We continue a special series of materials about the relocation of programmers from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia to other countries. Developers tell how to find a job abroad, move and adapt locally. Our seventh hero is former CodeGym developer Andrey Gorkovenko. In 2017 he moved to Germany. In 2003 I entered the Physical-Technical Institute of KPI ( Kyiv Polytechnic Institute- ed.) to the specialty "Applied Mathematics". Only in the 4th year they began to introduce us to “real” programming, which remotely resembled 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 did not want to go to work as hired employees, we decided to try to open our own web-studio. In the evenings, they began to work on the implementation of their project, namely, to do piece work, for which money had already begun to be paid. But at the end of the institute, most of the guys were afraid of difficulties and unstable earnings. There are only two people left to move 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 started working with clients. Then I had to deal not only with programming, but also with accounting, drawing up terms of reference and communicating with clients. For the first three or four years of the studio's work, we have upgraded a lot technically. I basically chose 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 have a stable income and a constant flow of customers. We began to think about expansion: we hired employees, some were taken for training and further development. For example, there were so many projects that in 3-4 months I made up to 200 small sites. By the 5-6th year of the studio's work, I was already a little bored with the constant cycle of developing web projects and I was looking for various methods to improve my skills, immerse yourself in current 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 want to do one project and give all my strength to its development. I was looking for something interesting. Facebook “overheard” my thoughts: once a message popped up there about a vacancy in a young team that was developing its product. As it turned out later, it was about the CodeGym team. I replied 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. They made me an offer the very next day. I worked in CodeGym for about 2-3 years. It was a great time we moved forward by leaps and bounds. I was engaged in frontend, studied new technologies, it was mainly Angular 2. But from the time of the institute and the beginning of my travels around Europe, I found 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. During my work in the studio, I forgot this idea, because I liked everything in the team and the project itself as a whole. And then one fine day, an old client from the studio made me an offer to work in Germany. The accompanying sentence went something like this: “You made a project for us, we like it so much, but there is no one to move it forward. 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 hand, everything suited me in Ukraine and at my current job. The most difficult moment for me was to decide whether to go or stay. But in the end, all the same, adventurism and unexploredness took over - I agreed. It was 2017. For almost 3 months I was engaged in paperwork and in November 2017 I entered the German soil as an expat.
About working in Germany
I got a job in a medical company that was engaged in 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 could not establish a workflow that was not even remotely similar to the one in Ukraine in CodeGym. The whole problem was that this is a medical company, and they had no idea how to organize an IT team. When I got a job there, I felt that I rolled back a little 6 years ago: at 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 an enterprise solution for large companies with support departments. At my new job, my position is a frontend javascript developer. More specifically, I write Angular code for a company product. Now I work in a multinational company, there are even Ukrainians on a remote basis, which could not but please me. I like the set up process and everything is going well. But! Anyway, in Germany I have not yet met companies that would be on a par with Ukrainian ones, this is paradoxical. I still think that developers in Ukraine and Russia are stronger than in Germany. I like the set up process and everything is going well. But! Anyway, in Germany I have not yet met companies that would be on a par with Ukrainian ones, this is paradoxical. I still think that developers in Ukraine and Russia are stronger than in Germany. I like the set up process and everything is going well. But! Anyway, in Germany I have not yet met companies that would be on a par with Ukrainian ones, this is paradoxical. I still think that developers in Ukraine and Russia are stronger than in Germany.
Documentation
The company I applied for never dealt with relocation, I was the first expat. They generally had no idea what procedures to go through and what documents to prepare. I had to learn 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 staying throughout the European Union: this is a feature of the “blue card”. Getting a 6 month visa to enter Germany took a lot of time, there were a couple of contract adjustments required by the German embassy and laws. The first moment I encountered: it turned out that in every state of Germany there is a minimum wage for relocation, and my salary under the contract did not meet this minimum. It took a month to discuss the issue with the employer, and in the end they agreed to raise 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 is recognized. As a result, I found “applied mathematics” in the list of such specialties, but it also took time. It was also necessary to translate the diploma into German and put an apostille on diplomas in the Ministry of Education of Ukraine. I didn’t bother and paid a lawyer, they did this procedure for me in a week. The last moment - it was necessary to take out insurance for the first 6 months, since after the move and the first month of work on the spot, compulsory state insurance is issued, which eats up a certain amount of money from the salary. Only after solving these issues, I quickly received a visa.
moving
My sister helped me a lot with the move, because by that time she lived in Munich, she 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 in the company. Together we found a couple of apartments on a German rental site and set up 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 4 hours away. We came to this city, looked at the apartments and we liked one. As a result, I showed my documents about work and relocation. I signed a contract with the landlord in just a couple of days and a week later I moved into a new home. In general, I spent about 2.5 thousand euros on the move: an apartment deposit, tickets,
Spending and salary
Having lived in Germany for a couple of years, I can say with confidence that it makes no sense to compare prices in Germany and Ukraine. In some places you have to pay more relative to the subsistence minimum, in some places 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 does the salary go in Germany:
Living in an apartment/house or paying out financing (i.e. buying a home on installments; note: not on credit). An average rent for a small family with one child can cost from 1,000 to 1,500 euros 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 do not think about where to get money for this or that treatment, if it is needed, or, for example, childbirth, which is covered by insurance from and to, with the exception of additional whims.
Also, if you wish, you can take out insurance for various things, up to insurance against theft of a bicycle.
One of the most expensive insurance is car insurance. On average, you can pay from 700 to 1300 euros for a new car, depending on the class and value of the car, as well as driving experience and where the car is parked.
The most volatile spending that depends on preferences is spending on food. In my situation, buying food not in the cheapest stores with quality products, I spend about 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 so lucky that you can find a good start-up or non-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 that eat up almost half the 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 2,000 euros in his hands. 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, faith, and other things. For an accurate calculation, there are a large number of salary calculators in Germany on the Internet that you can use before going to the authorities for a pay increase.
Together with his wife Olga, Andrey maintains a blog about life in Germany and travel
taxes
In Germany, there are 5 tax classes, which depend on various factors (married / married, have children / no children / divorced or you are raising a child yourself, and so on). When I arrived in Germany, I was not yet officially married and fell under the third category of taxation: about 38% of taxes were withheld from my salary. What exactly is included in these taxes - I will explain below. After a year of living in Germany, I got married in Ukraine and, having completed all the documents, moved my wife. She received a tax number, and we immediately changed the tax class - to the 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 who in the fifth. The third category involves the payment of lower taxes, and the fifth - vice versa. Since my wife did not work at that time, we transferred it to the fifth category, and they issued me the third one. The tax collection includes not only direct taxes to the treasury, but also pension and social contributions, a church contribution (if you indicate in the tax that you regularly attend church), a contribution to compulsory health insurance and other fairly small taxes that depend on the land in which you are working.
Medicine
As soon as you start earning a salary in Germany, you are automatically charged for “mandatory” health insurance. As a rule, half of this cost is paid by the employer, and half 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 spend more money, paying every time from your own pocket. Compulsory insurance does not cover all the amounts that doctors can charge you. For example, this applies to dental treatment. There are many additional private insurances for this. 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 German at least A1. But if you are a highly qualified specialist, you get a “bare card”, which does not oblige you to provide proof of language proficiency. I moved with the knowledge of A1 and I had the confidence that I would improve it as soon as I get 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, living in Germany, especially if it is a small city, knowledge of German is a must. In the company I work for, the employees are international and therefore everyone communicates in English at general meetings. But if I get to a rally where everyone speaks German or, for example, personal calls, chats, I try to speak German. I make mistakes, but they patiently correct me. The company also pays for courses after the probationary period.
Leisure
Hiking and cycling are very popular in Germany. Weekend trips are popular, when the Germans rent houses outside the city and go there for a few days. We love to travel. Basically, we travel by car: both in Germany and in the nearest countries. In our region - Bergstrasse - 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 events as: picking strawberries, picking raspberries, asparagus, grapes - overeat goodies and get a lot of emotions.
In 2003 I entered the Physical-Technical Institute of KPI ( Kyiv Polytechnic Institute- ed.) to the specialty "Applied Mathematics". Only in the 4th year they began to introduce us to “real” programming, which remotely resembled 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 did not want to go to work as hired employees, we decided to try to open our own web-studio. In the evenings, they began to work on the implementation of their project, namely, to do piece work, for which money had already begun to be paid. But at the end of the institute, most of the guys were afraid of difficulties and unstable earnings. There are only two people left to move 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 started working with clients. Then I had to deal not only with programming, but also with accounting, drawing up terms of reference and communicating with clients. For the first three or four years of the studio's work, we have upgraded a lot technically. I basically chose 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 have a stable income and a constant flow of customers. We began to think about expansion: we hired employees, some were taken for training and further development. For example, there were so many projects that in 3-4 months I made up to 200 small sites. By the 5-6th year of the studio's work, I was already a little bored with the constant cycle of developing web projects and I was looking for various methods to improve my skills, immerse yourself in current 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 want to do one project and give all my strength to its development. I was looking for something interesting. Facebook “overheard” my thoughts: once a message popped up there about a vacancy in a young team that was developing its product. As it turned out later, it was about the CodeGym team. I replied 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. They made me an offer the very next day. I worked in CodeGym for about 2-3 years. It was a great time we moved forward by leaps and bounds. I was engaged in frontend, studied new technologies, it was mainly Angular 2. But from the time of the institute and the beginning of my travels around Europe, I found 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. During my work in the studio, I forgot this idea, because I liked everything in the team and the project itself as a whole. And then one fine day, an old client from the studio made me an offer to work in Germany. The accompanying sentence went something like this: “You made a project for us, we like it so much, but there is no one to move it forward. 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 hand, everything suited me in Ukraine and at my current job. The most difficult moment for me was to decide whether to go or stay. But in the end, all the same, adventurism and unexploredness took over - I agreed. It was 2017. For almost 3 months I was engaged in paperwork and in November 2017 I entered the German soil as an expat. 
In our region - Bergstrasse - 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 events as: picking strawberries, picking raspberries, asparagus, grapes - overeat goodies and get a lot of emotions. 
GO TO FULL VERSION