157 karma · joined May 3, 2013
edit: this is why it is typically un-German to boost, and more typically German to complain -- they are just pointing out what to fix!
Here is a more useful site explaining how foreigners can come and work in Germany: http://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/
But yeah, I don't see anything about founding a company...
Why? I'd agree it would be difficult, but "impossible?" For instance, I could imagine creating tests to measure a student's competencies in things such as engineering, programming, or foreign languages pretty easily. Then once you measure a student's competence at the beginning and ending of a curriculum, you have your measurement of the educational product. Not that standardized testing is the answer, or easy for any subject... but it's an example.
>teachers keep going back to the same methods that have always been used.
Maybe if they either don't care or if they don't see a reason to change. I'm helping teach a course starting next month, "Technical English" (for non-native speakers), and am always looking for ways to improve on what I did last year. In fact, if anyone out there would like to talk to my class about your job over skype one day, I will integrate that into my curriculum right now. (You could add "guest lecturer" to your resume as a possible incentive).
This is an interesting point. Beyond happening to notice patterns yourself, have you tried running machine learning algorithms on your data to try to find other characteristics?
First step is to figure out if you prefer a University or a "Hochshule" -- kind of a foreign concept. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochschule).
The Universities come with more prestige, are larger, offer a wider variety of programs, and are more theoretically based. Therefore if you like computer science theory, taking classes that are math-intensive and could include things like algorithm optimization or building compilers, a University is the clear choice. I have heard only awesome things about TU Munich and TU Darmstadt, although any of the big TU's are probably great.
The other option, a Hochschule, is more practice based. Although there will be a mixture of theory and practice at both types, the distinction lies in the emphasis. So if you want to spend more time going straight to writing code, a Hochschule might be the better choice. The other advantages of a Hochschule are that they can be focused on a particular topic (if you are looking for something specific) and they definitely will have smaller classes. This means the professors know you, and you go directly to them for help for which they are often freely available (contrast with a Uni -- usually either go to a TA or have to schedule an appointment with the prof a week ahead through their secretary etc.)
I went to a Hochschule and was beyond pleased. There were only 20 people in my whole program so the individual help you can get from Professors was amazing. I actually studied Geoinformatics not Computer Science directly (and therefore searched for that specialty), but I think any of the larger cities will have good Comp Sci M.Sc. possibilities at their Hochschules.
In any case you can always visit ahead of time if you can to talk to the professors and sit in on classes. If that's not possible they are also very responsive to calls and emails... they often have preferred quotas for foreign students and love to recruit them.
Hope that helps!
http://www.make-it-in-germany.com/en/
Or, start out studying for a Master's degree first to get comfortable with the country. (Many are taught in English,and would be free. I can recommend certain programs if anyone is interested).