For those of you who came to Germany or Austria for studies (Bachelor, Master), did you ever feel set back because of your background in your professional life or what is it irrelevant once you knew the language enough and had a local degree?
Posted by PreWiBa@reddit | AskBalkans | View on Reddit | 7 comments
Basically, what is says in the title.
I feel that is not the case, a lot of people from uni i met say otherwise though and that they even with a German degree can only dream of going to a very big company and so on...
But i'm born and raised here, so my experience vastly differs.
External_Ear2801@reddit
Yes. Learning language is your biggest fast track to independence. Regardless, it feels like you gotta work harder than locals, but so far I am happy with my life.
External_Ear2801@reddit
Wait Im not even from Balkans, wrong sub. But I am a Latino, and Balkans are the Latinos of Europe.
alexppex@reddit
Hey, i went to Germany and then moved to Austria, as i was unhappy with my initial choice.
I went in for a Bachelors with C1 level german. It was vastly different from what we were taught all the years before - they aren't as open-minded or friendly regarding foreigners, eventhough socially they are more accepting of who you are. No one cared where I was from, except for if this would impact my hireability. Being from Bulgaria, there is the plus that I dont need an "Arbeitserlaubnis" to work, but i did need to write it on my CV that i am an EU citizen, other balkan people i knew wrote they had an Arbeitserlaubnis (permission to work).
In most low-experience jobs (i.e student jobs, etc) they didn't care where you are from, but there were still some people who looked at me as if i was a second class citizen. Eventually my german skills got more native, so people stopped asking where i was originally from, they assumed i moved when i was a child, hence some of the butchered wording. In university finding project partners was not difficult, but it was always with other foreigners. Locals knew eachother from before, or just kind of didn't want to include us when going out for example. Again, this changed with time as my german got more fluent and native.
Looking for jobs in my field it was actually the completely opposite though. Specifically in Vienna, there were a lot of positions which didn't require german (IT job market), or which required any slavic language, since the team was multinational. Interviews were in german and english, people actually really didn't care where you come from, just wanted someone who can do the job. Moving from low-end jobs to the professional field was night and day, no longer was i feeling like a second class citizen. This was even before i had a degree, or before my german was polished. This kind of turned the whole experience upside down for me for a long while.
All until it came to discussing salaries and they denied raising my salary, meanwhile austrian colleagues with no experience or knowledge in the field got +40%EUR more. Then i started asking around and this was universal. Anyone from the Balkans - a bit higher than the lowest salary (but higher than average balkan salaries), for Austrians - a lot more. It wasn't only negotiation, they just knew what to offer to whom.
5 years after i initially moved abroad, after finishing my degree and getting experience, i moved back to Bulgaria. Turns out, companies here appreciate people with foreign degrees and experience abroad. Got a better job, found a better work environment.
Oddly enough, now back home, i still feel like a second-class citizen at times. Those 5 years i learned to navigate the German and Austrian systems, yet i didn't learn my home one. I still have to look up basic bureacracy things
Happy-Hour88@reddit
I ended up not going in the end. I visited both countries, and I didn't even like them as a tourist. I frankly don't get why so many Balkaners move to those two. The German language is really difficult, the lifestyle is meh. Local food is meh. Weather is meh. People are meh. France is superior at least in food and has parts with better climate. The French language is still very difficult but perhaps easier than German. Healthcare is better in France.
I think French people can be snobby but at the same time less xenophobic towards Balkan people than Germans and Austrians. Austrians don't even like Slovaks or anyone not Austrian. Still too many Balkan people think of Germany and Austria as the promised land, lol.
Usual-Trouble-2357@reddit
I totally agree. I went to Germany and Austria plenty of times, and I really don't get the attraction for those places for working or studying or anything. Part of it is personal, like yes, I do have basically no attraction to German culture, and quite a bit of affinity for French culture, but I just feel like the vibes are so much better in France.
I'd definitely see myself living in Lyon for example but there isn't really a place in Germany I'd like to live in(maybe Saxony but just because unlike elsewhere I always found people there to be super nice). Berlin is such a shithole for a European capital. Yes, it has its cool hipstery vibe and whatnot, but it's a dirty unkept place and a lot of the old architecture like in Unter den Linden feels like it's just inhuman and makes you realize just what sort of f***ed up bastards the Prussians were.
For us in particular, yeah, I guess both French and German are much easier than for Slavic speakers, but French is still much easier than German.
Happy-Hour88@reddit
Germany and Austria lose for me for not having an Atlantic and Mediterranean coast. Well, Austria has no coasts at all but German sea coasts are meh. I liked Salzburg only, but I prefer the old rustic architecture of rural and small-town France better.
humanistazazagrliti@reddit
Job prospects have become worse in Germany, so there's a slight increase in racism and xenophobia even during the hiring process. However, I don't think it's necessarily much harder for people from the Balkans. Most of us are being read by Germans as white, and especially if you speak German well, no one really notices. It really depends on the profession though: The more respectable the position, the fewer you'll find people of other ethnicities, women, queer people, etc. At uni, it was a wild mix of people all the way up to junior docs, but as soon as people had tenure, it was all ethnic Germans. Yes, there were a lot of women still, but once you go further, like dean or uni president, it was just white ethnic German men in really nice suits, and with a very conservative, unassuming appearance. So yes, Malik Hadžić from Bosnia probably won't be VW Vorstand with his Muslim name, especially if he has Mediterranean olive skin, but neither will blond, queer-presenting Steffi. Still, ironically enough, professionals from the Balkans can still live much better and financially more stable lives in Germany or Austria than in most Balkan countries, with the exception of Slovenia and maybe Croatia in rare cases.