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Comment by good_vibes | Hacker News Reader

How is the German way of life different from US/UK?

I've been thinking about living/working in Berlin for some time now. I've always respected German engineering, one of my favorite authors is Herman Hesse, I enjoy the nature photography I've seen of the German countryside, and I've heard amazing things about their beer/food.

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How are you with bitter, bone-chilling cold during the winters? Which is offset by pleasant (though short) summers, where you can ride your bike as far as you please or enjoy the excellent metro system, and partake of the extensive creative and social events. I've only spent short periods of time in Berlin but it always struck me as having a significant amount to offer, if you can deal with the winter.

I don't actually mind winter after living an entire year in Northern Utah. It's refreshing after growing up in the Southeast where it's 100 degrees and humid in the summer and there is a very mild winter with no snow.

Are people in German nice to Indian people? Not sure with all the politics of the EU at the moment, the media makes things confusing. Utah was a little weird for anyone who isn't LDS AND white or married to a white person. There is what I call a fake niceness about many people there, a few are genuinely nice though.

I've heard German people are very friendly and intelligent, what was your experience?

> Are people in German nice to Indian people?

If you have an Indian accent, that should be pretty recognizable. If you don't speak, though, expect people to think that you're from the Middle East, a region that's (to say it lightly) not that popular with a certain part of Germans.

Which isn't to say that you won't be able to make friends. Quite on the contrary. The outspoken racism of a small part of the population (catch phrase: "I'm not a nazi, BUT...") has made another part of the population even more willing to embrace multiculturalism.

I speak clear English, as I was born in the US. However, all my friends have called me Kumar for the longest time. I can talk about music, film, books, tech, science.

I think Berlin will be okay for me because I'm working on a platform that aims to solve a few environmental issues. Germany is very progressive in that arena, Utah has been in the news around the world for the whole Public Lands fiasco.

Sounds like you are from a very warm climate. A lot of people consider Berlin winters mild and summers hot.

Berlin winters and mild? I've never heard those two words next to each other before.

Berlin winters are sometimes described as Russian. While I've never been to Russia I think it's a fitting description. They tend to be very cold and dry. -20 degrees centigrade is nothing unheard of.

Yeah, because in Moscow you have only 1-2 weeks of snow per year.

You crazy.

-20°C (which would be -4°F) sounds highly unlikely for Berlin. I live in Dresden (about 200km south of Berlin), and the lowest we had was maybe -10°C on a single day last winter. It hovered between 0 and -5 for a while (maybe two or three weeks), resulting in an unusually persistent snow cover. (I'm not used to seeing snow for more than a week at once.)

Before Dresden, I lived north of Berlin, near the Baltic Sea, and I don't recall -20°C there either. (Well, maybe it happened a few times over the course of my childhood, but I cannot recall anymore.)

Here, have some data from the coldest month: http://www.accuweather.com/en/de/berlin/10178/january-weathe...

(tl;dr - hovering around 0C)

I've been thinking as well about moving there for a while now. Any German city/town actually, it doesn't matter to me.

What I'm wondering is how difficult would it be to find a job once there, or how long - on average would it take. Would you know by any chance?

If you're not bound to any specific town you'll most likely find something within a month or two. If you're moving from outside of the EU though you and your employer might have to wait an additional 1 - 6 months for your work visa to go through, during which you're not allowed to earn money. The timeframe might be shorter in smaller towns than Berlin though ;)

Now I'm even more confused. First they downvote you into the ground and here you are again. Trigger happy people who don't explain.

Could you (or anyone else) recommend places to look into? Visa isn't a problem.

Leipzig (about 200km south-west of Berlin) is also quite hot with startups right now from what I've heard. Cost of living is (afaik) lower than in Berlin or Munich, and the city is pretty nice to look at (lots of green, and the city center has been restored to former glory after the Wall fell). As an added bonus, it's quite central within Germany and well-connected traffic-wise, so you can get to any other place in Germany within 5 hours max.

Thanks. Previously I was considering Nuremberg but this city has piked my interest.

I have to confirm that. we see quite a volume on company formations in Leipzig. Also the city has a nice vibe, is well connected, and has pretty good universities. Especially the HHL spins of some startups.

Since it seems that you know what you are talking about: What are chances of getting job in Germany as a programmer speaking only English?

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