Germany Unofficial

Job scenario in Germany Getting a job after Masters degree is an important aspect that many aspirants are worried about, some think it as a "return of investment" and some think it as a next-step in their career. If you are one of them and thinking about the job scenarios, then don't worry you are not alone. Even I was like you, when I started applying for Universities to pursue Masters in Germany. The main worry would be about, spending around 10-15k Euros, 2-3 years to get a Masters degree and then being jobless - YES, it would be a nightmare and completely understand it. But now for me, after staying in Germany I would say that, I was worrying too much about jobs while applying to Masters courses and allow me to walk you through why I feel this way.  The reason why I am writing about this topic is because, I am an active user in Quora  and I see lot of questions regarding "Job scenario for Masters students in Germany", "Job scenario for Mec...

ADMIT IT!! Once you go abroad, you're gonna change and it is more evident. Whether it is speaking about Sports or Speaking to your Mom, it is all going to change. Here are some major differences between how people behave when living in their home country vs living abroad.  Speaking to parents is never going to be the same You are going to be more concious about for what you spend Travels and Check-ins are never the same Festivals are another thing... Food is one thing, that you will crave for **Ghar ka khana is the best** Will you stay loyal to your team? Know someone who does all these things?? Share it with them :)

When you are abroad and want to transfer money to your home country or to any of your friends/relatives, you can choose any of the following methods: International transfer via Bank Peer-to-Peer money transfer services Everyone knows about the traditional bank transfer method, which usually takes weeks for the recipient to receive the money and there can be some unwanted charges included during the transaction.  For example, at the time of writing this article 1EURO = 80.2 INR and when we do the transfer via banks, we incurr more charges for the services and in total, it would amount to 85-88INR per EURO - which is really high. The other easier way is to use any of the "peer-to-peer" money transfer services like TransferWise , Xendpay , etc., The main advantage of using these services is that, the usual service charges are way less than the traditional methods and the sender can know how much money will be charged and how much money will the recipient receiv...

In one of our recent article , we had told that Germany has been taking the environmental issues pretty seriously and following the same path, today(27-Feb-2018), a German court has given permission to cities for banning diesel driving cars, so as to fight air pollution. According the thelocal online magazine, this decision is come as a shocker to the car industry.  The Federal Administrative courst of Leipzig has told that local authorities can hereafter ban older, dirty diesel automobiles from their city centres. This would mean that, a huge amount of drivers cannot visit the city in their vehicles.  The decision is now at the hands of the local city and municipal authorities to impose bans and the court doesn't impose such bans directly. This means that, it will be a huge change for cities like Stuttgart and Düsseldorf, which are considered to be highly polluted.  With Germany preparing itself to give a tough fight againt Environmental changes...

We all know that Germany has some of the biggest car and automobile manufacturers in the world, and yet it is also planning to take necessary steps to control pollution. In the second week of February, Germany's popular English News website - thelocal.de published an article stating that Germany is considering to offer FREE public transport in order to banish air pollution.  This article states, that the environment minister is considering the option of providing FREE public transport to reduce the number of private cars and also fighting the pollution is one of Germany's priority. Similarly, last year there was another news stating that Germany is also planning to ban Gas and Diesel cars in the near future.  If this happens, then which places do you plan to visit with the ticket-less travel plans? Source: thelocal.de

SUSBCRIBE to our mailing list (top of the page) EU Blue card is a residence permit, which is issued by an EU member state to professionals from non-EU/EEA countries. It was introduced in 2013 and the number of cards issued as work permits in Germany has been on a steady increase.  For getting a Blue card, the person needs to have a university degree and evidence of a binding job offer with an annual salary of at least 49,600 Euros. In the field of mathematics, IT, natural sciences, medicine or engineering, the salary must be at least 38,888 Euros.  The card is initially valid for 4 years, which can be extended. After working for 33 months in Germany, the Blue card holder can apply for permanent settlement permit( PR ). The 33 months can be reduced to just 21 months, if the holder can produce a B1 German language certificate.  A report states that, by the end of 2007 there were around 42,000 Indians in Germany and a decade later, by the ...

If you're planning to study or already studying in Germany then you need to know the different student positions that are available in Germany. Please note that these are not the usual part-time jobs that you do on the weekends for some extra cash, these are the positions were you be a part of some larger project and help the Professors or your superiors with their research or project. If you're one of those students, who do not have any work experience or the one who has changed his/her domain and needs to gain some hands-on experience then, these kind of student jobs will be a treasure for you. HiWi HiWi - HilfskraftWissenschaftler is a student position mostly at the University under your department. You will be given a small project from your Professor/Supervisor and you need to complete it within the given time. You will be paid for the work you do and most of the time, it would be around 30 hours per month at the rate of 10-13 euros per hour. To get a HiWi p...

Recently I had an opportunity to attend a Career workshop held at Career Service der Technischen Universität Dresden in association with Intap - Das internationale Talentprojekt für Dresden . This article is a summary of all the points that I got from this workshop and hope that this will be helpful to others who are also looking for applying jobs/intern/thesis in Germany.  German language: If you're planning to work in Germany, then you should be able to speak German. Point. You may apply for the job openings in the 'multi-national corporations', but still your colleagues will be mostly from Germany and it will be easier for you to integrate and work as a team. On the other hand if you're in the Eastern part of Germany, you need to know that more than 90% of the companies are SMEs(Small & Medium scale enterprises) with a majority of native Germans. If you, as an International are looking for a job in these sector, then you need to speak German. For ex...

Did you know that, you could rent a room in Frankfurt for just 250€/month? Yes, what you heard is true; a student pilot project "Cubity" is in place for revolutionising the housing by cutting down space, energy consumption and rent costs.  Cubity is a joint project at Frankfurt-Niederrad as a part of the "Home: Building and Living in Community" pilot project, which is jointly implemented by the Department of Integrated Urban Development and the German Architecture Museum and funded by the BMUB within the framework of the National Urban Development Policy. Anyone who has been to Germany will know that, renting a house in major cities like Frankfurt is a nigthmare and that too, it is more difficult if you are looking for housing at student rates. Cubity is more like a saviour to all those, who are looking for cheap accommodation. But, the downside being - room are only 7.2meters in size. The room has drawer, wardrobe, bed, a desk and ensuite bathroo...

So, when you have just arrived in Germany and are mesmerized with everything around you; starting from the traffic, rules, dorms, universitiy, etc., Something that is much more important is food and groceries that you need for day-to-day life activities. The problem with the German supermarkets is that, most of the products or items in the supermarket will be in German language and most of the new comers find it difficult to locate many items inside the supermarket. The situation gets worse, if you are not well-versed in German because most of the supermarket staff will only know German language and it would be difficult for you to explain what you are searching for.  Why you need to learn German? Check it out  In this article, I have tried to show all the Indian/Asian products that you can buy from the German supermarkets. Before I show you the products, I would mention some of the biggest and most renowned supermarkets in Germany which can be found in all t...

There are lot of things, that you need to do when you first arrive in Germany and most of these steps will be entirely new to you, thus I have tried to compile it in a way that is as easy as possible. Since I am from Chemnitz, I have given some IMPORTANT links for Chemnitz which can be easily found in all other University webpages as well.  If you have not yet arrived in Germany, check out this CHECKLIST to see whether you have purchased all necessary things for your first travel to Germany Accommodation: If you have already applied to a dormitory in your desired University location, then you can contact the person responsible(care taker) to collect your keys for your room. Some times, you can ask some of your friends also to collect the keys, so that you can directly goto your room.  Related: 25 websites to search accommodation in Germany If you are unlucky to find a place to stay, there are many Youth hostels in every cities and you can book a room ...

With the recent elections in Germany, the "Alternative für Deutschland" party has won a considerable amount of votes this time. This party is known for its right wing policies and the people are against foreigners, non-German people, etc., In the last election this party had just meagre 5% of the votes, but this time it has emerged as the major party from the Saxony(sachsen) region with Dresden as the main point.  Here is a video, by Deutsche Welle(DW) from the region called PIRNA, near Dresden.  Facebook group | Facebook page | SUBSCRIBE(top)

The German student visa is granted only if you have 8500+ Euros in your blocked bank account. The German government believes that, this amount will be sufficient for a student to survive in Germany for a year. But, in reality how much does it cost for a student to live in Germany? Let's see the monthly & yearly expenditure of an average student living in Germany. RENT: Depending on the location of the university, this may vary from 220 - 400 euros per month. If you are going to live in a small city like Chemnitz, Magdeburg, etc., then the rent will be around 220 - 250 euros per month. But, if you are going to live in bigger cities like Berlin, Munich, etc., most of the times you will not get the rooms at Studentenwerk(University hostels); therefore you will be applying for some WG(shared appartment), which might cost you little more than 300 - 350 euros Average monthly expense: 300 EUROS Average annual expense: 3600 EUROS HEALTH INSURANCE: Health insurance is co...

Moving to a new country, which has different kind of weather, different orientation of traffic, different cultural background, which is far away from HOME is going to be really difficult. I have been there, done that and this article is a summary of my experience in Germany. UNIVERSITY/COURSE: It is going to difficult for you to adapt to the method of teaching in German universities, where the lectures takes place with the help of presentations(PPT) by the Professor, which will be later passed on to you as NOTES. You will not be spoon-fed with the topics and the professors will not care for your grades. Their job is just to teach you the concepts and evaluate your understanding of the same. In most of the classes, there won't be any "attendance" taken and literally no one cares whether you attend the lectures or not. Also, the question paper will vary every semester; for example exam-1 will have total of 80 marks and the duration will be 2 hours, whereas exam-2 wi...

When you arrive in Germany as a student, you would already have around 8500 euros in your account as per VISA regulations. But still with your VISA, you are allowed to work for 120 full days in a calendar year. Here comes the tough part, where you need to find a part-time job that suits your university schedule, the one that doesn't take a toll on your health and also provides you some extra money. I have seen and experienced many part-time jobs during my stay in Germany and here is a compilation, that might help you with your quest for searching the perfect Part-time job. When it comes to earning money on the side, I am categorizing the jobs into two divisions such as: Academics Non-academics Academics: After one or two semesters, when you have settled down with your studies and new place, you might want to start searching for some part-time job. The first place will be look at your university website, especially in your "Professorship" where you will find some o...

There are so many Masters students in Germany, who apply for Internships, Werkstudent or Thesis in companies across Europe. But the one complaint that most of them tell is, it takes around 100 applications to get an internship/student position. Is that true? Should everyone struggle so much to get a student position at a company? I don’t think so and this article is about what I have experienced.  NOTE: Some of the readers may have a difference in opinion and I duly respect it. I am no career expert or counsellor, but I guess others can learn something from my experience I believe that most of you would have heard your friends and seniors telling that, it takes more than 100 applications to land in a student job. But, I would say that if you know to apply properly, then you will get the interview call-back easily and then, getting the position is based your performance in the interview.The problem with most of the students either doesn’t know where to look...