☝️ "Don't make these mistakes with your side hustle" is online!
☝️ "Don't make these mistakes with your side hustle" is online!
Issue #78 (20 Nov) – tech & dev job focus; another GSD session; salary slips across Germany; OnlyFans is hard work and a kitchen debate from 1959 you wouldn't see today.
Programming note: I asked, you voted (#75), and we did it! Another timeless piece of content in collaboration with Jean: Don’t make these mistakes with your side hustle. I hope you’ll like it and bookmark it. It’s top-quality content.
A couple of weeks ago, we successfully tested the concept of “wake up early and work on your stuff.” Before making it even more professional, we will run another pilot, starting at 6:30 AM on weekdays. You can read more (incl. testimonials) and register for the limited spaces here. Essentially, we meet online to work together. It works, and you can join - limited seats.
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🌟 Handpicked Kleinanzeigen & Tech Events
🎪 Events:
Gründerszene Spätschicht - Berlin | Thu, 7.12 at 19.00 | P61 Gallery
📨 Ironhack's 10th anniversary celebration | Fri, 24.11 at 18.00 | Ironhack
📨 Product Open Mic Christmas Spectacular | Tue, 5.12. at 18.30 | Collato
😎 Cool stuff:
Christine is a freelance copywriter specialized on purpose brands. With her passion for writing and deep knowledge of persuasion psychology, she crafts creative copies that generate leads, sales and smiles. Connect with her to step up your copy game!
Mapamundi’s Christmas Special: Israel's world music and Katharina's cultural chat while indulging in Christmas snacks.
🔍 Searching for roles:
James is looking for a new sales opportunity, primarily through English. He has 10+ years of experience in various sales roles with a speciality in Telecomms, Data Networks and Cloud Solutions.
Raymond is a product and visual designer with 7+ years of experience. He was a lead designer at a startup and co-founded an art collective. He's new to Berlin and is looking for a product designer position. He challenges anyone to say his last name right (Okhidievbie, if you want to try).
You can join James, Raymond, Christine and others by submitting a free ad here:
👀 Handpicked twenty-something
📨 HR going the extra mile & readers submitted
Did you know you can be featured too??? it is still free: submit yours on the link
💾 On rotation this week: Dev & Tech
Databricks - Senior Software Engineer - Database Engine Internals
More positions in Handpicked online database.
🎉 We made it. A record number of likes!
Last week I asked you for an offering to the algorithms and received a record 24 likes for the post and many more on Instagram. Thanks!
Sadly, I’ve had a hard week health-wise, so I had no energy to brag about it on social media, but I had plenty of time to reflect on what I’m doing.
I decided I’ll double down on good content because GOOD CONTENT is the only thing that matters long-term. You are not reading this because you enjoy crap, are you?
I love your support and am also trying to give in return, so I extended the benefits for supporters. More is coming, slowly but surely.
Subscribe, like, comment, share/tell your friends about it. Thank you so much! ❤️
🗞 Top inspiration snippets
🇩🇪 Berlin & Other good stuff
👨🏻🍳 Are you thinking of a side hustle? Then Don’t make these mistakes with it—a lot of surprising information for me.
📚 My friend Maja just released a practical handbook on go-to-market strategies to help everyone outside big tech reach that elusive product market fit. It’s already a best-seller on the US Amazon. Get it here.
💸 I found this Instagram account, posting different salary slips across Germany, interesting. I don’t even know where to start: some have it great, some must struggle! So many different professions: chefs, construction workers, and lawyers. Related, the minimum salary will increase to €12.82€/hour next year.
🚀 Celebrations in the DE tech scene: The parliament passed the Financing for the Future Act. After January next year, companies will be allowed to go public without an underwriter with a minimum market cap of €1M; the tax allowance for employee share ownership will increase to €2k from €1.44k (this was lowered from €5k in the draft). For Jedermann with ESOPs it means less tax in case your company makes it and fewer problems with the so-called Dry income. It hopefully means more companies offering ESOP programmes ON TOP of good compensation.
💨 Siemens Energy (frequently published here) secured a €15B deal (bail-out?) with the German government to improve its balance sheet due to massive losses from its wind turbine unit Gamesa (over €4B). The problem is that offshore wind is expensive and losing against solar! Ofc there are questions about why the state is “supporting” the company partially still owned by profitable Siemens (more, 🇩🇪)
🍑 It’s a long read, but worth it: Inside an OnlyFans empire: Sex, influence and the new American Dream (you can access it for free by submitting your e-mail; here is a YT video, too). Onlyfans is the same as online poker was years ago: many look at the top earners and think they can do it too. As with everything, you’ll need a lot of discipline and time to make it.
📫 Another anecdotal proof that a good cover letter makes sense is this LinkedIn report from the Engineering manager at Substack (it will help you answer “Why do you want to work at..” better, too). When the market is tight, you must find ways to stand out. I wrote an article on how to impress the hiring manager (in the footer).
⚙️ Here are some ideas from Sahil Bloom, a famous threadboi, on managing your daily work schedule with four types of professional time. Some of the ideas are useful, but I would also advise for intentional, unstructured or random time: just lying on the sofa or going for a walk. It’s the unstructured time where the magic happens.
☝️ Berlin is relatively safe, but it will still be helpful for you to look at this YouTube video on 9 Levels of pickpocketing from the magician Ben Seidman. Recommended.
🪦 We hyped the AI hard, Sam Altman is gone and maybe back again, and here is the wasteland of discontinued and dead AI projects.
😔 Bad news: Sono Motors (Munich) let go of the last employees; Amazon will lay off “several hundred” employees working on Alexa (possibly affecting the Berlin location).
r/berlin choices of the week must be this Best of BVG jokes because I am also a big fan of their humour (you’ll need German). And if you feel like having some social science debates, here is a post on immigration. I feel learning German has a lot to do with it. I can imagine how much harder life is not knowing it, for example, if you have a health emergency.
💬 Briefly:
Celonis acquired Symbio. Alibaba took a majority stake in Visable-Gruppe from Hamburg. Careers.
Statista got a new CEO (Marc Berg).
GoTiger, Berlin-based delivery for Asian groceries, took a break (??) until next year. This is a first for me. Love the name, though! Related, Getir acquired FreshDirect to
burn more cashbeef up in the US.Trade Republic increased revenue to €96M but expanded loss to €124M (from €50M) in 2021/22, focusing on growth and product expansion. Deeper analysis by Finanz-szene (🇩🇪). Hmm, read before applying. Related, Commerzbank received a crypto custody licence in Germany.
HelloFresh surprisingly lowered its annual forecast only a couple of weeks after its conference call due to an unexpected drop in new customers, especially in the US. Growth is expected to be 2-5% instead of 8%. 🤔
Delivery Hero's Q3 2023 report showed an 8.6% GMV growth. They aim for an adjusted EBITDA of more than EUR 850M. Also, see the meme.
Tonies, the children's audio platform from Düsseldorf, reported a 46% revenue increase in Q3 2023 (€79M), with a notable sales uptick in the USA. Careers.
HubSpot's Q3 revenue rose 26% to $558M, exceeding forecasts due to high cloud solution demand. They have an office in Berlin.
Stiftung Warentest evaluated insurance broker apps like Check24, Clark, and others, revealing mediocre advisory quality. Clark and Good24 scored a 2.7, Check24 got 3.4, Feelix a poor 4.6, and Schutzklick Makler, recently acquired by Clark, a 3.7. It’s like in German schools: the higher the number, the worse the result.
Bitkom’s survey showed Twitter/X use in Germany fell, 37% are less active, and 19% stopped posting. I’m in the 37% group; happy I never really invested in building an audience there.
💸 Recently funded in Berlin & Germany
PiNCAMP | Berlin | A booking platform for camping in DE and CH | €6.6M | Careers.
Filu | Berlin | Personalized pet care experience | €5.1M | Careers.
Frieda | Berlin | Empowering women for better health in menopause | €2.5M | Careers.
Scenarium AI | Berlin | Automating building plans for all stakeholders | €1.6M | No careers.
Retorio | München | Making everyone a people expert through psychology and AI | €9M | Careers.
😅 Meanwhile
the famous spinach meme got an upgrade
This is a footer slice of 🎬🍿 with “Kitchen Debate” (YT, 7:38), a series of impromptu exchanges between then-U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow on July 24, 1959. Fascinating! It could never happen today.
✌️ Handpicked essentials:
- Want to get reminded for the next salary survey?
- The best questions to ask at a job interview
- Write it down now! Or why you should journal at work?
- What do hiring managers look for in CVs? On the importance of the cover letter.
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