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dannypoet
Joined: 08 Sep 2006
Posts: 24
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 Posted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:49 pm Post subject: Newbie wants to move to Berlin.... |
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Hi,
I've posted a few messages on various Eastern European boards too as I know the job market is tough in Berlin so just wanted to have a backup plan!
Anyway my story, I'm a 24 year old Brit, employed in I.T. who has fallen in love with Berlin, I'm at an age now where Im either going to have to
move onto the mortgage grind or do what I really want in life, while I earn a decent wage in the UK I don't really enjoy the culture, the crap infrastructure, the chavs and the rents are so high my decent salary still leaves me broke anyway!
So Ive really fallen in love with Berlin, I love everything about the place, the people, the culture, the architecture, the prices and the food!
I studied German for 2 years at School but it amounts to saying hello, introducing myself, ordering food and buying train tickets. So Ive enrolled on a Goethe Institute course in Manchester and am going to do a years evening courses before hopefully moving out to Berlin next summer.
Sorry for being so long winded but Ive seen newbies be slaughtered on these forums so thought it best if I give a little background first!
I'm looking to move over to Berlin next summer and should have around 4000 Euros saved up to bring with me, TEFL would be my first choice career but I appreciate the market is very tough, basically I can fund a flat share in a WG myself but am looking to earn enough to eat, drink and get around. Thing is I have a few questions as it looks very complicated.
1.Firstly really how bad is the TEFL market in Berlin, if I show up and do a CELTA in Berlin (for �1000) will it help me find a job more easily then doing my TEFL elsewhere first (its much cheaper in E.Europe).... Is there a chance my school will employ me after?
2.Is there any contracted work or is it all freelance? Am I best simply advertising my services in magazines/on lamposts or is there work to find out there?
3.How much would I be looking to earn and for how many hours?
4.Health insurance.... Ive read various websites that have left me confused... do I have to pay this even to register as living there or does it come off my salary as a pro-rata figure, obviously as a Brit I get free healthcare at home, is there any agreement between the UK and Germany which means I dont have to pay this? Basically how much is it going to cost me? If Im not working for a while do I still have to pay it?
5.Tax/Pension Fund etc etc.... Again how much will this cost me and if Im not working do I have to pay it. Also is it pro-rata to earnings. For example in the UK you dont pay any income tax until you earn at least 700 Euros a month, is it similar in Germany?
6.Are there any extra financial costs I should be aware of (such as the dreaded council tax we have in the UK).
7.If I struggled to find work for a while or was between jobs is there any social welfare available or would they just tell me to piss off back to the UK?
8.Im an experience office worker who earns a decent crust in the UK, with a years German tuition and not being after the biggest salary in the World would I be able to find this sort of work if TEFL doesnt work out?
9.Will moving to Germany for a few years affect me in the UK with regards to tax/national insurance contributions etc?
10.Have I a cat in hells chance really!
Sorry for my long post! Danke for any help that might come my way. If you dont know the answer to all my questions any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Danny |
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Deicide
Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 1005
Location: Caput Imperii Americani
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:42 pm Post subject: Re: Newbie wants to move to Berlin.... |
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| dannypoet wrote: |
Hi,
I've posted a few messages on various Eastern European boards too as I know the job market is tough in Berlin so just wanted to have a backup plan!
Anyway my story, I'm a 24 year old Brit, employed in I.T. who has fallen in love with Berlin, I'm at an age now where Im either going to have to
move onto the mortgage grind or do what I really want in life, while I earn a decent wage in the UK I don't really enjoy the culture, the crap infrastructure, the chavs and the rents are so high my decent salary still leaves me broke anyway!
So Ive really fallen in love with Berlin, I love everything about the place, the people, the culture, the architecture, the prices and the food!
I studied German for 2 years at School but it amounts to saying hello, introducing myself, ordering food and buying train tickets. So Ive enrolled on a Goethe Institute course in Manchester and am going to do a years evening courses before hopefully moving out to Berlin next summer.
Sorry for being so long winded but Ive seen newbies be slaughtered on these forums so thought it best if I give a little background first!
I'm looking to move over to Berlin next summer and should have around 4000 Euros saved up to bring with me, TEFL would be my first choice career but I appreciate the market is very tough, basically I can fund a flat share in a WG myself but am looking to earn enough to eat, drink and get around. Thing is I have a few questions as it looks very complicated.
1.Firstly really how bad is the TEFL market in Berlin, if I show up and do a CELTA in Berlin (for �1000) will it help me find a job more easily then doing my TEFL elsewhere first (its much cheaper in E.Europe).... Is there a chance my school will employ me after?
2.Is there any contracted work or is it all freelance? Am I best simply advertising my services in magazines/on lamposts or is there work to find out there?
3.How much would I be looking to earn and for how many hours?
4.Health insurance.... Ive read various websites that have left me confused... do I have to pay this even to register as living there or does it come off my salary as a pro-rata figure, obviously as a Brit I get free healthcare at home, is there any agreement between the UK and Germany which means I dont have to pay this? Basically how much is it going to cost me? If Im not working for a while do I still have to pay it?
5.Tax/Pension Fund etc etc.... Again how much will this cost me and if Im not working do I have to pay it. Also is it pro-rata to earnings. For example in the UK you dont pay any income tax until you earn at least 700 Euros a month, is it similar in Germany?
6.Are there any extra financial costs I should be aware of (such as the dreaded council tax we have in the UK).
7.If I struggled to find work for a while or was between jobs is there any social welfare available or would they just tell me to piss off back to the UK?
8.Im an experience office worker who earns a decent crust in the UK, with a years German tuition and not being after the biggest salary in the World would I be able to find this sort of work if TEFL doesnt work out?
9.Will moving to Germany for a few years affect me in the UK with regards to tax/national insurance contributions etc?
10.Have I a cat in hells chance really!
Sorry for my long post! Danke for any help that might come my way. If you dont know the answer to all my questions any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Danny |
Welcome on board mate...you do have a lot of questions and I will do my best to answer them. I lived in Berlin for quite some time before being forced to depart , no EUpassport). You are right of course, Berlin is cheap, awesome, happening und ganz einfach eine sau geile Stadt.
I will try to answer your questions in numerical order. But first..Berlin is great city but unemplyment is at around 22%. People are all looking for work but if you are IT then don't get out of that sector, why because money, money, money and you most likely won't need German for an IT job but the fact is as a British national you can work doing anything since you are EU.
1. TEFL blows in Berlin and is much better in say a place like Cologne. There are some schools that are reputable but also rigorous in the hiring, The Berlin School of English comes to mind (tightasses all). Doing a TEFL in Berlin is irrelevant as you could just as well do it on the moon. I personally think doing it in Berlin (other than for kicks) is a waste of time, try Prague or someplace else.
2. Mate, getting a contracted EFL position in Berlin is like looking for a needle in a haystack because it involves so much work for the prospective employer. Freelancers on the other hand have to pay their own insurance and take care of their own business and have no fixed hours, see where I am going with this? Even as an Englishman you will have to eke out a living by taking several freelance positions. If you want to sell yourself, e-mail the relevant school your CV, a nice intro and a nice photo. They will tell you if they want to see you or not.
3. This is a really tough question. Depends, depends and depends again.
Large franchises (where it is easiest to get work) such as Berlitz, Wall Street and In Lingua pay jack shit, about 24 euros for a 1 and a half hour class, standard) and this is before taxes. At the top end, that is very exclusive unique schools you may get close to 36 or so. This is all before taxes. The second part of the question is too vague as I would need to know more about your lifestyle to know how many hours ou need to work.
4. No, there is no agreement between Germany and the UK and as I have already stated you will only be insured by the employer under the proviso that you are not a freelancer, i.e. Festangesteller. The chances of that are slim. Otherwise you will have to shell out your ouwn dough for insurance. Without being part of a plan expect to pay 300-500 euros monthly for insurance (as a freelancer). In theory you can get away without being insured as I was not insured the last few months before I left for Korea in order to save money, but don't do that unless you have to.
5. That is half accurate. There are diffferent Steuerklassen (tax categories) in Germany and it will really depend on how much you earn and you would have to tell me the sum. Rough estimate...you are looking at 40% or there abouts. Say you are taking in 2000 gros a month, knock that down to 1200 net, that's realistic. There are some tricks. for example if you have left the Church and have documentation for this you will not have to pay church tax. Still that won't help much. Germany, more specifically Berlin is a wellfare city, expect them to leech you dry.
6. The question is way too vague. Be more specific, I need a context.
7. Tricky one. You could apply for Sozialhilfe (welfare) but there are consequences for that and Germans have top priority. I would not do it unless you are starving.
8. You could, you could, you could....but Berlin and eastern Germany are the worst places to do it. Munich, Hamburg, the Ruhrpott, Duesseldorf and Cologne are much better bets. As I said earlier I would look to do computer work first and EFL a distant second.
9. As someone who is not a UK national I don't know off the top of my head. I could e-mail an English mate of mine and check up on it though.
10. Of course you have a chance but as I said Berlin is hard and tricky. I like to say that Berlin is a double edged sword: it is a hip, fat ass place to live with tons going on, interesting people and dirt cheap food and rent but there is little work and it is going down the tube more and more financially. It could work out, it could not. As I said before you are EU and that is the most important part of it all. Give it a try, at 24 Iwouldn't even be breaking a sweat...go for it mate 
If you need more info or have more specific questions, feel free to pm me...mach es gut, D |
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dannypoet
Joined: 08 Sep 2006
Posts: 24
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| Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:58 pm Post subject: |
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Deicide thankyou so much for your help, you've answered pretty much every question I have. The route Im going to go down first is to try and transfer my job to Berlin, or at least get a similar one there. My company does have offices there I just dont know how possible it would be to transfer to a different country (and really a different organisation).
Oh dear, the thing that puts me off is the health insurance, as a Brit this is such a foreign concept for me. Here if I didnt have a job but was paying my rent myself that would be my only expense, but I could move to Berlin and not have a job for a month or two, living of my savings, and would still be paying 400 Euros a month, that sounds just horrific... I guess things might be a lot more expensive here but it has its benefits too, it would be the same if I had part time work or low paid work here I wouldnt pay any tax (and so in effect health) but in Germany I could be paying the majority of my wages out in insurance... This is definitely a spanner in the works and something Im going to have to think long and hard about, like you said Im only 24 and so if I lived a few months and had a good time while the money ran out that would be one thing, but this is one expense I didnt reckon on. Ah well we'll see how transferring my job goes.
Thanks again for your help! |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| 2. Mate, getting a contracted EFL position in Berlin is like looking for a needle in a haystack because it involves so much work for the prospective employer. Freelancers on the other hand have to pay their own insurance and take care of their own business and have no fixed hours, see where I am going with this? Even as an Englishman you will have to eke out a living by taking several freelance positions. If you want to sell yourself, e-mail the relevant school your CV, a nice intro and a nice photo. They will tell you if they want to see you or not. |
You might want to try a Volksschule. It is possible that you could teach IT English at one of these schools. I am sure that there are some people in Berlin who need to learn more about IT lingo. You might even market yourself to a company by saying that you can help train their employees in IT lingo.
As Decide said, there are definitly jobs in IT in which one does not need to speak German. One of my classmates did an internship for an IT company in Berlin. No one spoke German. There were a few Germans but mainly Indians, etc. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:25 am Post subject: |
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| I guess things might be a lot more expensive here but it has its benefits too, it would be the same if I had part time work or low paid work here I wouldnt pay any tax (and so in effect health) but in Germany I could be paying the majority of my wages out in insurance... |
Yes, I was studying at the University of Bayreuth before and was getting 400 Euros a month from a university scholarship. since I am a foreigner I had to prove that I had insurance to get a student visa. Even though my only income was 400 Euros a month I had to pay 90 Euros for insurance. What a joke? |
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Showem
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 31
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| Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 3:15 pm Post subject: |
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| If I currently worked in IT, was happy in IT and had experience in IT, I wouldn't start looking for work teaching English. Why not look for IT work? I know Berlin isn't exactly the Silicon Valley of Germany, but there must be companies there that will hire English speakers simply for their skill-set. Certainly is the case in Munich. |
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dannypoet
Joined: 08 Sep 2006
Posts: 24
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| Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 2:17 am Post subject: |
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| Lets just say Im pretty low down on the IT foodchain and not particually happy with it as a career though if I was living in a place I loved, and could afford (not Cheshire on either count), I might be able to grin and bare it. My IT skills aren't the best I kind of fell into this career as a temp and have just worked my way up a little. Im quite well paid (about �20k a year) but that doesnt go very far in Cheshire. Thats my reasons anyway. Its still my ambition to move to Berlin, only I dont think it will be possible down the IT route or the English route sadly. |
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Deicide
Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 1005
Location: Caput Imperii Americani
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| Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 5:02 am Post subject: |
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| dannypoet wrote: |
| Lets just say Im pretty low down on the IT foodchain and not particually happy with it as a career though if I was living in a place I loved, and could afford (not Cheshire on either count), I might be able to grin and bare it. My IT skills aren't the best I kind of fell into this career as a temp and have just worked my way up a little. Im quite well paid (about �20k a year) but that doesnt go very far in Cheshire. Thats my reasons anyway. Its still my ambition to move to Berlin, only I dont think it will be possible down the IT route or the English route sadly. |
Of course 20 k in the UK is peanuts...but in Berlin you can live like a king...unfortunately you can't earn that much either.... |
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poof
Joined: 23 May 2005
Posts: 161
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 3:51 am Post subject: |
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Just think of the switch as being from paying council tax to paying health insurance!
I've worked in Germany in the past, and I would also hands down opt to work there in a non-teaching job. If you could get a well-paid job in IT in Germany, you won't notice so much the large chunk going out on all the payments such as tax and all the insurances. I would never freelance as a teacher in Germany. Although having said that, I have my own side question, in that if for example, you got a full time IT job, could you also teach privately for extra income? Does anyone do this here? |
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Deicide
Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 1005
Location: Caput Imperii Americani
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| Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 3:56 am Post subject: |
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| poof wrote: |
Just think of the switch as being from paying council tax to paying health insurance!
I've worked in Germany in the past, and I would also hands down opt to work there in a non-teaching job. If you could get a well-paid job in IT in Germany, you won't notice so much the large chunk going out on all the payments such as tax and all the insurances. I would never freelance as a teacher in Germany. Although having said that, I have my own side question, in that if for example, you got a full time IT job, could you also teach privately for extra income? Does anyone do this here? |
I suppose it's possible in theory...I have never known anyone who has done so? Why bother? 40 hours a week sitting in front of a computer screen or whatever it is exactly IT people are enough. Teaching is for losers like me and others  , who have studied useless humanities subjects like literature, history and language...my advice make the good money with the IT stuff... |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:48 am Post subject: |
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JZer
Not a 'Volksschule'. That is the archaic term for the "Grundschule'. I think JZer means 'Volkshochschule' which is an institution in the field of Further and Adult Education. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:00 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Not a 'Volksschule'. That is the archaic term for the "Grundschule'. I think JZer means 'Volkshochschule' which is an institution in the field of Further and Adult Education. |
thanks for the correction. Yes, I meant a Volkshochschule. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:40 am Post subject: |
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Berlin is a tough city to survive in. It was there - in West Berlin - that I had my introduction to EFL nearly 40 years ago. The winters ! Brrrrrr!
And everywhere you go there are demons from the past.
I still go back to visit but not sure that I would want to live and work there. |
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Deicide
Joined: 29 Jul 2006
Posts: 1005
Location: Caput Imperii Americani
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| Posted: Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
Berlin is a tough city to survive in. It was there - in West Berlin - that I had my introduction to EFL nearly 40 years ago. The winters ! Brrrrrr!
And everywhere you go there are demons from the past.
I still go back to visit but not sure that I would want to live and work there. |
Berlin is great place to live; not so to work... |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Berlin is great place to live; not so to work... |
that depends if you have any past demons haunting you! ex-lovers, etc.... |
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