I did an internship there, not knowing German. It's a very exceptional case... definetely not easy. I think your only possibility will be with an international firm or an internationally recognized firm. Go for the big names - these are the ones who have experience working for and working with people outside of germany. Unfortunately the job situation, especially for architects, is not great right now. Firms there sometimes have a tendency to pick people just for a few weeks and then let them go, conditions that would be unacceptable to many Americans.

but definetely, definetely try to learn the language. it will make your life easier and gain you more respect if you at least have a basic understanding.

viel glueck

it is very difficult for even german architects to find work in germany at the moment, particularly in berlin. since there are so many unemployed architects around who speak german and are familiar with german building codes and practices, i think it would be quite difficult to find work without speaking at least basic german. if you are really set on moving to germany, then perhaps try munich, hamburg or stuttgart, where things are a bit better (but still difficult in comparison to other western european countries).

thanks for the feedback guys...

Does the current situation in Berlin or Germany in general make it any better for interns? Would firms be more willing to hire lower paid interns? I'll be graduating in May and was hopping to make the move to Berlin. I have about a years worth of office experience, and will have a masters degree in Business as well as Architecture. Although I'm very willing to learn the language I do not currently speak German. While there last year, I also noticed several firms using a German program rather than AutoCAD, would this be easy to learn? I'd appreciate the advice. Thanks

brian frels - the situation may be as you suggest, ie. firms often hire recent graduates to work on competitions and things like that, but this is often only on a project basis. i don't mean to sound discouraging, because berlin is a fantastic city in so many ways and a great place for a young architect, designer, artist, musician etc. to live, but it is really very difficult here at the moment, particularly for architects. that being said, you might get lucky. best to focus, as dilup pointed out earlier, on international offices, or offices with american or british connections. dilups point about hiring/letting go quickly is also accurate.

brian, i worked in berlin ten years ago, when the going was good and work was pretty easy to find (i also speak german, or at least i did at the time:) ).

the german cad program you saw might have been Spirit. i found it very easy to use, and i prefered it to AutoCad. on my first day my boss just sat me down and told me to draw a plan from a sketch. he didn't care how long it took, just that i get used to drawing with it.

Spirit was pretty far in advance of acad at the time, in that it had real time pan and zoom :) (i was using acad 11 or 12) the rest of it's basic functions were similar, although i think that the keyboard shortcuts weren't customisable. that may have changed since then. i remember that the F1-13 keys were all used for the main commands.

i've never heard of spirit but now many firms use vectorworks with the Mac. archicad is also quite popular for 3d work. but many offices use autocad and 3d max also.

hmm. i am in your spot right now. i just moved to berlin and am in the process of interviewing. i hate to sound discouraging as well - but things are very tough here. the economy is bad and everyone is having trouble finding work. even finding an unpaid internship has not been the easiest thing. i would also say that you absolutely need german here. i am often surprised by how few berliners speak english.

its a wonderful place though. good luck.

I have a very good friend who lives in Berlin. He's native German and fluent in about 4 languages so he's never had a problem finding work in Germany, France, England, you name it. I used to spend many of my vacations over there and one entire summer there. He would find me small under the table jobs just to keep me flush with enough DM's to keep me drinking that tasty German beer.

From talking with my friend the Germans do not like foreigners coming in and taking jobs, especially when they don't have their own. Just listening to him talk about Polish immigrants is crazy. You could just change Poland to Mexico and you'd think he was Pat Buchanan. Funny coming from a very left wing type person.

Anyway, getting a job on the level over there - as an American - won't be easy. If you know people there talk with them about finding you work for cash under the table. If there is one thing common of all people in the world - everyone is looking for a way to beat the tax man.

I too have a desire after I graduate in May to work in Germany and have taken german for about 5 years now. However as I have never lived there, unfortunately I still am not fluent. I would like to think that this might open up some additional opportunities, but was curious as to what the others thought--I am currently a cross platform guy that uses acad, vectorworks, and max. Are there any governmental exchange programs, for designers, that are not dependent on you being at university? Additionally are there language proficiency exams one can take which would give german firms an opportunity to gauge an applicant's german skills?

is switzerland or austria out of the question given that I primarily have an understanding of hochdeutsch?

juicebox, this makes no difference. in a professional environment there is little difference in the german spoken in different regions or countries. the difference is comparable to the difference between canadian or american english and english spoken in scotland, england or australia.

thanks for your response innes. are you a native german? do you have any idea about language exams as mentioned in my previous post?

I worked in a small office in rural north-east Germany in 1995, didn't speak a word of German when I started, was fluent when I left. Area I lived in, few people spoke any english at all so I had no choice but to learn, fast. Big cities most people will speak at least some english, though you efforts to speak their lingo will be much appreciated. Berlin is awesome. Great country, great work ethic, and hey, I even learned to like the Germans. You might try contacting the BDA (Bund Deutsche Architekten) in Berlin (they used to be in Bonn) - equivalent of the AIA but much MUCH more active and helpful to their members, and they were very helpful to me too in providing addresses, firms willing hire foreign workers, etc. Good luck and enjoy it!

juicebox, no i'm not a native german. i'm not sure about language exams, but doubt if these would be that useful to a potential employer. they would be more inclined to want to speak to you to assess your german proficiency, rather than see a certificate.