
Ask HN: Money or Quality of Life? - throwaway28419
I am a Backend Developer (Java&#x2F;Spring ecosystem) working as a Tech Lead in Bangalore, India with 14+ years of experience. I have a salary of around 6M INR before tax (~76K EURO) which is in the higher bracket considering salaries in Bangalore.<p>I have an offer in a startup in Berlin, Germany as a Sr. Developer. The salary is 76K EURO + 5K EURO joining bonus, before tax which is above average considering salaries in Berlin. The company is ready to take care of relocation and visa.<p>I have a wife and 2 yr old daughter.<p>As you can see, if I move to Germany I will have to take a huge cut on my monthly savings. I am not a rich person however I am debt free with strong savings - so I can take this hit for a couple of years if not more. The key motivation for moving out of India is to get PR, settle in better city&#x2F;country in Europe, get international experience, a better quality of life, good education and future opportunities for my daughter, good health care.<p>Is it worth it? How can I make it worth? I am doing something wrong or missing some other options?
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frnkng
What’s the opionion of your wife? Will she be happy there? Do you have family
members or friends already living there?

Otherwise: prepare for some difficult months after arrival until you have
built up network of friends. However finding new friends should be doable as
you have a little daughter. Going to the Kindergarten or public play grounds
is a good opportunity to meet new people and to find new friends.

Be prepared for: a) bad weather in the winter months. b) high taxes + health
insurance + social security payments. c) (maybe) the requirement to downsize
your life style. You can have a decent life on 75k. However ~10% of all
Germans will earn more money than you.

Edit: You want to enhance the quality of life by moving to another location.
May I ask what’s your personal preferences regarding quality of life? What
limits the quality of life in Bangalore?

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throwaway28419
Thank you for the reply frnkng. By quality of life I mean:

1\. Better education and future for my daughter. Lesser gender
discriminaition.

2\. Better infrastructure and government facilities for the tax paid (30% in
Bangalore)

3\. Free and good health care

4\. Better career growth and opportunities in terms of moving to
freelancing/consulting, attending conferences/meetups, working with
international and bright minds

5\. Less pollution

6\. Less crime and relatively less corruption

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CyberFonic
It is very hard to compare Berlin with Bangalore, the climate, culture, vibe,
etc are very different. I have been to both cities many years ago, they are
polar opposites in so many ways.

I have family who have studied and worked in Berlin. Their biggest stumbling
block was learning German well enough for everyday life. Granted that in tech
circles English is widely spoken, but you need good German fluency to handle
everyday interactions and the bureaucracy. The laws are very strict,
especially with regards to traffic.

Knowing English allows you to pick up rudimentary German quickly, but it
progressively becomes very difficult. I have studied German to matriculation
level and still find it difficult to carry on fluid conversations with native
speakers. Reading documents takes a long time, especially unpacking the
compound words.

Often people make friends among expats of their ethnicity which in turn
hampers the longer term integration into German community / society. Your wife
might have more difficulty in this area as she would not have a network of
contacts built from work colleagues.

Echoing @frnkng, you might find the purported quality of life hampered by the
limited disposable income.

