which jobs will trend in 2025?
Issue #134 (27 Jan) – 20+ jobs with a design focus; running club; Coffee with Janine; SumUp profile; best cafés to work from and internet speeds.
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Programming note #134: I hope the chaos of the first (and the last?) BVG strike of the year won't be affecting you too much.
Another thing that surely won't affect you much will be Handpicked moving off Substack to Buttondown, a different email provider. If everything goes well, the next issue will be the last regular Substack issue.
I'll keep you posted.
🌟 Handpicked community
is a place where we meet, share projects and ideas and look for help.
Meet — handpicked events:
🌟 Join Grammarly’s macOS and iOS engineers as they share insights into building native clients—from creating an iOS keyboard from scratch to running feature experiments—and discover how reverse-engineering system libraries shape our product development journey. 👉🏻 Register here | Thu, 30/01 18.30 | Grammarly Berlin Hub*
betabreakfast: a trend lookout for 2025 with Space and Lemon | Thu, 30/01 10:00 | betahaus Kreuzberg*
AI Computer Use Hacker Day | Sat, 22/02 10.00 | CODE University
kulturalnie i personalnie - an afternoon of East European Berlin | Sun, 02/02 17:00 | Club der polnischen Versager
consider joining Founders Running Club: every Saturday | Sat, 01/02 10:00 | Teil der Berliner Mauer
this could be your event - advertise or submit it here
Show cool stuff or Ask for something:
🚨 Public health insurance costs are at a record high! Switching to private could save you hundreds while offering faster appointments and up to €2K annually in no-claims bonuses. Curious? Compare providers with KLforExpats here.*
We're looking for a pixel artist and/or game designer living in Berlin, April onward, for a professional indie video game. Show us your portfolio working with 16-bit-era-styles and/or action RPGs!
Are you interested in building a food-business from the ground up? ECKN Cheezy Bites are launching NEXT month. We are looking for a co-founder with a background in finance, marketing, or design to join. Thanks!
Series A Pitch Deck Template from Headline. Useful.
📨 Submit your input for the community here. This section is also featured on LinkedIn in the weekly post.
👀 Handpicked jobs - Grammarly special*
is a rotating selection of jobs from companies I’d check out.
Ever wondered what it's like to work on AI that millions of people use daily? This week we're featuring Grammarly. They're not just about catching typos - they're building AI communication tools that help over 40 million people and 50,000 organizations worldwide write better. Their product actually makes a difference in people's daily lives (and yes, I use it too!). Apply yourself or forward to a friend!
5️⃣ from Grammarly:
You can check their other positions here.
Our remaining jobs are in the Handpicked online database.
Are you looking for new colleagues or work in HR? Submit a job.
✨ Handpicked experts
Handpicked Berlin experts: find the expert you need! Relocation, employment matters, insurance and career coaches.
☕️ Coffee with Janine Heinrich
is where my guest contributes three links and I write a short bio.
Janine is a Berlin-based podcaster (On the Up & Up) and co-managing director of ZULA, a children’s edutainment platform with diverse and inclusive ebooks for parents and children to enjoy together. Here is what she prepared for you:
Say Goodbye to Soil! For a while, I couldn’t keep my plants alive. I was either drowning them or forgetting to water them. Then I decided to try growing plants in water instead, and it’s been a total game-changer. Not every plant can grow this way, but a lot of them can, and it’s so much easier. The best part? They’re low maintenance, there are no pests to deal with, and they look amazing. Here’s a list of plants you can try—trust me, you’ll love it!
It’s Wine Time! If you’re looking for a cozy spot to hang out with friends, sip some wine, and snack on something tasty, you’ve got to check out Jane and the Jam. It’s chill, it’s cute, and it’s perfect for good conversation and good vibes.
Stargazing with a Beat! This time of year, it’s pretty rare to see the stars because of all the clouds, which is why I love going to the Zeiss Grand Planetarium. It’s like a little escape where you can enjoy the night sky indoors. Plus, if you’re into music, their shows with songs from bands like Queen and Pink Floyd are incredible. Totally worth a visit!
🗞 Snippets
is a selection of links focused on Berlin/Germany, career, timeless content and business.
Berlin & Germany, career & timeless
The pilot article profiling SumUp from the applicant's perspective is done. I enjoyed working on it. I’d love your feedback.
Nicole wrote a great article on the best cafés to work from. Includes libraries bonus. Let us know if we missed anything on Reddit.
Investor community Tech Tour published Growth50, a list of 50 European tech companies with the biggest growth potential. Germany is represented by Aleph Alpha, FINN, Isar Aerospace, and The Exploration Company from the digital sector. Health: Immatics biotechnologies and Tubulis. Sustainability: INERATEC, Marvel Fusion, and Tado. None are from Berlin. Meanwhile, our senate wants to support GovTech more. (🇩🇪) A lot of ideas and resources.
Vonovia CEO accused (🇩🇪) Berlin's Senate of manipulating the 2024 rent index, claiming the reported 2% rent increase is unrealistic and doesn't reflect market prices. The Senate strongly rejected these allegations. The median reference rent is €7.21 per square meter, a modest 0.7% increase from last year.
For more on the disaster some of us need to deal with, here is an excellent article on the furnished apartments loophole. (Guardian)
A (short) gem: Berlin | Metrokosmos, a five-part documentary series on European metros. Gorgeous photography and music, in German, ARTE.
A good list of 11 particularly beautiful restaurants in Berlin
Internet speeds in Germany are below the world average! Wild - and looking at France/US/Denmark, "a lot of old infrastructure to improve" argument is out of the window.
Career: A great idea for your screening interviews: asking the recruiter about the hiring manager, but taking it with a grain of salt, because recruiter's KPIs mostly don't align with yours. Here are my own ideas on the best questions to ask at a job interview.
Career: This one is for your negotiation when you will be considering joining a pre-seed/seed/Series A startups and discuss shares. Or if you are thinking of starting something yourself: The secret of founder liquidity.
Career: LinkedIn published 25 trending jobs for Germany in 2025 (🇩🇪): Energy Manager, Business Process Owner, Employer Branding Specialist, Travel Consultant, Sustainability Manager, AI Developer, Supplier Quality Engineer … you can find 18 remaining here. Good ideas for a career shift.
Timeless: If you are looking for some fresh reading material: Top 100 Favorite Books from r/truelit.
Timeless: And the classic: Gurwinder's 25 useful ideas for 2025.
Briefly
Bad news: Pedalpower (Berlin, bikes) filed for bankruptcy (-25); Adidas great Q4 results but restructuring (-500 out of 5800 in HQ); Görtz (Hamburg, shoes) went bankrupt again.
Stats: Last year we had 923 documented cases of street racing in Berlin, the highest ever. One-third being races and 40% high-speed police chases. For comparison: in 2017 the total number was 345. (RBB)
Programme for 75. Berlinale was published. Happy to see that Lisan al-Gaib will also be in attendance. From 13. until 23.2, 19 movies competing.
If you still see an odd Christmas tree lying around, you can report it here.
2100+ 50Hertz employees will get 6.8% salary increase in two stages: 4.5% from January 2025 and 2.3% from February 2026. (Tagesspiegel)
Redcare Pharmacy was better than Doc Morris in capitalising on the introduction of the e-prescription and grew prescription drug sales 69% to €254M in 2023 (vs. 0.1% to 179.2M CHF). (HB)
Germany exported a record €13.33B of arms in 2024, with €8.15B going to Ukraine for defence against Russian invasion. (HB)
3.7/100 German car buyers went for an electric vehicle in 2024. This dropped from 4.9% in 2022 and 4.8% in 2023. (FAZ)
Weekly social
Twitter: Explanation of the temporary facade @Tesla's Grünheide factory
Twitter: I don’t know what bro is training for but he’s ready
Reddit: Fool me once…
Elsewhere: Discussion and the article on how to avoid doom scrolling
💸 Funded in Berlin & Germany
is a list of companies that received funding over €1M.
Bees & Bears | Berlin | Renewable energy financing platform | €500M Credit | Careers.
Tapline | Berlin | SaaS revenue financing platform | €20M Pre-Series A | Careers.
Project Eaden | Berlin | Plant-based meat technology | €15M Series A | Careers.
Green Fusion | Berlin | Smart heating optimization software | €12M Series A | Careers.
Enapi | Berlin | EV charging network platform | €7.5M | Careers.
Ingarden | Berlin | Automated microgreens growing system | €1.2M Seed | Careers.
Ecoplanet | Munich | AI energy management platform | €16M Series A | Careers.
Matchory | Munich | Autonomous procurement platform | €6M Seed | No careers yet?
Sereact | Stuttgart | Universal robot control software | €25M | Careers.
Flowfox | Hamburg | Import automation platform | €7M | Careers.
Fabel | Hamburg | Digital eldercare solutions | €1.3M Pre-Seed | Careers.
SchrottBienen | Neuss | Digital recycling solutions | €4M | Careers.
Alteva | Cologne | Lightweight battery technology | €1.7M Pre-Seed | No careers yet?
😅 Meanwhile
in Pompeii
*sponsored
Handpicked footer with a treat:
CV writing guide in Germany: insights from 6 tech recruiters
How to learn German and get over “Genau” and “mit Karte, bitte”?
Signing a new employment contract in Germany? Read this before.
Football in Berlin: where to play, watch and how to get involved?
Berlin Salary Trends Reports: How do you compare?