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Issue #144 (07 Apr) – HR jobs; coffee with Cynthia; reports on illegal trash dumps; attachment style?; appliance delivery scams.
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Programming note #144: Looking forward to seeing some of you tomorrow at the Apple store Rosenthaler Str (a few more tickets are available)! Don’t forget to say hi. Remember the Salary Trends survey? We collected 1,985 total responses! The data cleaning and analysis will keep me busy for the next few weeks.
If you can help me build a sustainable dashboard, do approach me.
🌟 Handpicked community
is a place where we meet, share projects and ideas and look for help.
Meet — handpicked events:
IamExpat Fair Berlin 2025 with workshops and a rich program. Free! | Day, 17/05 10:00 | Estrel Hotel
Join us for the Web3 Startup Founders & Funds Meetup powered by The Algorand Accelerator* | Thu, 17/04 18:00 | w3.hub
FuckUp Nights (FuN) Berlin is finally back with their first event!* | Thu, 24/04 19:00 | ImpactHub Berlin (use Handpicked15 for a discount)
Betabooze: Notion x Founder Institute | Pitch Competition + Networking | Tue, 08/04 18:00 | betahaus Moritzplatz
Digital Health Cocktail Hour | Thu, 10/04 18:00 | Merantix AI Campus
this could be your event - advertise it
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
“Seeking help to test a personal project. It's a little iOS app that lets you leave notes on loved ones’ home screens via widgets — like a digital fridge note. No pressure to provide extensive feedback.”
Our pals Andrew and Maurice over at the 20% Berlin newsletter recently launched a podcast. These two long-time Berliners go through the local news with bite and humour. Worth a listen!
📨 Submit your input for the community here. This section is also featured on LinkedIn in the weekly post.
👀 Handpicked jobs
is a rotating selection of jobs from companies I’d check out.
3️⃣ from the rotation this week: HR & Recruitment
The remaining jobs (also outside rotation) are in the Handpicked job board.
Are you looking for new colleagues or work in HR? Submit a job.
✨ Handpicked deals
Your purchase or interest will help sustain this project.
💻 Startups, freelancers, solopreneurs! Looking for a fixed or flex coworking space or an office for your team? Here is the direct link to the discounts from betahaus, Ahoy, Factory, Motion.Lab, The Drivery, Impact Hub, Space Shack and workish.
🚀 Handpicked Launchpad: Germany needs builders! Recently or soon-to-be funded and looking for talent, beta testers, audience growth, event boost or more? I'm offering selected startups access to our 25,000+ audience. Let’s build.
If you need an expert, check the Handpicked ones: (Employee) relocation, employment matters, insurance and career coaches. Great people for great results.
Learning German? Check all the articles we published (general, Netflix - ja/nein?, learning next to work)
☕️ Coffee Talk with Cynthia Mensah-Neglokpe
is where my guest contributes three links and I write a short bio. Permanent collection.
Cynthia is the founder of clicqui, one of the most successful women-only communities in town. Her latest adventure is a sports studio, KORE. She is an avid reader which shows in her writing. Here is what she prepared for you:
My Favorite Places to Work: If you're like me and cafés make you a bit nervous (hello, distractions!), I highly recommend switching it up with hotels. They’ve been my secret weapon for getting work done. Think: amazing service, the best breakfast, and a chill atmosphere. My faves? Casa Camper & Hotel Orania—these places just get it.
Books to Read If You Want to Learn About Social Dynamics: Working in a community has taught me so much about social dynamics & I love to read about it. Selfless: The Social Creation of You explores how our identities are shaped by social interactions and cultural influences, flipping the idea of a solitary, independent self. And Social: Why our brains are wired to connect, explains & uncovers how deeply important social connections are for our wellbeing. Loved them both and highly recommend!
Summer Spots: We are almost there! When the weather’s nice check out Café Bravo in Mitte, Orangerie Neukölln, Bar Clara Rooftop, and Café Luzia or Café Dorle on Oranienstraße. These places are perfect for soaking up the sun & also a bit of people-watching.
🗞 Snippets
is a selection of links focused on Berlin/Germany, career, timeless content and business.
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
The best cafés for working in Berlin article is now updated with 6 more locations based on the Reddit discussion. Go and check out the scenery. Similarly, I added two cool coworking spaces: Co-Creation Loft with a very interesting concept and Industrious, a new big player in Berlin.
If you are looking for some additional channels for advertising and employer branding… Handpicked Berlin might be the right fit for you: I re-did the whole advertising page.
You don’t need to go to Japan to see the cherry blossom, you can stay in Berlin and explore.(🇩🇪)
I once worked in one of the "Great Place to Work" companies and it was fun. From the 2025 list, only 4/100 companies are from Berlin: GAMOMAT (Information and Communication, 72 employees), Hilton (Trade, Transport, Gastronomy, 1240), HRpepper (Services, 52), and SECUINFRA (Information and Communication, 83). Links are to their career pages.
Have you ever reported an illegal trash dump? I did once, and it worked, but it took time (here is the link). No wonder, because the number of online reports increased by 25% in 2024, reaching a record high of 170,434 reports. (Tagesspiegel, €) One reason is surely the increased awareness of the reporting system, but the number of people littering and dumping trash around the city has also increased. Shame. Shame. Shame. Who will bring the bells?
From Tagesspiegel. 💎 If you want to buy old Berlin public transport/train maps, here is a shop. They also have an online store.
Career: An excellent essay explaining that it’s not that people are bad at their jobs, but that the jobs themselves are bad. US perspective, but valid also here. All hail the gig economy and independent contractors.
Career: Previously posted: your standing desk might actually be as bad as sitting all day!
Career: Changed teams or a job? Try a WTF notebook. An instant bookmark.
Timeless: I learned about attachment styles way too late, but better late than never. So I was very happy to stumble upon this quiz last week that I can share with you. Try it.
Briefly
Bad news: McMakler (Berlin, proptech) is under investigation by public persecutors for social security contribution irregularities. (WiWo) On top, they had a third round of layoffs this year. (BI)
Doctorly (Berlin, medtech) filed for insolvency and is looking for a buyer. Same as Kenbi (Berlin, healthtech).
Trade Republic (Berlin, fintech) was in the media because of problems with crypto saving plans (now resolved).Very bad news: Seems like we are close to an indefinite BVG strike. More will be known later this week. Get your bike ready. Related, 3.5k employees of Charité Facility Management started an indefinite strike last Wednesday.
Stats: On average, a driving license will cost you €4500 according to ADAC. In 2023, 42% of candidates failed the theory test.
The controversial Schufa score black box will finally be made more transparent—in the future you will be able to calculate and see improvement potentials yourself.
Siemens acquired US-based Dotmatics for $5.1B.
Tesla Q1 ‘25: -13% YoY in sales, weakest in nearly 3 years. Cybertruck flopped.
French Decathlon is planning to open 60 new shops (currently has 88) and employ 3k people by 2027. (MM)
French fintech Pennylane (accounting software) is preparing for an expansion to Germany. (MM) Careers.
You can now get groceries from Knuspr delivered also via Wolt.
According to Handelsblatt Quantum Systems (Munich, drones) raised a three-digit million sum. Careers.
If you were one of the 40k participants in yesterday’s half marathon, congrats! Results.
Sorry about the typo last week. RSO of course didn't receive half a billion €, but half a million.
Weekly social
Reddit: Beware of appliance delivery scams (still going on, do something Media Markt!)
Reddit: How did the Greeks calculate the Earth's circumference? Carl Sagan explains.
💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
is a list of companies that received funding over €1M.
voize | Berlin | Specialized speech recognition for healthcare | €9M | Careers.
Montamo | Berlin | Digitized skilled trade solutions | €6M Seed | Careers.
Experial | Cologne | Digital twins for research | €2M Pre-seed | No careers.
Unitelabs | Munich | Biotech research automation OS | €2.77M Pre-seed | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
tariffs deserve one-and-a-half memes
*sponsored
Five articles with a treat:
There is still one AI CV guide available for the special release discount
How to learn German? Be better than "Genau" and "Mit Karte, Bitte!"
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