Salary Trends 2026 results are here

Ok, most of it. 🎉

#195: does Berlin have a trash problem?

👞 I am going to take the next week off to burn some tokens, so this is the last Monday issue before May 4th.

#194: are you German or autistic?

🥸 I’ve received a couple of messages about the subject line drawing the interest, but then being buried in the newsletter and people struggling to find it.

#193: what's the median salary in Germany?

I started to work on Salary trends analysis and am happy to report that the data has quite a good quality and that we collected over 4,500 responses.

#192: does the Görli fence make sense?

🧶 Without checking the data quality at all, the Salary Trends 2026 will be a major upgrade over 2025. By last Friday, we had 4000+ submissions...

#191: how to bring rents down?

🚀 I am taking a short break, but it wasn’t a properly planned vacation, so I still need to work. But this is fine, because I love my job.

#190: what's this demo about?

🏓 I was just thinking how crazy 2026 has been so far in almost every sense...

#189: why is the Smiley Portal gone?

Salary Trends had a good first week, and I’d be happy if you could share it with your friends/WhatsApp group or your team (nothing better than a good Slack channel post, HR is gonna love you!)

how much do you make?

Issue #188 (2 Mar) - a restaurant & three movies rec; BVG strike no. 2; 12 distractions you can set aside; what's your excuse?

announcing Handpicked Careers

Issue #187 (23 Feb) - new Money Talk; population drop; BAD1; Berlinale winners; on bland AI writing.

will AI replace all of us?

Issue #186 (16 Feb) - Maglev train; anti BER lobby; German novels; making a living as an artist; is infinite scroll doomed in the EU?

should part-time work be reformed?

Issue #185 (9 Feb) - Berlinale is back; winter chaos; Berlin Werbefrei; Telekom speeds; signs of low intelligence.

would you work in defence tech?

Issue #184 (Feb 2) - new email layout; Money Talk is back; secret to being happy and why layoffs don't work!

did you see the northern lights?

who wants free potatoes?

Guten Morgen,

how did 2026 start for you?

Happy New Year, but only if it’s still appropriate to write it on the 12th,

will you be paying the Solitude Tax? (Berlin in 2035)

This newsletter issue is from the future, Berlin in December 2035. It’s just a fun experiment with the same structure as the existing newsletter. If you have 3 minutes, please help me improve the product by answering a couple of questions.

and the most single Kiez is?

Programming note #179: This is the last regular newsletter of the year.

how does a bad candidate behave?

Programming note #178: I do this newsletter because I enjoy doing it.

how does a bad recruiter behave?

Programming note #177: I attended an amazing housewarming party and once again realised how bad most of us are at remembering each other’s names.

why is the info about my bus/bahn wrong?

Programming note #176: Last week we had our first coworking session, and it was fun.

are you also addicted to social media?

Programming note #175: I’ve got a couple of slots open to present great companies next year.

is AI coming for HR?

Programming note #174: This week I realised that I am addicted to social media.

how do top earners in Germany compare?

Programming note #173: I’d like to get out of the house more and meet some of you, so I am collecting interest for occasional or regular Handpicked coworking sessions.

are you happier than a Hamburger?

Programming note #172: I used this week for some strategic planning, and I was also very happy to present the Salary Trends survey at the Talent Crunch event.