23M from the USA studying my masters in energy engineering in Munich, Germany.
I have enjoyed Munich so far (1 year in) and made some occasional, hang out sometimes on the weekends type friends, but no close friends I can talk to daily or every other day about anything deeper than surface level stuff. I am scared this will just continue if I choose to live here long term, as making friends in Germany without speaking German is notoriously hard. If I were offered an internship or full time position, I would make it a priority to learn German.
I was planning to go back to the US to start looking for jobs after graduating, but I might have an opportunity to intern and then maybe work at a famous Bavarian automotive company as a battery engineer. I love the benefits of working here and work-life balance, even at a lower salary. The salary at this company is also a bit higher than other companies in the region for my position.
This has got me thinking where would you guys recommend to stay?
Weather is not an issue for me as I really enjoy Munich’s weather — it is pretty similar to the Northeast where I’m from.
Thanks!
I’d stay in Germany if I were you. There is a recession in the US and the employers are very fickle. There is no job security.
You’re already in Germany. You could learn German more easily living there.
You can also take advantage of the 4 week German vacations to travel and learn new cultures and have fun in your 20s. In the US, you’d get barely 2 week of vacation a year.
Yes, definitely my quality of life will be much higher here. Just need to make the friends to enjoy it with :)
Four weeks would be 20 days. LOL. I think it is more about 40! They have a day off with many occasions / special days! Like many Christian days, and important days from their history
There is a recession in Germany* FTFY:
Source:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/19/recession-hit-germany-is-facing-a-flurry-of-global-headwinds-goldman-sachs.html
US Economy grew by 5%
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/26/us-gdp-grew-at-a-4point9percent-annual-pace-in-the-third-quarter-better-than-expected.html#:~:text=Economy-,U.S.%20GDP%20grew%20at%20a%204.9%25%20annual%20pace%20in,third%20quarter%2C%20better%20than%20expected&text=Gross%20domestic%20product%2C%20a%20measure,ahead%20of%20the%204.7%25%20estimate.
I do agree that there is no job security in the US, but just wanted to mention that the US is not in a recession (at least not yet), while Germany is and is doing pretty badly when compared not only to the US, but also other EU countries.
I’m not sure why you were downvoted, Germany is in a recession, even the German government admitted to that. On the other hand, the US economy grew by almost 5%. The people on this sub are delulu
I do not believe that. Germany, Western Europe, are not in a depression. The biggest problem is where to find labour. In every branche they need people. Special now in teaching, in nursery and technical (too because of the activities against climate change, like changing energy to electric).
I wouldn’t worry about a recession as OP’s career is in engineering, and not the software type. I’m assuming OP’s is related to electrical engineering and that is very in demand. Depending on his prospects in Germany, working at a national lab in the US would also give good work life balance with good pay.