🎈What's new in Berlin? Calendar Week 30
Issue #62 (31 Jul) – 29 jobs and a treasure hunt; thinning ice, exploding scooters; engineering blogs; Politico on Germany; best bakeries in town and what to do in August.
Programming note: We made significant progress towards the new logo this week. I asked around with five designs, and it turns out design is extremely subjective. So I go with the sexy floating “P”.
Based on feedback last week, I also improved the job database on handpickedberlin.com—check and let me know what else is missing? I will add a category filter and a search box. A small step for a man…
(if you did not see it, here is a direct link)
👀 Handpicked jobs
📨 Readers submitted
submit yours on the link; it’s free
💾 HR & Recruitment
… 22 more positions (HR & recruitment plus several others) in handpicked online database. Let me know how you like the new approach. I am open to feedback.
🌟 Handpicked Kleinanzeigen
Submit yours here or leave a comment. Please be fair to the readers and me.
😎 Cool stuff:
🏴☠️ Want to try something new and different? How about a real-life treasure hunt designed by Federico? Experience eleven levels that will help you discover hidden spots around Berlin. It’s free, and you can play at your own pace or with friends. It starts online! I found the solution for the first page! Did you?
🔍 Searching for roles:
Mahima is an architectural design graduate with real estate experience that seeks a BIM role. She managed £3B residential and mixed-use projects. Excels
in stakeholder management, data analytics, and innovative solutions.Alia seeks a senior/management strategy role in a digital transformation/service design/UX-forward space. Equally comfortable doing the thing, designing the practice, and managing the people who do the thing.
Mary is a versatile, high-performing executive assistant with 10+ years in tech, looking for her next position with the C-level as an operational/administrative business partner.
Patrick is seeking a senior role in Product—he has several years of experience as a Software Engineer and as a Management Consultant & Process Analyst. He likes tech and is a committed German learner: from zero to B1.2 in less than a year.
🗞 Top inspiration snippets
🇩🇪 Berlin & Other good stuff
I am in these numbers! In 2022, Berlin saw a record net increase of almost 85k people moving to the city, the highest figure since 1991. (235k arrivals and about 150k departures). Despite this growth, the city continued to experience population loss to the neighbouring Brandenburg. Twice as many people from Berlin relocated to Brandenburg than the other way around. In total, Berlin lost 11k residents to the surrounding suburban areas.
❄️ I don’t know about you, but I am not really bullish on the ice in Antarctica. Sad!
🛴 How about scooters? Banned in Paris, but very alive in Berlin: “As of May 1, official permits have been granted for 47,550 e-scooters, compared to 23,000 in June 2021.” Not a big fan, but if it rocks your boat, why not? Just park it well.
The noise camera on K’damm (issue #54) delivered! It caught 1,144 cars and motorcycles louder than 82 decibels until July 4th—the experiment will continue until the end of the month and will be integrated in Lärmaktionsplan für Berlin which will be published next July. 100% support from my side, let’s just speed it up!
📍Google refreshed its 13y old Street View for Berlin; a good opportunity for the Datenshutzultras to protect their buildings (or e-mail at streetview_deutschland@google.com). I checked my street, and people were still wearing jackets. I also did not see my car. Strange! My car is parked all the time.
🤑 Is it better to rent or buy? According to Handelsblatt (🇩🇪) it makes more sense to rent in Berlin. Your rent should not exceed 25% of your net income if you are lucky enough.
👾 The AI hype is (was) real! According to NGP Capital, DACH-based generative AI startups attracted more funding in Q2 2023 ($248M) than during 2022 ($210M). Compared to the first half of 2022, Munich only had a 16% drop in venture funding compared to Berlin’s 44% and Zurich’s 77%. NGP also thinks WorkMotion, Cere, Jina and Taktile are so-called soonicorns.
🧑🏻💻Have you ever wondered why some famous companies have engineering blogs that reveal how they solve problems etc.? I never thought of intimidation and distraction, but it makes sense. A good power move! More on this by the always excellent Byrne Hobart.
🇩🇪📉 I’ve mentioned the challenges of the German das Auto previously. This (extremely pessimistic) article from Politico expands on that, and it does make you think. “Absent an unexpected turnaround, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Germany is headed for a much deeper economic decline.” Worth a read! Now let’s do something about it.
🧐 Who copied whom? Instagram Snap, or Threads Twitter? “Nearly every major social media feature has been copied or iterated on by rival apps, causing most major social media platforms to begin to look the same.” More with a nice chart on Axios.
🚀 Career advice: Greg Brockman of Open AI blogs about how he became a machine learning practitioner. In short: grit and lots of studying. Probably you can’t call yourself an AI Engineer today if you were building data pipelines or installing Python libraries yesterday.
😔 Bad news: quick commerce startup Arive (Munich) is temporarily closing operations; Social Chain AG is insolvent.
r/berlin choice of the week is this list of the best bakeries in town. Germany probably has the best art of bread in the world? This contributes to the quality of life in Berlin, which I rate 9/10. See what others think. To make it a ten, I would need a better-oriented and cheaper apartment.
Out of 142 investigations related to violence against Last generation activists nationwide, 99 are in Berlin. The charges involve bodily harm, coercion, and insult. And of course “violent reactions often stem from a sense of superiority.” More at RBB.
🎪 What to do in Berlin in August? by Exberliner.
💬 Briefly:
On Friday BVG introduced a new seat pattern design in the first U-Bahn (on U7). More to follow.
Indian AdTech Affinity Global acquired Berlin-based Opinary (social engagement tools) for a single-digit million sum.
Getir is trying to limit the cash burn by exiting Italy and Portugal weeks after leaving France and Spain. Who’s next? They are still delivering in the UK, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, and Turkey and reportedly looking for fresh funds.
Flix is planning to IPO in the first half of 2024. (Reuters)
Brandenburg's Environmental Office calls for Tesla to amend its Grünheide battery factory expansion plans, citing water protection concerns.
In 2022, Bolt generated €1.26B in revenue, up 152% vs 2021 (€500.8M) and posted a net loss of €192M. More numbers.
Starting next week, Adidas will start selling the remaining "Yeezy" shoes from terminated Kanye West partnership. Parts of the proceeds will fund anti-racism and anti-Semitism causes.
Deutsche Bahn slides into the red in H1 2023 with a net loss of €71M, nearly €500M below last year's results, despite 11% rise in passenger numbers. Long-distance punctuality drops to 68.7%. Ouch!
💸 Recently funded in Berlin & Germany
ecoworks | Berlin | Renovates properties to reduce CO2 emissions | €22M | Careers.
nuwo | Berlin | Offers "Homeoffice-as-a-Service" for companies | €2.75M | Careers.
Constellr | Freiburg | Monitors agricultural water demand using microsatellites | $7M | Careers.
RepairFix (motum) | Münster | Fleet management platform planning international expansion | High single-digit million € | Careers.
Circus | Hamburg | Provides quick, sustainable, affordable food delivery | €5.5M | Careers.
ECO Group | Bad Homburg | Combines and scales sustainable brands | €7.5M | Careers.
QuoIntelligence | Frankfurt am Main | Offers tailored threat analyses for companies | €5M | Careers.
🤓 Timeless and useful
There is one place to go to become a true search expert online. It is this article from Gwern. This is it; nothing left to be said on the topic of search.
😅 Meanwhile
this video made me laugh out loud; the funniest I have seen this year
This is a footer slice of wisdom for you. Once, an engineer told me: “What would be if there were no engineers?” I replied, “Exactly!” because I didn’t want to go there. So here is a thread of philosophy books that changed people’s lives.
✌️ Handpicked essentials:
- Berlin Salary Trends Report 2023: How do you compare?
- The best questions to ask at a job interview
- Write it down now! Or why you should journal at work?
- Submit your job (it’s free)
- Why do people read handpicked?
If you have made it this far, smash that like button or leave a comment!