I worked in Berlin.

FOR FREE. Yeah.

If you have an EU passport I do not think it will be such a problem, but for me it was next to impossible to find a real job. Honestly, the German economy is horrible right now. Record high unemployment.

I do not want to discourage you though. I adored working in Berlin. There is quite a bit of funding through the senatsverwaltung fur stadtententwicklung http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/ for offices to do things other than build. (I worked on two urban design exhibitions when I was there).

The good thing about Berlin is that it is dirt cheap. You absolutely should not pay more than 200 euro a month for an apartment, and groceries + ubahn are another 150 - so you can really live there for next to nothing.

I highly recommend looking at daad.org and the humbolt scholarship. Its a good way to get to Berlin on someone else's dime.

If I had stayed, I would have ended probably working more for free, and then doing freelance jobs and english tutoring (illegal though) to pay the bills. Give it a shot. If you want it badly enough, it has to work out right?

I also highly suggest thinking about Leipzig. A lot of design firms and young artists are moving there, and its even cheaper than Berlin.

Good luck!

i worked there and got paid, moved in speaking almost no german. i know, i lucked out! of course your chances are best with the bigger firms that might be doing international work, and thus would especially benefit from international workers. and as dasein said, the economy is very rough in berlin now, but on the flipside it is incredibly cheap. i paid 300 eu/mo. rent but again as dasein said, that's too much. i think chipperfield has an office there, i have always fantasized about working there someday.

i got the job (granted i'm a student and it was an intern position so the whole process was easier for me) by simply mailing my resume and a sample portfolio. got no response, then followed up with e-mails, eventually got the position. worked there for 5 months so the work permit process wasn't too bad. you contact me if you more technical questions and i can try to dig up links and whatnot.

best of luck.

Wow, is it really that inexpensive to live there? I must really be looking in the wrong place, because everything I was looking at was around 700+ euros! It's good to know that I can find a much more reasonable place.

I had no idea their economy wasn't that great, I really need to have a paying job. Dasein, where were you education-wise when you went there? Right now I'm between undergrad and grad school so I'd probably be an intern. Same to you, Dillup, were you an undergraduate or graduate student? I'm trying to get a feel for what I can expect to be doing over there.

Thanks a lot for the great advice. Dillup, I will definitely be incontact with further questions, thanks!

One more question for you both, how long did the whole process take for you from wanting to work in Germany to actually being over there with a job? Am I being unrealistic in having September as a goal?

The economic situation in Berlin is very depressed right now with record unemployment. When the Wall came down in 1989, Kohl expected the former East Germany, including Berlin, to undergo the "Wirtschaftswunder" (economic miracle) that occured in western Germany after the Second World War. For various reasons, this failed to materialize, and the eastern provinces have become a tremendous money-pit.

In Berlin, there was an expectation that all the German corporate and industrial giants that were heaquartered in Berlin prior to the war would return. By the middle 90's, it became clear that "Instant Boomtown" was completely delusional.

Berlin, like Rome, won't built in a day. Slowly but surely, however, major commercial institutions are coming back. There are several reasons for this:
1. Berlin has cheap real estate, plenty of labor, a sophisticated and high tech infrastructure.
2. Germany has no metropolis that truly shines outside of its borders--except Berlin. Between "Cabaret" and "Run Lola Run" the image of Berlin as chic, sophisticated, hedonistic, cosmopolitan and dynamic continues to outshine the shadows of the NSDAP years.
3. Frankfurt sucks--it's ugly, no action (culturally or carnally) and it's hokey.
4. Berlin is buzzing with creative energy. There was a great NY Times article on the subject: "For Young Artists, All Roads Now Lead to a Happening Berlin."

Berlin architecture firms have the cache of being associated with one of the biggest construction booms in history. Steven Spielberg and minions aside, these days, when one thinks of Berlin, one thinks: "building and construction."

I'd give the city 10 years before it's really humming again economically. But it's definitely happening. You can keep abreast of things there by checking in to the Berlin Economic Development Corporation, and at www.berlin.de

Good luck.

Thanks, Imhotep! Now, aside from Berlin, I am also looking in Switzerland, because my boss has some contacts there, and they are looking for work for me, which is really awesome. The only downside would be the drastic increase in cost of living, but still very exciting!