Hallo Leute! Ich heiße Andrew und ich komme aus England. I'll spare you the A1 level Deutsch.
I apologise if this isn't the right place to talk about this but I thought whoever is here are the people I want to be talking to — I'm a graphic designer/web developer and I'm wanting to take the plunge and move to Berlin later this year.
I guess I'm just looking for general advice and to get a feeling of what to be aware of when I'm doing so, are some places better to live than others now? What's the feeling for tech/design jobs currently?
It would be great to have discussions with people currently living in Berlin and hopefully make some new friends — I'm looking to visit next month for a week so will be looking to visit design studios and make general connections too.
Others already said that that housing is tight but some general notes:
looking outside the S-Bahn-Ring makes finding something much easier, but you will be further away from the center
the "center" of Berlin is mostly for tourists. No need to go there on a day by day basis. There are many Kiez (city block) centers that are much more interesting.
take stock of public transport stops in the vicinity of potential appartments as having a metro or S-Bahn nearby makes getting to places much easier
if you are looking for cool, artsy, hipster stuff, go east. If you are looking for steady, German stereotype, go west.
try not to rely on a car. Public transportation and bikes will get you to all places much faster most of the time.
This is very helpful, thanks so much. I did think about going further out just to get my foot in the door so to speak — I'll take a look and see what the east has to offer. I can't drive either way so I'll be getting a bike when I'm there. Also great to hear about tech jobs — I'm hoping to find something that combines the two in some way. Really appreciate it!