4 ms·

>I wonder what causes this anomaly? Compared to the US, you will not find many rich people in Germany. At the same time you will also not find many poor people

>I wonder what causes this anomaly? Compared to the US, you will not find many rich people in Germany. At the same time you will also not find many poor people. Generally, people are quite equal in Germany.

h4b4n3r0 8y ago
You know what else you will not find in Germany? Successful software companies. There’s basically SAP (which is a multinational that hides its revenues abroad) and hardly anything else. Hmm, I wonder why that is.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Define successful. I know of one German software company that's raking in money and large contracts, despite being staffed with underpaid junior developers and overpaid clueless managers. I had this eye-opening moment, after which I asked my boss, how is it possible that we have the expertise and yet they have the money...
  - chrisper 8y ago
    And what did he answer?
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      He shrugged and continued to desperately try to clean up a mess aforementioned company just caused.
- chrisper 8y ago
  Yet, Google, Microsoft etc. still have offices in Germany.
  - ur-whale 8y ago
    They're just here to suck in the local talent, filter the best of them and "gently" nudge them towards a job in the US. No one is saying there isn't eng. talent in Germany. They're just mistreated by the system. And the valley tech giants know this very well and take advantage of it.
TeMPOraL 8y ago
Maybe the distribution is much narrower, but it also seems that software salaries are on the lower end, which is the most surprising part to me. Or, as a German colleague of mine put it, "my no-good brother who takes construction jobs every now and then earns more than me in this software job", followed by revealing that apparently his wife still has to work for them to have the ends meet, because programmer's salary is not enough.
- chrisper 8y ago
  But that is definitely not the norm, is it?
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    I was lead to believe it is; I'm asking here if anyone can confirm this.
- adrianN 8y ago
  The average full time salary in Berlin is 40-50k before taxes. The median income of all Berliners is a lot lower than that, because we have many part timers and many people on social security. The programmers that I know get about 70k on average. Rent in Berlin is about 10€/m^2 (heating included), so 700€/month gets you an apartment for two. I assume that the brother from your anecdote doesn't declare all his income (you are left with about 60% of your paycheck after taxes and mandatory insurances). I don't see how a programmer salary isn't enough for two people to make ends meet.

h4b4n3r0 8y ago

You know what else you will not find in Germany? Successful software companies. There’s basically SAP (which is a multinational that hides its revenues abroad) and hardly anything else. Hmm, I wonder why that is.

TeMPOraL 8y ago
Define successful. I know of one German software company that's raking in money and large contracts, despite being staffed with underpaid junior developers and overpaid clueless managers. I had this eye-opening moment, after which I asked my boss, how is it possible that we have the expertise and yet they have the money...
- chrisper 8y ago
  And what did he answer?
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    He shrugged and continued to desperately try to clean up a mess aforementioned company just caused.
chrisper 8y ago
Yet, Google, Microsoft etc. still have offices in Germany.
- ur-whale 8y ago
  They're just here to suck in the local talent, filter the best of them and "gently" nudge them towards a job in the US. No one is saying there isn't eng. talent in Germany. They're just mistreated by the system. And the valley tech giants know this very well and take advantage of it.

TeMPOraL 8y ago

Maybe the distribution is much narrower, but it also seems that software salaries are on the lower end, which is the most surprising part to me. Or, as a German colleague of mine put it, "my no-good brother who takes construction jobs every now and then earns more than me in this software job", followed by revealing that apparently his wife still has to work for them to have the ends meet, because programmer's salary is not enough.

chrisper 8y ago
But that is definitely not the norm, is it?
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  I was lead to believe it is; I'm asking here if anyone can confirm this.
adrianN 8y ago
The average full time salary in Berlin is 40-50k before taxes. The median income of all Berliners is a lot lower than that, because we have many part timers and many people on social security. The programmers that I know get about 70k on average. Rent in Berlin is about 10€/m^2 (heating included), so 700€/month gets you an apartment for two. I assume that the brother from your anecdote doesn't declare all his income (you are left with about 60% of your paycheck after taxes and mandatory insurances). I don't see how a programmer salary isn't enough for two people to make ends meet.