How I got my tech job in Germany

Guest post by Imagine Tech Coach Ahmed Hassanein

Hi everyone!

Two years ago, I met Johann in a café in Berlin Mitte. I told him my story of how I persisted though 100+ rejections until I found my start in Germany with a small company in a small Bavarian town, Regensburg.

I’ve since then upgraded my tech stack, made new friends for life here in Berlin from lots of countries, and have started to volunteer as a Tech Coach at Imagine.

For this 1st edition of the Imagine Newsletter, Johann asked me to share the tricks and tools that I used when applying for jobs in Germany. So here we go.

Hope you like it.

Cheers, Ahmed

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Step 1: Get your CV in shape

Here are my 2 cents learned from having found 4 jobs in Germany now:

• Make sure your profile clearly shows your **actual experience**. Adding 50 buzz words might seem like a good idea but … don’t do that.
  Some CVs are so full of buzzwords that I wonder “what the hell is this guy doing?” So, do not claim you are an expert in Java, PHP, Python & Go. Nobody is.
  Make it very clear to the recruiter what parts of your stack you’re deeply experienced in and which tools or frameworks you’re learning right now.

• PLEASE use PDF format only, no one wants the hassle of doc files, just use google docs and select the option download as PDF.

• Unless you have 20 years of experience or something, keep it under 2 pages, ideally, keep it to 1-page max. No need to add this ancient personal side project you did to learn React or list which editors you use (unless it’s vim, lol)!

• Don’t typo. This might sound obvious but you won’t believe how many CVs have typos and ugly formatting. Proofread it 10 times then ask a native English speaker friend to review it. I never rejected a CV because of typos but it gives a bad first impression of your English skills and your care & attention to detail.

Speaking of CV, there are lots of great tips here.

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Step 2: Apply, wisely

I applied to MANY firms but often I never heard back. I asked myself: “What’s wrong with me?”

The number one reason you get rejected is “experience”. I hate to break it to you, but:

You need a minimum of 2–3 years of good and relevant experience before even expecting any reply from most companies.

Yes, there are exceptions for sure if you are some genius who wins competitive programming contests while sleeping or if you worked during college. However, most of the time it won’t work no matter how many emails you send per second!

I’m not asking you to give up. Instead, focus your time and effort on finding a good job back home, so you can learn the needed skills and then you can expect a few replies to start coming back.

“I’ll just apply, I have nothing to lose anyway”, you say? Well, with each company you apply where you have no chance you simply waste their time and yours.

More importantly, you prevent yourself from applying again soon because you need about 6–12 months before being “unblocked” from their systems.

I suggest keeping at-least 3 processes in parallel so that when you receive the rejection email you just move your focus immediately to the next in the queue.

On some days, it will be tempting for you to apply for 10 jobs in one day to increase your chances. Don’t. Ever. Do. That.

It’s easy to apply for sure but one or two weeks later you will definitely get too many tasks and interviews that will affect your performance.

So think twice before shooting yourself in the leg.

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Step 3: Hunt for a job

There are many platforms and job portals, my strategy is the more effort you give in the beginning the more beneficial (and easier!) they become later.

For each of the platforms that I will list, take the time to set up your profile.

It will be boring as you will have to write the same details over and over again but trust me it’s worth it because you never know which platform will be the one to get you the job!

The good part that you need this setup once per service and then you can use it for months or years for your next jump so it’s REALLY worth it.

forEach (pun intended) service, search for the perfect job, try to keep your search not too narrow that you miss on good opportunities, and not too wide to avoid flooding your inbox with useless results.

Enable daily emails for this search and that’s it! You don’t even need to open the website just check your email daily, voila! I told you it was worth it.

Job portals list

LinkedIn

My personal favorite. This is your main profile and the biggest chance to introduce yourself, I spent many hours taking care of it over the years.

Add contacts (HR, recruiters, developers… you name it) import from mail and other social networks, join groups, follow companies, universities, hashtags (just search for #Berlin for example then click follow).

You can’t do this in a single day, that’s why unlike other platforms this one is for life. Every new connection is a possible opportunity either directly or indirectly.

For example, he/she can refer you to someone you need someday or get you one level closer to this 3rd level contact you REALLY need to reach.

Pro tip: When I get serious about my job search I usually upgrade to premium to be able to send InMail messages, see who visited me, and be more visible if I apply to jobs through LinkedIn.

Bonus points if you keep this habit even after your job search frenzy.

honeypot.io

Honeypot is different and cool because companies apply to you instead! Someone will contact you to set up your profile and when ready they will make you visible to companies for 2 weeks where you can accept/reject offers.

Offers often tend to be on the lower side pay-wise, but I’d suggest not to obsess about salary in your first job in Germany. Get here first & make some first learnings, then discover what you want to optimize for later.

glassdoor.de

As a bonus, you get to see companies' reviews, interview questions, and more.

angel.co

Focuses on startups and has salary ranges, I love it!

stackoverflow.com/jobs

I really like their developer story overview and their detailed job descriptions with salaries and other perks.

berlinstartupjobs.com

Depending on the city/country you are interested in, you can find a more specific website like this one for Berlin.

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Step 4: Keep… going

All you need is ONE sweet ***accepted*** email!

When I applied a few years ago for my first job in Germany, I sent a lot of applications. I sometimes made it to the final rounds but I never get an offer.

“I wondered: What’s wrong with me?” The answer: Nothing, this is pretty normal actually. I applied for 6 months and in most cases, I was shortlisted but finally rejected.

I’m not trying to make you feel bad or demotivate you. Instead, I’m trying to motivate you to do your best and to stand out from the crowd and keep going.

One more thing, for over a year now I have been involved in recruiting and when I get 2 good candidates for 1 open position I HAVE to pick someone.

It can get very close so in some cases the tiniest differences or opinion matters so getting rejected doesn’t mean you did something wrong.

Until then, just keep going. Some great companies give feedback. It happened to me only a few times but helped me A LOT! Ask for feedback but honestly don’t expect much and…

Just. Keep. Going.

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Bonus: Toolz!

Here are some of my favorite job searching tools:

calendly.com

This brilliant but simple (& free) tool will save you many useless emails and messages to pick a perfect time for a call or an interview. Lots of folks in tech & HR in Europe already use it.

huntr.co

I recently found this gem, the best tool I found to keep track of all your ongoing processes. The job portal is a bit basic but the Trello like application tracking really helped me stay sane as I managed lots of application processes in parallel.

Imagine CV Collection

A super helpful collection of *real* CVs that got people jobs in Germany.

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Do you have any other advice? Please leave a comment.

That's all folks! I hope this article helps you or at least gives you some motivation to keep going a little more ❤

-Ahmed & all your friends at Imagine