Do you know anything about living and working in Germany?

Bog Butter

I'd loved to live and work in Germany for a while so I could become fluent in German. I know a bit from school. Would anybody have any ideas or insight on where to start. For instance, is there a particular part of Germany where i'd most likely find work? I was thinking of trying the Irish bars over there.

Nody

Well for starters realize that Germans are very strict on following the rules and regulations and they can be touchy about speaking English (thinking here for government agencies etc.). Also make sure you get all papers signed and stamped that you need before going.

As for jobs, I'd say you may find it difficult in general and the salaries will not be that impressive either. I know many Germans who came to Ireland in the first place for that reason.

axer

You might have a problem finding a job. Irish bars are always worth looking into if you have experience. Check out www.toytowngermany.com for a forum for english speaking ex-pats living in germany. They can help you specifically.

jester77

Germany is a good spot to live, high standard of living yet everything is reasonably priced. What qualifications do you have? Germans love their qualifications and some will even take it over experience! There are plenty of jobs in IT at the moment, not many in the car industry. If you have some basic German then you can get by, plenty of international companies that need English speakers.

Have a look here for jobs in English and also here for more casual type work.

Tom Dunne

jester77 wrote: »

There are plenty of jobs in IT at the moment,

Really? I thought they were being hit as hard as the rest of us. It is one country I would move to in a heartbeat (the other being the US ).

Interesting.

jester77 wrote: »

Have a look here for jobs in English and also here for more casual type work.

Must have a look. Thanks.

KTRIC

I'm living in Munich for 18 months now and the first thing I noticed was how rude and arogant people are here.

It doesn't seem to be the same outside the big cities though.

One thing you need to factor in when working here is the high tax's. Approximately one third goes to the tax man.

Tiesto

After having lived in Germany for a few years, I can only suggest not working in an Irish pub if you want to learn German.. If you want to learn it properly, your best off getting a job in a german establishment.

KTRIC

Tiesto wrote: »

After having lived in Germany for a few years, I can only suggest not working in an Irish pub if you want to learn German.. If you want to learn it properly, your best off getting a job in a german establishment.

Very true. I've picked up a lot working with Germans since I arrived, purely by listening to them converse.

jester77

Al O'Peica wrote: »

Really? I thought they were being hit as hard as the rest of us. It is one country I would move to in a heartbeat (the other being the US ).

The whole IT dept. got made redundant from my last company in September, everyone had a job lined up for when they finished. Lot of contractors in my dept. where I work now, they are saying that there is lots out there plus the company I work for now is struggling to find people and having to put back projects. It's not too bad here yet.

Bog Butter

Vielen danken fur all your info and links. I heard on the news that Germany is not been hit as hard as other European countries because of their social arrangments. I don't particularly mind that wages might not be as high as here. I hava a BA in Humanities and I worked as an archaeologist for 3 years.

fowley

malman wrote: »

I don't particularly mind that wages might not be as high as here. I hava a BA in Humanities and I worked as an archaeologist for 3 years.

i lived in germany (regensburg, outside munich) for a few months while doing an undergraduate project in the university, maybe you can try a job in research instead of a "real" job. ill be honest though i didnt learn much german, they all wanted to improve their english but i thought it was a great place to live, very nice people when you get talking to them.

uiscebeatha

Germany is being hit by global recession nut in different ways to us. Here everybody rents and hardly anyone owns their own home so property prices, negative equity etc isn't an issue. The fact that people aren't buying new cars is. Around my area, a lot of (car) factories are laying people off. This is having a huge knock on effect on hospitality. I know the manager at the local pizzahut and he said that people just aren't eating out anymore, or if they do they are ordering less, and in turn they are cutting back on staff hours.

I also agree with you not learning any german in an irish pub.

Also if learning German is an aim, make sure you move in with locals in a Wohngemeinschaft (flatshare). If you live alone you won't speak German all day. Even if the flatmates speak english to you, eg if they want to practise their english, you'll pick it up from hering them talk to each other.