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Do you have any advice for freelancing in Germany? I’ll be moving to Berlin in January, aber ich spreche nur Englisch und ich lerne Deutsch. Ich habe die EU-St

Do you have any advice for freelancing in Germany? I’ll be moving to Berlin in January, aber ich spreche nur Englisch und ich lerne Deutsch. Ich habe die EU-Staatsbürgerschaft und meine Frau kommt aus Berlin. I am a senior front end dev who has experience leading teams

f1shy 4y ago
Why do you want freelance? You can apply to any job... AFAIK the headaches of tax declaration and setup for freelance are not worth it.
- mrcartmeneses 4y ago
  I just hate being “employed”. All of the politics and incompetence in other people’s businesses reminds me too much of the Russian communist party. Every large capitalist company ends up like a low-stakes episode of the Netflix series Chernobyl. Perhaps I’m just grumpy but that’s who I am. I’d much rather just code some stuff and get out before I start having to “assassinate” my managers. If I could find a place that allowed workers to vote out managers then maybe I’d be happy, but until then I’ll just come and go. Like politicians, managers are only as good as your ability to fire them. You’ll love my code, your customers will be happy. Let me go before I make you cry.
jagermo 4y ago
former freelancer here (writing, not coding), but I would not do it again, the stress around taxes, insurance etc alone is not worth it (at least for me). Plus, you probably won't be leading teams but be more of a workbench. However, if you don't want to be tied down, something like "Elternzeitvertretung" (aka jumping in for people on paternity/maternity leave) might be interesting for you.
throwaway908365 4y ago
Welcome :). Berlin in January is tough, even for German standards. 1. Just get a tax advisor who is fine speaking English with you. Just let him do everything in the beginning. Afterwards you can do more of that yourself. Try to be classified as Freiberuflich, not Gewerbetreibender. It helps if you have an engineering degree, but he can help you with that. 2. Do at least two gigs per year (Scheinselbstständigkeit). 3. Use HAYS and others to start it of. 4. Continue to learn German. Maybe do some German interview training or something to get in. There are teams working in English, but you will have an easier time overall.
UweSchmidt 4y ago
You are likely to be successful going this route. Some advice (some of it obvious if you've dont it before and not specific for Germany but maybe it's useful): Have a profile on Linkedin and Xing, upload to sites like freelance.de and maybe to a bunch of agencies. Be ready to send a profile, listing as many projects as possible, i.e. different roles in a company could be separate projects. Make sure all relevant search terms (languages, frameworks, tools) appear for each project even if repetitive. English-only is ok in many places, German-speaking projects can be a little better though. It's all through intermediaries, which means you can (and should) negotiate rates hard without worrying about burning bridges. No call with a recruiter that didn't go pleasantly ever led to anything so if it feels weird just hang up. Expect to be placed 3-6 months min, 2 years max in a project. Research a little on "Scheinselbständigkeit" but it's not a huge issue these days. If you want 100% remote it should be possible. Good luck and welcome to Germany :-)
- mrcartmeneses 4y ago
  Thanks. Looking forward to it. I’m so done with England!
jonp888 4y ago
Be sure to look into how you will handle Health Insurance. You are required to have Health Insurance if you live in Germany, and for freelancers it is quite expensive(it will probably cost more per month than apartment rent). This can be a dealbreaker for people with limited financial resources who need some time to get their business off the ground.

f1shy 4y ago

Why do you want freelance? You can apply to any job... AFAIK the headaches of tax declaration and setup for freelance are not worth it.

mrcartmeneses 4y ago
I just hate being “employed”. All of the politics and incompetence in other people’s businesses reminds me too much of the Russian communist party. Every large capitalist company ends up like a low-stakes episode of the Netflix series Chernobyl. Perhaps I’m just grumpy but that’s who I am. I’d much rather just code some stuff and get out before I start having to “assassinate” my managers. If I could find a place that allowed workers to vote out managers then maybe I’d be happy, but until then I’ll just come and go. Like politicians, managers are only as good as your ability to fire them. You’ll love my code, your customers will be happy. Let me go before I make you cry.

jagermo 4y ago

former freelancer here (writing, not coding), but I would not do it again, the stress around taxes, insurance etc alone is not worth it (at least for me). Plus, you probably won't be leading teams but be more of a workbench. However, if you don't want to be tied down, something like "Elternzeitvertretung" (aka jumping in for people on paternity/maternity leave) might be interesting for you.

throwaway908365 4y ago

Welcome :). Berlin in January is tough, even for German standards. 1. Just get a tax advisor who is fine speaking English with you. Just let him do everything in the beginning. Afterwards you can do more of that yourself. Try to be classified as Freiberuflich, not Gewerbetreibender. It helps if you have an engineering degree, but he can help you with that. 2. Do at least two gigs per year (Scheinselbstständigkeit). 3. Use HAYS and others to start it of. 4. Continue to learn German. Maybe do some German interview training or something to get in. There are teams working in English, but you will have an easier time overall.

UweSchmidt 4y ago

You are likely to be successful going this route. Some advice (some of it obvious if you've dont it before and not specific for Germany but maybe it's useful): Have a profile on Linkedin and Xing, upload to sites like freelance.de and maybe to a bunch of agencies. Be ready to send a profile, listing as many projects as possible, i.e. different roles in a company could be separate projects. Make sure all relevant search terms (languages, frameworks, tools) appear for each project even if repetitive. English-only is ok in many places, German-speaking projects can be a little better though. It's all through intermediaries, which means you can (and should) negotiate rates hard without worrying about burning bridges. No call with a recruiter that didn't go pleasantly ever led to anything so if it feels weird just hang up. Expect to be placed 3-6 months min, 2 years max in a project. Research a little on "Scheinselbständigkeit" but it's not a huge issue these days. If you want 100% remote it should be possible. Good luck and welcome to Germany :-)

mrcartmeneses 4y ago
Thanks. Looking forward to it. I’m so done with England!

jonp888 4y ago

Be sure to look into how you will handle Health Insurance. You are required to have Health Insurance if you live in Germany, and for freelancers it is quite expensive(it will probably cost more per month than apartment rent). This can be a dealbreaker for people with limited financial resources who need some time to get their business off the ground.