📈 Are you above or below 52k?
Issue #81 (11 Dec) – design & UI/UX jobs; DHL package count; discipline as an easy hack; guess the U/S-Bahn station game.
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Programming note: We had our last meetup this year last Tuesday, and you can see the photo and all the rest of the meetups in 2023 here. There’s also a link to drop your name if you want to join the next ones. (If you were ever invited to one, I’ve got your e-mail already.)
🌟 Handpicked Kleinanzeigen & Tech Events
🎪 Events:
e-Residency and Estonian Business Community Meetup | Tue, 12.12 at 18.30 | Embassy of Estonia
Sustainable Packaging: Keynote & Startup Showcase | Wed, 13.12 at 16.00 | Impact Hub
Berlin Startup School Demo Day | Fri, 15.12 at 18.00 | Betahaus
😎 Cool stuff:
Pranavkumar is working on a project to reduce patient wait times and boost doctor consultations in Germany through tech. Seeking health tech experts, investors, and doctors for insights, funding, and pilot testing. Contact him, if you are interested in healthcare innovation.
“Hi! I'm Nik, a former teacher and investor, working on a passion project to curate the best global science & tech talks for curious minds. 100s of live & recorded talks, from renowned thought leaders & rising stars, all completely free.”
🔍 Searching for roles:
Kumar, an expert Data Analyst with a Master's in Data Analytics, skilled in Python, Tableau, SQL, and Excel, seeks a role to innovate with data.
Büschra, a passionate individual, seeks a People & Culture role. A natural communicator, she aims to make a positive impact, promising a work environment that brightens your Mondays with a smile!
Florian: “After having spent 5 years managing digital projects for a tech company in the music industry, I'm looking for a new challenge as a project manager in Berlin. I like organising things in general and am very detail-oriented. And also love cooking!”
🫵🏻 You can get featured, too! It’s free for all the three categories. And the results are fantastic. 💃🏼🕺🏻
👀 Handpicked twenty-something
📨 HR going the extra mile & readers submitted
submit yours on the link; it’s free, but please no personal referrals!
🧞♂️ On rotation this week: Design & UX/UI
More positions (also outside rotation) in Handpicked online database.
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becoming a supporter.
I love to grow together with you and your feedback.
Thank you so much! ❤️
🗞 Top inspiration snippets
🇩🇪 Berlin & Other good stuff
❤️ The new restaurant you should try is Seoul-Kwan (my Instagram review), and here is a collection of all the “Coffee with…” links I featured so far. Stuff is cooking, and it smells great!
🫣 DHL usually takes care of 250k packages a day in Berlin. This will double before Christmas. (RBB) Now just imagine all additional traffic from the rest of the gang (Amazon, Hermes & Co.) So just go to your local store and pick something up. Or even more radical, buy nothing. Related: according to Berliner Zeitung, 75% of online purchases are retoured.
😮 A reader asked me to help spread the word about an elaborate fraud in the apartment rental market. He even visited the apartment… be careful out there!
☝️ Here is a great article on the state of real estate since the recent interest rate rise and the bankruptcy of Signa by . Higher rates also impacted sales in Berlin; they dropped, but prices for apartments remained stable or even increased (for houses) (🇩🇪), which means everyone is waiting for something. Lower rates, probably?
💶 In 2022, the average gross salary in Berlin was €52,583 (+4.1% YoY). Compared to the previous year, it rose by 4.1 %. That is 8.5% higher than the national average of €48,450. (St. BB) The highest average was in “Energy supply” with €85.389. Don’t confuse average with median.
🏄🏻♂️ The following chart is fascinating: simply showing up regularly makes a difference! This can mean anything: learning a language, coding, sports, reading. Just start and show up! It’s easier in a group: you can join us at the GSD sessions next year (10x1.5h, 6:30 AM on weekdays) — the waitlist is open.
🥸 Everyone is lying: applicants in the CVs and companies in their job descriptions. What we need is more authenticity and less bullshit - realistic job previews. Contact me if you work in Employer branding.
🤓 52 things Tom Whitwell learned in 2023. Must read. For example, “the average US fridge uses 3–5 times more electricity than an entire human being consumes in Nigeria,” or, “in the 19th Century, champagne was sweetened depending on local tastes. Russians had 300 grams of sugar added, the British just 50 grams. In 1842 Perrier-Jouët introduced unsweetened champagne. It failed and people called it ‘Brut’, but that’s how all champagne tastes today.”
🎨 I was looking for a cool tool for my sketches and noticed all my colleagues using excalidraw. Lovely. Coming soon to the next article for Handpicked Berlin.
😔 Bad news: Spotify -1500 (unknown number in Berlin’s 200, third layoff this year); Contentful (headless CMS, Berlin) -50 (I previously published their positions).
r/berlin choice of the week is this game for guessing U- & S-Bahn stations. I timeboxed to 25 min and got to 25.4% before giving up. You are sometimes so close to a name it hurts.
💬 Briefly:
Klarna introduced a hiring freeze (engineering exempted), because of all the efficiency that Generative AI is offering. Ok, but please don’t copy-paste my data into ChatGPT, please. Ah, I forgot I don’t have an account there. Related, according to financefwd (🇩🇪), most (75%) of N26 customers come from only two countries (Germany and France). Well, Pareto all the way? 😅
Aldi Nord will leave X/Twitter at the beginning of ‘24.
Verena Pausder has officially been elected as the new chairperson of the Startupverband, a lobby association for German startups.
Berlin-based neobroker Trade Republic was granted a full banking license. I worked in a bank and this means a lot of additional paperwork and governance.
“Vonovia plans to sell off €3B of commercial properties while retaining as much of its residential portfolio as possible to capitalize on expected rental growth.” (RT) They need cash to finance their debt.
Wow, never imagined it would work this way, but “unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps' push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday.” (RT)
(Also) Berlin-based defence contractor Hensoldt acquired ESG Elektroniksystem. Careers.
The German government approved over €500M for Northvolt's battery factory in Heide (400km NW from Berlin). Careers.
It seems like the gaming industry is currently struggling. A lot of layoffs everywhere—be careful! (Endgadget)
💸 Recently funded in Berlin & Germany
Habyt | Berlin | Airbnb for WGs | €40M Series C | Careers.
Milano Vice | Berlin | Ghost pizza restaurants | $9M | Careers.
Scalable Capital | Munich | Neobroker | €60M Series E | Careers.
Ryver.AI | Munich | AI-powered radiology | €1.3M | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
This is a footer slice of 🌎 for you. How big is Mexico? (Twitter) Spoiler: very big, it fits most of Europe.
✌️ Handpicked essentials:
- Don’t make these mistakes with your side hustle!
- Berlin Salary Trends Report 2023: How do you compare?
- Want to get reminded for the next salary survey?
- The best questions to ask at a job interview
- Write it down now! Or why you should journal at work?
- What do hiring managers look for in CVs?
- Do you want to sponsor Handpicked?
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