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Comment by whstl | Hacker News Reader

Germany. I wasn't exactly laid off, just left in a bad time. Zero applications, just recruiters reaching out, I started 8 processes, 4 are still ongoing, on 2 I got ghosted, but got 2 offers so far which I gotta answer till next week.

EDIT: I got 18 years of experience, web full stack (react/vue/golang/rails/C#/haskell) + devops, if that matters.

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What’s the salary on the offers you have, and in which region of Germany is that? Just curious.

Berlin. 140k and 150k but I'm still shopping.

Thanks! Are those IC or project/team lead positions?

Team Lead!

Do they make difference between "tech lead" and "team lead"? Asking for a friend :)

Yes! Team Lead has a management component to it. You often handle 1-on-1s, promotions, conflicts resolution, lead hiring processes, act a middleman to other parts of the company, but you still code (unlike a "pure" manager). Tech lead is more of a tech-only role, and there's often a non-coding manager present as well. All IME of course.

Makes sense, thanks!

Wow, that's really above the top tier in Berlin for SW developers.

Are there companies paying for ICs in that range?

Keep in mind that's for team lead (which is "50% IC" I guess). But it's not exactly hard to see around 110k-120k for senior freelancing/consulting positions when you have good experience and great contacts. Also I see some Principal/Staff that make around this, this but those positions are sort of "tailor made" for certain individuals and are often "internal" and hard to apply for.

EDIT: Also the market moved quite a bit recently. A few years ago I wouldn't see this salary range at all. Also notice I'm getting old... Due to my experience/resumé I was also headhunted for principal and CTO positions, so there's that.

You've got an interesting story and a great outlook. Would you be up for a coffee? I would love to chat and share notes with you. I'm also based in Berlin.

I'm also based in Berlin. Do you mind if I ask what companies are you talking to?

The processes are still ongoing (haven't decided on the offers yet), but happy to share the info in a few weeks.

Out of curiosity, any offer in Haskell?

Unfortunately not yet! However I did talk with some recruiters that wanted me to work with Clojure and Elixir, despite not having written a single line in them, purely because I knew Haskell.

Which is kinda interesting because years ago I noticed some resistance from companies in hiring Senior/Principal/Staff in languages other than their main.

Yeah, I did notice more open minds.

Congrats.

Thanks!

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