do you still care or is it "good enough"?
Issue #151 (02 Jun) – 31 new jobs; Coffee with Daria; why do people leave Germany; where not to eat in Pankow; direct flights that make sense.
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Programming note #151: Exciting news! Block your calendars for Thursday, the 19th of June. I am throwing a small get-together to celebrate three years of this newsletter.
Next Monday is Whit Monday, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and other followers of Jesus, so you will receive the newsletter on Tuesday.
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The email subject reference is the essay in Snippet #10.
🌟 Handpicked community
is a place where we meet, share projects and ideas and look for help.
Meet — handpicked events:
see you at AI fireside chat #8 - Vercel CTO Malte Ubl | Thu, 05/06 18:30 | Merantix AI Campus Berlin
Feel Better About Money Today: UX test a financial well-being app | Wed, 04/06 18:30 | SIBB Incubator
betabreakfast with Darya Kamkalova. Freelancers & self-employed: get real-life advice and inspiration with globetrotting entrepreneur Darya at betabreakfast: From Stuck to Start. | Thu, 12/06 10:00 | betahaus Kreuzberg*
Offline Hangout | Berlin | Tue, 17/06 17:00 | Engels
Apache Iceberg™ Europe Community Meetup in Berlin | Thu, 03/07 17:30 | Snowflake Berlin office
Berlin Swapfest #2 - Electronics flea market | Sun, 20/07 12:00 | c-base
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
Check out this cool monthly newsletter, Späti Stories, run by Isabelle and Luana. In the last issue they featured two Späti owners.
If you are a PR pro, this breakfast might be for you.
If you need an expert, check the Handpicked ones: (employee) relocation, employment lawyers, insurance and career coaches. Great people for great results.
📨 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.
5️⃣ job highlights of submissions to the job board last week:
The remaining jobs are on the Handpicked job board. This week’s focus was: HR & Recruitment.
Feather: Honest, simple insurance
Dealing with insurance in Germany can be like facing the Ausländerbehörde - stressful and packed with paperwork. That’s why we created Feather:
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When life throws you a curveball, you shouldn’t have to navigate a system that feels more like a hurdle than a helping hand. Let Feather be your trusty safety net.
☕️ Coffee Talk with Daria Suvorova
is where my guest contributes three links and I write a short bio. Permanent collection.
Daria is the founder of the podcast Women Authors of Achievement, which is now recorded live. I had the pleasure of attending two live podcasts, and I can warmly recommend them. Here is what she prepared:
Körnerpark — One of my absolute favorite spots in Berlin is Körnerpark in Neukölln. It has a charm that transports you to another dimension. The park's sunken design creates a sense of intimacy and seclusion, making it feel like a hidden gem, tucked away from the city bustle.
Caravaggio. The Complete Works — I highly recommend exploring Caravaggio, the notorious Italian bad boy and one of the greatest. His works are magnetic, raw, and intense, known for their bold, dramatic use of light and shadow. A must for anyone diving into the world of the Old Masters!
Sunset watching at Tempelhofer Feld — The sunset sessions at Tempelhofer Feld have been my best find. The vast space of the former airport makes it the best place to unwind. Time your visit an hour before sunset to watch the sky shift into stunning pinks, oranges, and purples. Even on cloudy days, it’s unforgettable!
🗞 Snippets
is a selection of links focused on Berlin/Germany, career, timeless content and business.
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
I finally did another deep dive based on the 2025 Salary Trends Report, this time for general software engineers. The numbers only include individual contributors.
Where not to eat in Pankow/Prenzl., a recurring post on r/handpickedberlin from now on.
Why do Ausländers leave Germany? The primary drivers are social and emotional factors around acceptance and belonging. I wonder how it is in other countries.
Sifted is maintaining a list of European unicorns. Germany currently has 28, the same as France and 16 less than the UK. Berlin has 16, Munich 8 and Chemnitz, Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg one each.
Berlin plans Olympic bid with four other states for sometime between 2036 and 2044. "Berlin+" concept highlights existing venues across regions. Business groups support it for economic benefits, while critics question the costs and are already planning a referendum. The decision for which games to apply will be made in 2026. Related, Berlin also wants to host Expo 2035.
June is here. What to do in June? By The Berliner. And in German by Mit Vergnügen. Don’t miss Karneval der Kulturen, which moved its traditional parade (8th of June) to Friedrichshain.
Career: I’ve previously advertised startups looking for founding engineers and this Reddit thread might help anyone considering it: "How much should a founding engineer ask for?” Based on what I hear, what matters the most is the quality of the founders.
Career: Related, I attended a product engineering meetup at Langfuse, where several speakers presented how they merged engineering and product management. “Product engineer” might be the new big thing, but the question is how many engineers want to herd cats and how far product managers can get with vibe coding.
Career: Does AI have a bias towards female candidates? They do. “All LLMs consistently favored female-named candidates when selecting the most qualified candidate for the job”. I recommend to at least read the conclusion before you allow ChatGPT to decide who to hire.
Timeless: A great essay on The Who Cares Era. I do care and still know a lot of people who do. I think it’s worth it.
Briefly
Bad news: McKinsey -10% (is AI starting to impact consultants?)
Stats: Berlin has around 6,000 homeless people. You can donate male clothes today and tomorrow at U-Innsbrucker Platz.
Flix ordered up to 65 high-speed trains (230 km/h) from Talgo/Siemens for €2.4B to challenge Deutsche Bahn, expanding from 13 to potentially 78 trains. They plan cross-border European routes.
Tin foil hat peopleQuerdenkers had a demo last Saturday and expected 10,000 people. Finally, 850 too many appeared.PayPal rented 2000 m2 in Kranzler Eck, and seems to be moving from Kleinmachnow to Ku’damm.
Uber launched Uber Courier, you guessed it, a courier service, in Berlin and several other cities in Germany.
Trade Republic now also has accounts for kids. It’ll be transferred to your kiddo when they turn 18.
The landlord of an office building in Berlin-Reinickendorf has filed an eviction lawsuit against the AfD after they held an unauthorised BBQ in the courtyard and projected their logo on the building façade during an election party.
Deep Tech Awards finalists have been announced. The five winners will get €10k each.
Weekly social
Reddit: Some street wisdom for your next trip: Direct flights from Berlin that make sense.
Instagram: Gotta love 20 Percent Andrew’s latest reel.
Your Team’s New HQ at betahaus 🚀
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💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
is a list of companies that received funding over €1M.
Automotive Artificial Intelligence | Berlin | Autonomous driving simulation and development | $25M | No careers.
Ubica Robotics | Bremen | Autonomous mobile retail scanning robots | €1M+ | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
vibe coding
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