the quality of the output solely lies with the engineer who builds it. As per my understanding, the most popular programming languages are Java, JavaScript, and Go, and knowing Kotlin, Scala, or Typescript on top of these might help.
German is the main language in Germany, but as Berlin is a multicultural city you can get by with English just fine. Berlin has a welcoming atmosphere and the community here is open and inclusive. Berlin has a rich history which you can spend time with. There are a lot of parks you can take an evening stroll. Veganism is high and nigh. Berlin is a hotspot food scene & partying hard (Really, they have 36-hour-long parties). It is nice for families as well because healthcare and education are free
As I can see, there are two ways for you to get hired and move to Berlin.
- Directly apply for the job postings you like
- Recruiter reach out
Tech companies in Berlin offer generous relocation packages. These packages can be varied from one-time lump-sum payments to fully assisted relocation support with a relocation agent. These relocation packages are made to ease the pressure of moving to a new country. In most scenarios, companies are willing to relocate the entire family. For reference, I have seen relocation budgets vary from 2.500 euros to 10.000 euros
Another important factor to consider is the salary. For Visa reasons, you should at least get paid 56.400 euros per annum. More on this later.
If you are in tech and if you’re planning a move to Berlin (or any other German city such as Munich or Cologne), the following can be helpful in securing an interview.
Clean up your Linkedin profile
Linkedin is going to be the medium for you to make the first contact with your future employer in Germany. Make sure you have cleaned up your Linkedin and that it is up to date. Add the necessary skills you have to your LinkedIn Skills section. Get your skills endorsed to help the LinkedIn algorithm to present you as a candidate to recruiters.
Take skill quizzes
These are not necessary but they are sure to be a fun experience. This is what LinkedIn has to say about it.
“It’s not mandatory for you to take the assessment. However, taking the assessment will help you stand out by showcasing that you have the desired skills of an ideal candidate, as well as increase your chances of getting noticed by other recruiters.”
Follow companies
Follow German tech companies on LinkedIn. You will be automatically notified if they post any job postings on LinkedIn
Build your connections
Building connections is necessary on LinkedIn. Add recruiters and HR people from companies you like for better reachability.
Make yourself “open to work”
In your profile, you have the option to make yourself open to working. LinkedIn says if you make yourself available it will try to make it invisible to the current company you’re employed. You can edit your job preferences from there. It will look like following
By now your LinkedIn profile is good to go.
As mentioned earlier there are 2 ways for you to apply for a job. But at this point in time, LinkedIn lacks filtering job opportunities with relocation support (Correct me if I am wrong). The only way to get around it is to go through the entire job posting to see if they give relocation support. That is where recruiters come in.
Since they are reaching out to you instead of the other way around, you’re bound to get a good deal. Technical recruiters may apply for one or multiple companies on your behalf. Be prepared, some technical recruiters may ask a few technical questions.
Now it comes to your CV.
Your CV shouldn’t exceed 2 pages. When making your CV follow the general guidelines. When describing the projects you did, use the XYZ format. It says you achieved X which is measured by Y by applying Z. An example of this would be
“Reduced production incidents by 50% QoQ by analyzing 10 root causes out of 30 production incidents in Q3. More information on this can be found below”
https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/google-recruiters-say-these-5-resume-tips-including-x-y-z-formula-will-improve-your-odds-of-getting-hired-at-google.html
It is important to spend some time improving your CV. After all, your CV is the one that does the talking.
By this point, you’re ready to make first contact with potential employers. If you haven’t received any messages from recruiters yet it is time for you to make the first move.
At this point, you have 2 options
1. Reach out to connections who are working in companies in Berlin
2. Directly applying from the careers pages of companies
Both options are good, but sometimes your application gets prioritized if it comes through as an internal referral. And for you, don’t be shy to reach out to a friend or a connection, as an internal referral most of the time pays the referrer for the successful referral.
This has already gone longer than I expected, so I will stop here and will do a follow-up writing on addressing how interviews are performed here and about the Visa process.
