
Ask HN: Full Stack developer offer from Berlin - haidrali
Hello HN<p>I am a full stack developer comfortable with working on FrontEnd, BackEnd and Deployment layers, have +3 years of experience working in industry and have few personnel products as well. I got offer from Berlin, Germany. The company is a Interior design company and have small development team.Should I accept offer or should I start my start up I am thinking about starting a start up.<p>Please help me decide your advice will be highly appreciated, Also advice from anyone from Berlin, Germany will be good for me<p>Thanks
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playing_colours
I am from Berlin working at some startup company. If I were you, I would go to
Berlin, if you satisfy Blue Card requirements. Within 2-3 years you can learn
how startup market works in Berlin, find good connections. In 3 years afair
you can apply for permanent residency. It means you don't need to work for
some company, and you can start your business / consultancy. I guess you may
have better opportunities here to find investors, hire people and grow your
business than in Pakistan.

Berlin is a friendly city with a lot of foreigners from EU, Eastern Europe,
Middle East, etc so you won't feel like a stranger here.

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haidrali
thanks for your comment. Can you please tell about how much is living
costs/per month for a single person

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orless
Around 1000-1500 would give you a pretty good quality of life, but you can
also go lower than that.

If you're single an young, consider finding a "WG" \- it's when several people
live together in a big appartment with own rooms but shared kitchen. That's
normally a student thing but that's quite cheap and can help integration. But
that's also does not suit everybody.

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orless
Where are you now? In Germany? Which city? Do you have a permit to stay/work
(Niederlassungserlaubnis or similar) or are you a "native"?

I'm not from Berlin but my impression is that it's an interesting city to work
and live. Has highest concentration of the startup scene in Germany. Cost of
living is lower than in other places like Frankfurt or Munich, but salaries
are also somewhat lower.

So the whole thing really depends on your personal situation, your goals and
the offer that you have. If you tell more about yourself you might get a
better advice.

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haidrali
Currently I am in Pakistan and have two offers for full stack developer from
Berlin, Germany. One from 1aim - Berlin, Germany and second from homify.de its
also in Berlin, Germany. 1aim is providing me visa assistance, limited
relocation support and free basic housing until I find my own place to live
while homify.de providing assistance in relocation ( I have to apply for visa
by myself )

I need to quote my expected salary to both, I would be thankful if you help me
what should I ask for. My goal is to have my own startup in a year or so ...

Thank you so much for reply

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atroyn
How much experience do you have? 40K gross should be your floor (this is about
28k net which is plenty to live well in Berlin).

I don't know either of these companies or their founders, but it sounds like
1aim is much more relocation friendly and therefore better established.

Getting a residence permit for tech workers in Berlin is straightforward, and
a company's willingness to walk you through the process is a good signal they
care about their team.

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haidrali
I have +3 year of experience. 40K ( per year right ?? )

Yes 1aim is looking much better and they have mostly people from outside
Germany.

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atroyn
40k Euro per year, gross. This comes out to about 28k after tax, depending on
your marital and family status. This is more than enough to live on - if
you're smart, you can easily save 50% of that every month, while still living
the good life.

You're at a career stage where you want to try to ramp up responsibility, so
an established team that's in the process of scaling is where I'd want to be.
Too early and you'll be too swamped to work effectively, too late and you
won't get the responsibility you want.

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tlubinski
Do it. Great city, great way of living. Already a lot of good answers here. I
spent more than 15 years here and still love it.

