Welcome to the CodingCareer Newsletter (and a bit about German hiring culture)
Welcome !
Thank you for joining the CodingCareer newsletter!
If you are anything like me, your inbox is full of some random tech newsletters you never unsubscribed from.
I am actively trying not to add onto that pile (too much :D). I will post weekly on Sundays (though knowing me, I expect that I will more often than not end up posting every other week).
My goal is to give you a realistic look at the German tech market. I want to cover the interview psychology and the specific cultural quirks that often trip up developers.
To kick things off, I want to share one observation that surprises most of the developers I work with.
The barrier to entry is rarely your code
If you are a non-EU developer struggling to get offers here, your instinct might be to study for another technical certificate (AWS, Azure, etc).
As a German myself, I can tell you that our market is extremely risk-averse. Hiring managers often aren’t worried about your technical stack. They are worried about "integration risk".
- Will the team dynamic suffer?
- Will there be communication friction?
- Will you feel comfortable challenging authority (which is expected here)?
Reddit agrees
If you frequent any of the German subreddits for developers, you will notice that it is filled with non-EU developers asking for help. And the most upvoted answer is almost always: ’learn German first'.
By showing that you are studying the German language (even if it it is not required in the actual job) you show that you are dealing with German culture and this significantly lowers your integration risk.
[WIP] Building a new tool to help!:
I am currently building a free web app specifically designed to support developers with their job applications in Germany.
It is still a work in progress, but I plan to have a prototype ready to share with you in about 1-2 weeks. You will be the first to know when it drops.
