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Average starting salary for Germany?

pixelb
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pixelb greentooth
I'm looking at a taking a job overseas and the company's asked me what my "salary expectations" are. Has anyone worked in Germany (or the EU generally) who can give me some insight on what a typical starting salary for a 3d artist is? Not junior or senior, just straight 3d. If its helps, I'd be living in a large city and I have around two years professional experience, counting internships and freelance.
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  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    Juniors from my neck of the woods (Berlin) earn anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 before taxes. Can't comment on 'regular' artist's salaries - the ceiling isn't too far off though from what I gather. As usual, it also depends on the company's size, current needs, your negotiation skills.

    Good luck!
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  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    Taxes are between 1/3d and 1/4th of your gross income over here, by the way. Again, depending on various factors (how clever your prospective tax advisor is, marital status, etc etc).
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  • pixelb
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    pixelb greentooth
    Thank you,that's very useful to know.
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  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    This is a 'how long is a piece of string?' question - Germany is a reasonably large country with a fair bit of variation between cities. Where I am in Munich, you'd need perhaps as much as 1/3rd more than you would in a city in the north.

    Your best bet is to compare your current salary with a quality of life index and work it out from there - what do I need to match what I currently have?
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  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    ^ Yeah. Salaries in Berlin are probably a little lower than Munich/Hamburg/Frankfurt due to higher competition and lower living costs.
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  • JKMakowka
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    JKMakowka polycounter lvl 18
    Hmm, did they say how you would get a work-visa? Because unless you earn something like 45,000€ per year you will not get a "blue-card" and thus getting a work permit without being an EU citizen will be... difficult.
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  • Shrike
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    Shrike interpolator
    If you're from the US, game salaries are about 30% better there in average, but that info is maybe dated, cannot really tell
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  • [HP]
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    [HP] polycounter lvl 13
    cptSwing wrote: »
    Juniors from my neck of the woods (Berlin) earn anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 before taxes.

    +1
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  • pixelb
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    pixelb greentooth
    Of course the safe answer to a question like this is always "it depends," but that's not exactly helpful when someone's asking you for a number. Unfortunately I'm not coming from a salaried job, so I can't simply weigh it against what I'm making now. The best I could do would be to compare it to the last job offer I got.

    Still, stuff like the difference between Berlin and other cities is news to me so I'm grateful for the info.

    The company's said they can get me a work permit, and they've obviously been through the process enough times before that I'm no too concerned about it.
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