💸 €15 for a Döner?! What Life in Germany Really Costs Now.
Rising rents & overpriced Döners. A Berlin craft beer guide. 20 funded startups. The reality of job seeking in Berlin. A mansplainer tries listening. Germany bans DeepSeek. Handling racism at work.
Personal News & Musings
🫣 Sometimes I’ll overshare and/or rant a bit.
Stress finally packed its bags and left this week and, what a relief. 😌
I wrapped up my first German course and am officially on a summer break (from classes). To celebrate, I went to a fun Pride party on a WeWork rooftop and gave myself the gift of a Friday off (...and let’s just say the hangover earned it.)
Anyone else ride out the crazy Berlin storms this week? Hopefully with less drama than flying patio furniture. 🌩️
Lately, I’ve been thinking about what it really costs to live in Germany. Not just in euros, but emotionally too. Between rising rents, €15 döners, and job market weirdness, it’s a lot.
This week’s newsletter dives right into our reality.
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Community News
🤝 News from our community.
📩 Our Last Newsletter
ICYMI: Germany - “Burnout? Never heard of her.” Meanwhile, Helsing became a decacorn, ghost jobs are everywhere, and foreign workers are eyeing the exit. Read what you missed.
Popular link: Everyone wanted to know - “What’s the happiest city in Germany right now?” 😊 It topped the charts as our most-read link last week.
Recommend us: Help us reach our modest goal of 4,000 subscribers. Tell your loved ones to subscribe to our newsletter, so we can help more people find work in Germany.
🗓️ Our Events (+ Other Events)
🌐 Looking to challenge the status quo in Berlin’s tech scene? Then you need to attend #BITES25 on Sept 19–20 where BlackInTech Berlin and Berlin Global Village are combining forces to spotlight power, equity, and innovation.
If you’re job hunting in tech, don’t miss this. Berlin’s biggest tech job fair lands July 10 with direct access to hiring teams, networking galore, and insider tips to level up your career.
🔊 Featured Germany Life Guide
Whether you're a casual sipper or full-on beer geek, our updated Berlin craft beer guide has your next pint covered. 🍻
📖 See our 60+ free life and career guides.
Polling Vibes
📊 Results of our weekly polls.
Burnout isn’t just a buzzword, as 64% of you said you're either fully crispy or starting to feel the heat. Only 21% of respondents said they're doing okay, while 17% reported no job, no burnout.
One reader put it perfectly: "From what I've seen, it's alarmingly common in Germany to have a history of burnout, especially among expats. It almost seems like a pattern."
Take part in this week’s poll. ⬇️
Companies Hiring Right Now
🇩🇪 Companies in Germany hiring right now.
Blacklane (Global premium chauffeur service provider) - Berlin | 9 jobs
Exmox (Performance ad‑tech for games) - Hamburg | 17 jobs
GIPEDO (Sports-ad marketplace platform) - Hamburg & remote | 7 jobs
Matsmart-Motatos (Surplus groceries for sustainable living) - Berlin | 4 jobs
Miltenyi Bioindustry (Gene therapy solutions) - Bergisch Gladbach mainly | 168 jobs
SIRIO Europe (End‑to‑end supplement innovation partner) - Brandenburg & Frankfurt | 11 jobs
Zeitgeist (German‑engineered Bauhaus timepieces) - Berlin & Essen | 3 jobs
📢 Job of the Week: M&A Analyst / Corporate Development Analyst @ Lingoda
🏢 For even more companies hiring in Berlin right now, see our list.
Recently Funded Startups
🤑 German startups that recently raised new funding may also have vacancies.
✨ TL;DR - Germany’s startup scene was busy as heck this week, with 20 funded startups across 11 German cities, raising €270 M in capital (not including undisclosed amounts).
🤯 Another fun fact? 58 German startups were funded so far in June, taking in more than €1.4 B in funding.
Climatiq (AI‑driven carbon intelligence for business) - €10 M | Berlin & remote | 4 jobs
Lyceum (Developer‑first sovereign AI infrastructure) - €10.3 M | Berlin & Munich | 4 jobs
Synthflow AI (No‑code platform for voice automation) - €17.2 M | Berlin & remote | 9 jobs
🥳 To see the other 17 funded startups this week (marked with a NEW tag), check our list of startups funded in Germany.
Job Search Tip
🙌 A weekly tip to help you crack that job search.
Looking for work in Berlin? This all too honest guide covers everything - job boards, visa basics, salaries, and what it’s really like to work here as a foreigner.
Said one reader: “Another great post, Cheryl! I’ve gone down rabbit holes over the years reading everything I could about living and working in Berlin. This is one of the best articles I’ve come across addressing key issues people and resources fail to mention when giving advice about how to make it here.”
If you're feeling overwhelmed or unsure where to begin, this is the starting point you’ve been looking for.
⭐ Feeling stuck? I can help. Book our career coaching services.
Smart Reads for Curious Minds
💡 Articles about tech, the world of work, & other random things.
🧑💼 The World of Work
Europe’s practically begging for foreign workers in 2025. Wanna know who’s hiring and how to get in?
AI was supposed to make hiring fair. Then why is Workday being sued for bias against workers of colour, over 40, and disabled?
Is your CV already obsolete? AI hiring tools are quietly killing off the traditional CV.
👸 All About Women
What do powerful women eat? Apparently, whatever they want. This piece is a joyful rebellion against diet culture.
From “dude, stop talking” to “I hear you.” This guy learned to be quiet and start listening (and the world is better for it).
One simple message can motivate more women to go for top jobs. And yes, it actually works.
🤖 Everything Tech
The blue screen of death is going black. RIP to the shade that haunted every millennial’s Windows memories. 💻💀
In a world of machine-generated perfection, one heroic typo reminds us why humans still matter.
🔮 Random
No side effects. No addiction. Just real relief. This potential new painkiller could change everything.
✈️ Finally, some travel justice. The EU wants to scrap those ridiculous airline hand luggage fees.
News in Germany
🗞️ The scoop on what’s happening in Germany.
ℹ️ General
Germany is seeing a rise in large families. In a country known for low birth rates, this trend feels kinda hopeful. 💑
Also: Big news for families. Each child is now set to receive 10 months of paid pension contributions under a new scheme.
Berlin wants to test self-driving cars at Tempelhofer Feld. Can they really fit in between the grill masters, slack liners, and rollerbladers?
Thinking about going green? IKEA’s new affordable solar panel kits in Germany might be your easiest entry into climate action yet.
📈 Politics & Economy
A Sifted report on the fastest growing startups in DACH and CEE. 12 German companies are repped in the top 20 companies. Hint, hint - places to look for jobs.
Remember when Berlin was “poor but sexy”? Yeah, us neither. Rents across Germany have soared 50% since 2013.
👛 Berliners are clutching their wallets, as the €15 döner is no longer just a myth.
How much a family in Europe earns in a year, adjusted for living costs. See where Germany stands.
Cuts, climate plans, and cash reshuffles. Here’s how Germany’s 2025 budget might shape your life this year.
From coal country to climate leader? Germany kicks off its largest renewable energy project in history.
Why did Germany just ban a Chinese AI app? The answer says a lot about Europe’s growing mistrust of Big Tech.
🎖️ Could Germany make you serve in the military? Dual nationals and foreigners might want to read this one.
👩⚕️ Immigration & Labour Developments
Continental’s big breakup signals a deeper shift in Germany’s old-school business model and what the future of work here might really look like.
Germany’s immigrant population is more educated than ever, smashing stereotypes and quietly reshaping the workforce.
While the minimum wage is set to rise, everyday Germans are still struggling to make ends meet.
😡 It’s not just Eisenhüttenstadt that needs people but has a hard time attracting them. In Eastern Germany, a toxic mix of depopulation and far-right rhetoric is fuelling resistance to housing migrants, even when there’s space.
If you've ever walked out of a meeting and thought, Did that just happen? These 5 tips for handling racism at work in Berlin are validating, smart, and actually useful.
Still dreaming of working in Germany? New reforms are supposed to make it easier but bureaucracy isn’t going down without a fight. 📠
💃🏻 Fun, Interesting, and/or Useful
Yes, a fish bit five people in Bavaria and the police … shot it. 🦈 🔫
A historic photo of West Germans facing East German border guards at the Brandenburg Gate in 1989.
Tiny dogs, trains, and Berlin magic. Go behind the scenes at the Neukölln workshop crafting Wes Anderson’s delightfully odd universes.
Germany Life Hacks
🥨 Things to make life in Deutschland (a little bit) better.
🍹 Spritz season is in full swing and Berlin’s bars are serving sunshine in a glass. Where to sip your way through summer.
We also recommend: 20% Berlin & Smart Living in Germany.
See more Berlin Life hacks.
🏠 🥵 It’s summer. It’s hot. Grocery shopping sounds like a punishment. Flink delivers groceries to your door in literal minutes. Use code FLINK-3TDV5T and get €15 off your first order.