How is Germany Job market

The IT

How is Germany or France job market? What skills needed there? Most of my experience is in cloud support (AWS, Openstack) and Linux support.

LeBroke

Fair warning, unless you speak fluent French, it'll be very difficult to get and keep a job in France (unless it's for an international primarily English-speaking company). Everyone there will speak great English, but will expect you to learn French pretty much right away.

Specifically job market, I've heard it's good in Germany (salaries on par with smaller non-tech US cities and lots of demand), but don't know any specifics. Cost of living is going to be so much less than Bay Area that it'll feel like moving to Atlanta or Buffalo.

From what I understand, they're generally more interested in the full DevOps package, as opposed to just cloud infrastructure, but I don't think you'd have much issue.

malachi1612

Job market in Germany (IT wise) seems to be good at the moment. Alot of IT jobs are asking for fluent German and English but I still have applied for jobs and got interviews. I cant speak German but I am learning, spent 9 months doing a night course for a German languages after work which has helped.

MeanDrunkR2D2

I'm currently searching for work in Germany at the moment and many of the roles that I'm seeing are wanting someone would good to fluent German speaking and writing skills. There are still quite a few that are only caring about English skills, but they are definitely fewer in number. I'd highly suggest picking up and learning German if that is something that is of interest to you. Other EU countries have more opportunities for those with just English skills, such at the Netherlands and Belgium also has many English jobs.

That said, if you have experience in cloud/devops skills it will be much easier to find those roles. Berlin tends to have a larger startup scene and work in English only for business reasons compared to many other parts of the country. Also, if you do not have at least a relevant BS degree, being able to get a Blue Card or Visa will be much more difficult without it.

I just started my search the past week and before I even started applying I was in contact with recruiters and other companies that saw I had an interest to relocate to those cities. (Primarily in NRW, Hesse and Bavaria) I'm just now starting to get contact back from recruiters and of course will continue to see what interviews come from that. I know that in my case it will be hard because I'll be relocating there and will need to pretty much sell everything I own here and move my family over with me and I don't have those German language skills yet. That said, it's time to get back to studying.

cochi78

I can confirm most of these statements. If you don't know German, you probably have the best chances in Berlin, at a startup or at (some) large enterprises. Frankfurt might work as well. Most other companies prefer someone who knows at least a little German and is learning along. From my impression, you'll get great support with learning in small/medium companies.

Cloud positions are open almost everywhere and the market is hot, as there's few candidates around. Jobs offered to me (as a German AWS consultant) seem to be clustered around Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich. I currently work in Hanover, but the market there seems to be a bit slow. From cost of living, I head food is considered cheap if you're coming from the US. Rent is high especially in Hamburg/Munich - but the pay is better as well. Considering cost of living and nightlife, Berlin is a good bet indeed.

If you have questions about specifics, just send me a message. I'll do my best to help out.

MeanDrunkR2D2

cochi78 wrote: »

I can confirm most of these statements. If you don't know German, you probably have the best chances in Berlin, at a startup or at (some) large enterprises. Frankfurt might work as well. Most other companies prefer someone who knows at least a little German and is learning along. From my impression, you'll get great support with learning in small/medium companies.

Cloud positions are open almost everywhere and the market is hot, as there's few candidates around. Jobs offered to me (as a German AWS consultant) seem to be clustered around Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich. I currently work in Hanover, but the market there seems to be a bit slow. From cost of living, I head food is considered cheap if you're coming from the US. Rent is high especially in Hamburg/Munich - but the pay is better as well. Considering cost of living and nightlife, Berlin is a good bet indeed.

If you have questions about specifics, just send me a message. I'll do my best to help out.

This is what I've seen so far from both my travels, as well as my short time applying/interviewing for German jobs. The biggest obstacle that I can find now is my lack of German skills, which I am working on. For me, I'm not targeting Berlin as it's not quite my cup of tea, but instead I'm looking at Munich, Cologne/Bonn and Frankfurt as they are more my speed. They love my experience and schooling, but it's the language barrier that will make it the most difficult for me as there are only so many companies that work in English or would bring in someone in the process of learning German. I know once I can get to a B2 level I will open many more doors.

Also, I would echo that food is as a whole much cheaper than it is in the US and I live in the midwest with relatively cheap food at the grocery stores. Rent is definitely higher in comparison from where I live today compared to those cities that I'm looking at unless I'm further out from the center of Cologne. Pay wise, for similar roles it's actually higher in those cities compared to where I live today which is honestly not what I was expecting because of the doom/gloom spread by the locals on the r/germany subreddit.