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Comment by nick_meister | Hacker News Reader

Interesting. I live in a "third world" country (Argentina, one of the worst-performing economies in the world) and just had an interview with a German company (a large SaaS in Berlin) offering relocation to me and my family.

Not sure what to do, I have a shit boring remote email marketing job for a US company. But with my small US salary, I live quite well here (own a big house w/ 1000 sqrt. m. garden in a nice small town, good car, no commute, kids go to private German school, good weather, ..).

Not sure if our quality of life in Berlin (me being a data scientist) will be better as our quality of life here in the third world (me doing monkey work but in a cheap country).

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I'm german. In 2004/05 I was in argentina a whole year as an exchange studen. Last year I visited my guest family again. Let me tell you that argentinians are very good in talking argentina way worse than it is. I also travel quite a bit, argentina is _far_ from being third world. In Berlin you will only be able to afford a smallish rented flat with a typical IT salary... used cars in good condition on the other hand are quite cheap - but won't be of any use in berlin traffic. As an argentinian you probably won't like the weather here. There definitely are upsides and downsides to both countries.

Feel free to ask me anything.

Awesome thanks! I live in a small city near Cordoba surrounded by mountains, lakes and rivers, and don't like big cities like Buenos Aires or Rosario. How much do you think is needed for renting a medium comfortable appartment or house in Berlin? In a not expensive neighborhood, but neither a bad one.

Will send you a PM if I have more questions :)

I live in Braunschweig myself, but you can check rent prices for Berlin for example here: https://www.immowelt.de/immobilienpreise/berlin/mietspiegel so now probably about 12€/m² - obviously more expensive in better locations. What I heard from friends the market in Berlin is a bit difficult so really get that relocation service if you plan on moving to Berlin. Those prices typically include tax. Salary numbers on the other hand are before tax. You can roughly estimate your income tax with simple online tools: https://www.brutto-netto-rechner.info/ (ya hablas aleman?) It's way higher than e.g. USA, probably similiar to Argentina.

I think i spend about one week near Cordoba in 2004 but I don't quite remember... My guest family back then lived in Ushuaia (very very beautiful landscape!) where I spend most of the time, but also a while with their extended family in Rosario. Last year I revisited Ushuaia again but spend most of the time in Tigre where my guest family lives now.

Feel free to contact me by pm or mail (kiney at-sign kiney.de)

From someone living and working in Germany - when enumerating your quality of life, you are living a good life! This is nothing you could get in Germany.

You would exchange living in a sunny country, where you own a house and your kids are able to go to a private school with cold and rainy weather (besides summer but summer is short), renting a much smaller apartment compared to your house and a shitty public educational system (because you probably couldn't afford a private school here) in which your kids would experience low educational standards.

Appearances are deceptive. Think twice.

Thanks! I appreciate your comments.

Anyway, schooling systems are quite different between ARG and DEU, in Argentina private schools are quite common and the quality of these is quite bad when compared with German Gymnasiums. I know that private schools in Germany are quite uncommon. I attended a Gymnasium in Germany for some months when I was a teenager many many years ago (I'm nearing my 40s) and found the quality of german public schools way better when compared with Argentinian schools (private or public ones). At least Gymnasiums, not sure about Gesamtschules and Realshules.

You are right regarding weather and housing :)

Even though most schools are public, quality very much depends on location. Germany is federal and education is responsibility of the "Länder" (like provincia). In Argentina i visited a private school which was more or less comparable to the my school in germany (Gymnasium "part" of a Gesamtschule in Niedersachsen). Not sure about the quality in Berlin which is notoriously broke.

Thanks! I didn't know that German schools quality varied between locations/Länder.

You are welcome.

Berlin schools, even Gymnasien, have a bad reputation due to Berlin's failed economic policy, which resulted in a lack of equipment and missing teachers. To get into a Gymnasium with a very good reputation processes are highly competitive.

If you are interested, I would be happy to answer your questions and share some information about living in Berlin - rent, taxes, kids, salaries. You can ping me via email dmitry.makesense at gmail

Thanks! I'll definitely email you if I pass the next interview stage :)

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