We continue a special series of materials about the relocation of programmers from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia to other countries. Developers tell you how to find work abroad, move and adapt locally. Our seventh hero is former JavaRush developer Andrey Gorkovenko. In 2017 he moved to Germany. In 2003 I entered the Physico-Technical Institute of the KPI ( Kiev Polytechnic Institute- ed.) for the specialty “Applied Mathematics”. Only in the 4th year we began to be introduced to “real” programming, which was vaguely reminiscent of what I am doing now. Almost most of the programming at the institute was related to web technologies, so my classmates and I clearly looked in this direction. Since we didn’t want to go to work as hired employees, we decided to try opening our own web studio. In the evenings, they began to work on the implementation of their project, namely, to do piece work, for which they had already begun to pay money. But after graduating from college, most of the guys were afraid of difficulties and unstable earnings. There are only two people left to move forward with the idea of a web studio. After a short amount of time, we organized a web studio, created a website, rented a small but cozy office and began working with clients. Then I had to deal not only with programming, but also with accounting, drawing up technical specifications and communicating with clients. During the first three or four years of the studio's work, we improved a lot technically. I basically chose for myself the direction of layout, design and everything related to beauty and user friendliness (UX/UI, so to speak), and my partner moved confidently in the direction of the backend. After three years of work, we had a stable income and a constant flow of clients. We began to think about expansion: we hired employees, some were hired for training and further development. For example, there were so many projects that in 3-4 months I created up to 200 small websites. In the 5-6th year of the studio’s work, I became a little bored with the constant cycle of developing web projects and I was looking for various methods to improve my skills and immerse myself in modern trends. I started learning single page application programming in JavaScript and AngularJS for the first time. After some time, I caught myself thinking that I wanted to work on one project and devote all my strength to its development. I was looking for something interesting for myself. Facebook “listened” to my thoughts: one day a message popped up about a vacancy for a young team that was developing its product. As it turned out later, it was about the JavaRush team. I responded to this message, and literally the next day I received a message: “Come for an interview.” Perhaps due to the fact that I showed interest in the project and was not afraid to express my opinion and suggestions to the founder of the project, they paid attention to me. Literally the next day they made an offer to me. I worked at JavaRush for about 2-3 years. It was a great time, we moved forward by leaps and bounds. I worked on frontend, studied new technologies, mainly Angular 2. But since college and the beginning of my travels around Europe, I caught myself thinking that I would like to live, or even move to Europe. I often went to Germany (my sister lives there), traveled, I liked it all. I sent dozens of resumes to various foreign companies, but no one answered me. While working in the studio, I forgot this idea, I liked everything about the team and the project itself as a whole. And then one fine day, an old client from the studio days made me an offer to work in Germany. The accompanying sentence sounded something like this: “You made a project for us, we like it so much, but there is no one to move it further. Would you like to come to work with us?” At that time, this was very unexpected news: on the one hand, I wanted to leave, on the other, I was happy with everything in Ukraine and at my current job. The most difficult moment for me was making a decision - to go or stay. But in the end, adventurism and the unknown took over - I agreed. It was 2017. I spent almost 3 months preparing documents and in November 2017 I entered German soil as an expat.
About working in Germany
I got a job at a medical company that dealt with laboratory tests. My tasks were simple, as it seemed to me: company websites and technical support for both new and old projects. The company had a small team of programmers who seemed to be doing something, but they were unable to establish a workflow, which was not even remotely similar to the one that was in Ukraine in JavaRush. The problem was that this was a medical company, and they had no idea how to organize an IT team. When I got a job there, I felt like I had gone back a little 6 years: to the moment when we organized a web studio. Finally, after two years at a medical company, I found a new job. At the moment I work in an IT company that develops a software product like Zoom-a, but as a corporate solution for large companies with support departments. At my new job, my position is frontend javascript developer. More specifically, I write code in Angular for a company product. Now I work in a multinational company, there are even Ukrainians working remotely, which could not but please me. I like the process and everything is going well. But! I still haven’t met companies in Germany that are on par with Ukrainian ones, this is paradoxical. I still believe that developers in Ukraine and Russia are stronger than in Germany.
Documentation
The company I joined never dealt with relocation; I was the first expat. They had no idea what procedures needed to be followed or what documents to prepare. I had to find out and do everything myself. I had to go to the embassy to get a 6 month German national visa. Already on the spot, I had to register and receive a “Blue Card”, which allows me to stay and work in Germany. As it turned out, the card allowed stay throughout the European Union: this is a feature of the “blue card”. Obtaining a 6-month visa to enter Germany took a lot of time; there were a couple of contract adjustments required by the embassy and German laws. The first point I encountered: it turned out that every state in Germany has a minimum salary for relocation, and my salary under the contract did not meet this minimum. It took me a month to discuss the issue with the employer, and in the end they agreed to increase my salary in order to exceed the minimum amount for the move. The second point was related to the apostille of my diploma, because it is very important for the “blue card” to have a diploma recognized in Germany. I had to check whether the diploma in my specialty was recognized. As a result, I found “applied mathematics” in the list of such specialties, but that also took time. It was also necessary to translate the diploma into German and affix an apostille on the diplomas to the Ministry of Education of Ukraine. I didn’t bother and paid a lawyer, they completed this procedure for me in a week. The last point - it was necessary to take out insurance for the first 6 months, since after the move and the first month of work on site, compulsory state insurance is issued, which eats up a certain amount of money from the salary. Only after solving these issues did I quickly receive a visa.
Moving
My sister helped me a lot with the move, because by that time she lived in Munich and knew the language, which was very useful, since at the time of the move my level of German was very low: probably A1. The first month after my arrival, I lived with my sister - I had a month of reserve before starting work at the company. Together we found a couple of apartments on a German rental website and scheduled 5-6 viewings for one weekend. We did this because we were in Munich, and my office is in the city of Bensheim, which is about 600 kilometers and a 4-hour drive. We came to this city, looked at the apartments and liked one. As a result, I showed my documents about work and moving. I signed a contract with the landlord in just a couple of days and a week later I moved into a new home. In total, I spent about 2.5 thousand euros on the move: apartment deposit, tickets, buying everything needed for the apartment and other little things.
Spending and salary
Having lived in Germany for a couple of years, I can say with confidence that comparing prices in Germany and Ukraine makes no sense. In some places you have to pay more relative to the cost of living, in others you have to pay less. But if we discard all clear calculation formulas, then we can say with confidence that in Germany you need to earn 1.5-1.7 times more than in Ukraine in order to feel the same financial freedoms and quality of life as in Ukraine. Where do salaries go in Germany:
Living in an apartment/house or paying off financing (that is, buying a home in installments; note: not on credit). On average, a small family with one child can spend from 1000 to 1500 euros on rent with good living conditions. When I moved, I lived on my own and paid 650 euros for an apartment of 35 square meters.
I have already mentioned compulsory insurance. On the one hand, this is a forced waste of money on insurance. But, on the other hand, you don’t think about where to get money for this or that treatment if it is needed or, for example, childbirth, which is fully covered by insurance except for additional whims.
Also, if desired, you can take out insurance for various things, including insurance against theft of a bicycle.
One of the most expensive insurances is car insurance. On average, you can pay from 700 to 1300 euros for a new car, depending on the class and cost of the car, as well as driving experience and where the car is parked.
The most unstable expense, depending on preferences, is spending on food. In my situation, buying food not in the cheapest stores with quality products, I spend approximately 500-600 euros per month.
The average salary of a senior frontend developer in Germany ranges from 55-65 thousand euros, but you may be lucky enough to find a good startup or not greedy employers who are willing to pay for brains. Then the salary (in rare cases) can reach 90-95 thousand euros per year. There are also taxes, which eat up almost half of your salary. For example, a person receives 50 thousand euros per year. Before taxes, this is approximately 4,100 euros per month, but he will receive only 2 thousand euros in hand. Again, the scheme for calculating and calculating salaries is very complex - it depends on the tax class, on the size of the salary, on the status of the family, religion and other things. For accurate calculations, there are a large number of salary calculators in Germany on the Internet, which you can use before going to your boss for a salary increase.
Together with his wife Olga, Andrey writes a blog about life in Germany and travel.
Taxes
In Germany there are 5 tax classes, which depend on various factors (married, have children / no children, divorced or raising a child on your own, etc.). When I arrived in Germany, I was not yet officially married and fell into the third tax category: about 38% of taxes were withheld from my salary. I will explain below what exactly is included in these taxes. After a year of living in Germany, I got married in Ukraine and, having completed all the documents, transported my wife. She received a tax number, and our tax class was immediately changed to 3rd and 5th. But there is such a nuance that when a couple signs, the husband and wife can choose which of them pays taxes in the third category, and which in the fifth. The third category involves paying lower taxes, and the fifth - vice versa. Since my wife was not working at that time, we transferred her to the fifth category, and they gave me the third. Tax fees include not only direct taxes to the treasury, but also pension and social contributions, church contributions (if you indicate to the tax office that you regularly attend church), contributions for compulsory health insurance and other fairly minor taxes, depending on the land in which you are working.
Medicine
As soon as you start receiving a salary in Germany, you are automatically charged for “compulsory” health insurance. Typically, half of this cost is paid by the employer, and half is paid from the money that is accrued to the employee. The amount also depends on the insurance company with which the contract is signed, but basically this amount is standard and the same for everyone, within 600 euros per month. If you suddenly somehow decide not to pay insurance, then you will spend more money, paying each time from your own pocket. Compulsory insurance does not cover all amounts that doctors may charge you. For example, this applies to dental treatment. There are many additional private insurances available for this purpose. On average, additional insurance costs 250-300 euros per year.
German
One of the points for obtaining a German national visa to work in Germany requires knowledge of the German language of at least A1. But if you are a highly qualified specialist, you receive a “naked card”, which does not oblige you to provide evidence of language knowledge. I moved with A1 knowledge and I was confident that I would improve it as soon as I got into the German team. But at my first job, my colleagues expressed a desire to speak English, as they wanted to improve their English. Because of this I lost almost 2 years. Of course, I studied it on my own, solving all sorts of administrative issues. In general, when living in Germany, especially if it is a small city, knowledge of German is mandatory. In the company where I work, the employees are international and therefore at general meetings everyone communicates in English. But if I find myself at a rally where everyone is German-speaking or, for example, there are personal calls, chats, I try to speak German. I make mistakes, but they patiently correct me. The company also pays for the courses after the probationary period.
Leisure
Hiking and cycling are very popular in Germany. Weekend trips are popular, when Germans rent houses outside the city and go there for a few days. We love to travel. We mostly travel by car: both in Germany and to nearby countries. Our region - Bergstrasse - has a very large number of vineyards and towns with gingerbread houses, which gives a wonderful atmosphere to any day! Also, from spring to autumn, you can take part in such activities as picking strawberries, picking raspberries, asparagus, grapes - eat too much goodies and get a lot of emotions.
Our region - Bergstrasse - has a very large number of vineyards and towns with gingerbread houses, which gives a wonderful atmosphere to any day! Also, from spring to autumn, you can take part in such activities as picking strawberries, picking raspberries, asparagus, grapes - eat too much goodies and get a lot of emotions.
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