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What’s on this week?

Let me help you with your CV. Female software developers in Germany might be earning more than their counterparts. Salaries across the country rose 4.1% in 2023. Foreigners are learning German.

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Insider Tips & Guides: Access 50+ free guides to living, working, and moving to Berlin. Whether navigating bureaucracy or finding the best local spots, I’m here to help you easily navigate life in Germany.

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Authentic Stories: Enjoy a personal touch from me with stories, rants, and reflections that make the newsletter informative and enjoyable.

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- Eleanor, Munich

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- Liudmyla, Germany

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The Berlin Life - Weekly Newsletter

Personal News & Musings

🫣 Sometimes, I’ll overshare and/or rant a bit.

Unconventional advice: We all know that Germany is short of workers, and it’s getting worse each year. We need people – desperately! However, it feels like the focus is always on tech. There are ample opportunities outside the tech bubble – take nurses and teachers, for example. The country is also short on farmers and tradespeople, including electricians, plumbers, and more. You could make a decent living in any one of these areas. While the professional path to these various professions may be tedious or outright difficult (i.e., learning German or taking additional courses), there are viable options beyond tech.

Read: The Most Highly Demanded Jobs in Germany

⭐ I’m excited to share news about an intensive CV workshop I’m hosting in August. In this workshop, I’ll teach you how to write a CV for the German market. Have you been looking for a job in Berlin and found you’re not getting responses from employers? Let’s change that by working together.

The two-hour session will include:

An intro about the main purpose of a CV and how that informs your approach to job applications.

Step-by-step guidance about designing and structuring the various aspects of a German CV, including the Professional Profile statement, Experience, Skills, and more. Learn how to customize your CV for individual applications, as well as methods on how to

Suggestions on what to do and, more importantly, what not to do with German CVs.

1<>1 time together – I’ll review your CV and give you actionable feedback on the spot.

Sign up now to get in on the early-bird pricing of €25.

Community News

🤝 News from our community.

⭐ This week’s featured Berlin Life guides are: Is Changing Employers In Germany A Good Idea? and FAQ: Unsolicited (or Cold) Applications In Germany.

⭐ If you missed it, read last week’s newsletter: Would You Visit an Alcohol-Free Beer Garden? To dig into our past editions, explore our archives.

Food For Thought

💡 Interesting articles about the world of work and other random things.

As a foreigner in Germany, what level of German language fluency have you achieved

I asked the community how far they’ve come with their German language learning, and it was refreshing to see that 60% of respondents are at B-level and beyond. I have no idea if these numbers are close to reality, but it’s fair to say that newcomers to Germany are going out of their way to learn German.

When you ask about learning German on Twitter, the responses it invokes are wild. Some people are upset that some foreigners don’t actively learn German and achieve fluency immediately. They further claim foreigners are trying to impose English on Germans. Weirdly, the lectures were not coming from Germans.

My hot take? I always advise people to learn German, as it increases their chances of finding work and helps them settle into their new life more easily. At the same time, I don’t judge people who don’t make an effort or take a longer time to learn. Moving to a new country, starting a new job, etc., are all huge deals, so learning German might not immediately be someone’s top priority. For those who never learn, it’s on them to decide how they want to live. *ends rant*

💎 Other Bonus Gems

A developer salary report released by Honeypot shows that women earn more than men in Germany. It provides other interesting insights, such as that DevOps jobs pay the most, and junior developers with German language skills earn more than those without those skills.

⭐ Unfortunately, they didn’t specify the dataset (how many people were surveyed), so don’t take the results at face value. National stats in 2024 still show that men overwhelmingly earn more than women in almost all professions in Germany.

⭐ Read our guides for more advice on salary negotiation – Why Knowing Salary Ranges in Germany is Essential & A Practical Guide to Negotiating Salary in Germany.

Telegram’s user base has grown close to one billion users.

⭐ Instead of taking responsibility for accidentally deploying a bad build, Microsoft is blaming the EU for the CrowdStrike debacle.

⭐ OpenAI is set to launch SearchGPT, which would not only compete with Google but also give attribution to the content it scrapes when it delivers results.

People are resisting going ”all in” on AI, and some companies have had to change their strategy quickly after receiving backlashes.

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Companies Hiring 

🇩🇪 German companies that are hiring right now. 

⭐ HELIX HUB (Berlin, 1 job, DE required)

⭐ Raisin (Berlin & Hamburg, 45 jobs EN required)

⭐ Salesforce (Germany-wide, 35 jobs, EN &/or DE required)

⭐ SocialHub (Ingolstadt, 4 jobs EN & DE required)

⭐ THE VERSE Ventures (Berlin, 1 job, EN & DE required)

⭐ Trivago (Düsseldorf, 15 jobs EN and/or DE required)

⭐ WebMD (Munich & Konstanz, 6 jobs, EN & DE required)

German startups that recently received funding.

⭐ bunch (€15.5 M) | Berlin | Jobs

⭐ CatalYm (€150 M) | Munich | Jobs

⭐ deepc (€12 M) | Munich | Jobs

⭐ TRAIT (€1 M) | Berlin | Jobs

While lower than in previous weeks, €179 M was pumped into the German economy over the past week!

ℹ️ We post new jobs on LinkedIn every single day. Follow us to learn about employment opportunities in Germany (and other bonus content). 💪​​

News in Germany

🗞️ All of the news in Germany.

Germans Around the World

⭐ The average salary in Germany rose 4.1% in 2023 to €3,796 per month. Wage gaps between genders persist, and Hamburg boasts the country’s highest earners.

⭐ Sadly, one in five pensioners receives less than €1,200 per month.

⭐ In 2025, those living on Bürgergeld (a form of long-term unemployment benefits) will face stricter conditions to continue to receive their monthly stipend.

⭐ Recent census numbers show that one in five people are foreigners in Germany, with the biggest groups being from Poland, Russia, and Turkey.

⭐ A guy from Chile shares what it’s like to be an international student in Germany.

⭐ The German government has ruled that Syria is “safe” for returnees, despite the ongoing war, and may deny future asylum claims on this basis.

⭐ Oh damn! Points to the government. Due to digitalization efforts, citizenship applications are now being processed three times faster in Berlin.

⭐ Those who manage to nab German citizenship will be able to vote in the next election, which is set for September 2025.

⭐ Climate protestors were back at it again, closing down the Frankfurt airport earlier this week. Just as dumb as this particular form of protest, someone is purposely poisoning trees in Berlin.

⭐ Eyeroll. Berliners are AGAIN closing down public pools because of people getting into fights. Despite fights, Berlin has plenty of lakes for swimming enthusiasts.

⭐ In Jaws news, do you know there are 18 different types of sharks swimming around the Baltic Sea?

⭐ The Deutsche Bahn is not doing so hot these days, posting big financial losses and expecting to cut 30,000 jobs.

⭐ Germany’s emergency system has been found to be inefficient, with service levels varying from state to state. Major reforms are being called for to address the situation.

⭐ Post Corona, Berlin museums have seen a spike in visitors, with interest in smaller, niche museums also increasing.

⭐ Sonneberg, a town run by Germany’s far-right, will host their first ever Pride event. After the Auslander Raus incident on Sylt, punks (and others) are “invading” the island, setting up camp, and staging demos against the far-right.

⭐ Germany and Turkey are battling it out over the protected status of the Döner.

⭐ Two sisters who saw their grapes destroyed in 2021’s flooding were just bestowed with a prestigious Winery of the Year award.

⭐ According to The Berliner, Wei House is one of the best Chinese restaurants in Friedrichshain.

How We Can Help

😇 Good stuff from the Berlin Life.

⭐ Connect with local professionals with our LinkedIn Connect and Exchange list.

⭐ Save money with our partners as you settle into your new life in Germany.

⭐ Benefit from our career coaching (and other services).

⭐ Read our 50+ free guides to living, working, and moving to Germany.

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Cheryl Howard, Founder @ The Berlin Life

Cheryl Howard, Founder @ The Berlin Life

Hi, I’m Cheryl. My mission is to help you move to Berlin and find work.

A Canadian in Berlin for 10+ years, I have the unique experience of moving to Berlin – not once, but twice. During my time in Berlin, I’ve had five different visas and worked as both a freelancer and a permanent employee for numerous Berlin companies. I even managed to find a new job during the pandemic and again in 2023, during Germany’s recession and massive layoffs in tech. 

My day job has involved work as a hiring manager, overseeing the recruitment of countless people, as well as a team coach helping teams and individuals work better and find happiness in their careers. Through my side projects, I’ve also shared my personal experiences by publishing a series of helpful blog posts, creating a thriving community of job seekers, and hosting events to help people find work in Berlin. In 2021, I decided to put my coaching and recruiting talents to use by creating The Berlin Life, bringing my existing content and community together in one spot.

The combination of my personal and professional experience means I know exactly what it takes to move to Berlin and find work.