I found this entry about working in Germany from a scholarship mailing list blog. It is about motivating (Indonesian) people to work in Germany as skilled labour in high tech area. Some of the comments were interested and some remained sceptical. Funny is that those who were sceptical are people who graduated from german universities or at least, still studying in Germany. From my sight, I do see that Germany has a shortage of high qualified skilled labour. I have been working at some typical german’s main corporates, and I saw how long it needed before a vacancy could be occupied. But it doesn’t mean that anyone, even one who doesn’t speak German at all and never been in Germany could easily find a job in high tech sector.

First, the immigration rules come as a disadvantage for people from a non-European Union (EU) country like Indonesia. My job was hanged at Federal Employment Office for 6 weeks to search for a German or EU citizen who also qualified for my job. To be honest, during this time I was really anxious to see whether someone really could replace me and convince my employer that he is better suited for the job than me After 6 weeks, I got the working permit. Despite the fact that I’m also graduated from a german university, this process must be done because the immigration rules that give first priority for German or EU citizen.

Second, fluency in German is really important. Yes, you can survive with English here, but it gives you a lot of relief if you got fluency in German. Of course, there will be always exceptions and you heard of a friend of your friend from your second cousin of your neighbour that he is working in Germany without German knowledge. But as an expatriate in Germany I dare to say that German knowledge is important to make you comfortable here.

But after all, it is really an interesting chance you shouldn’t miss if you got an offering in Germany. Germany belongs to the core economic power of European Union, it has nice cultural activity you shouldn’t miss, and especially if you working in a main german’s metropole such as Berlin, Frankfurt or Munich you will get a lot of nice european impressions. As said before, Germany DO have shortage of skilled labour in high tech sector. So, to make it short: it is not impossible to gain an offering in Germany, but one should keep in mind there are also burdens to be coped with.