with implying that most of the people are on board with this - most of the organizer used in that image however where only asked if they liked the idea of the techhub nothing more. The good thing about the connected world is that those kinds of statements can be easily verified.
In one way it is, and they will run into problems if they need to deal with german burocrazy. ;)
But on the other side I find it encouraging that you can come to Berlin and different to many other cities of this world can live here without being forced to speak the language fluently first.
And if you speak and think in english all day, it becomes more problematic to get on board with the language around you.
Plus many 'normal' people do start speaking a bit of english and at least understand it.
Per se there are two different circles of startup folk in Germany. The german / Germany oriented ones, what I usually call "the victims of the language island" (everything in Germany is dubbed - movies, tv, books).
The second, more interesting level is the international mindset, the people who are mentally oriented toward silicon valley. Both group usually do not mingle and the following applies for that second group and explain part of the reason why Berlin is special.
This group has accepted english as their lingua franca and people come from all over the world, enjoying not only the benefits listed in the other comments, but the feeling of "being able to make it here". The absence of any enterprise like structure due to the past with the wall enables in many ways what Berlin is today.
There is of course an echo chamber effect for this group and once you connect, you run into the usual startups very quickly. ;)
_________________ ENTRY POINTS _________________
Your Nr 1. starting point for meeting people ;) English speaking Berlin startup group on Facebook with ~2400 members.
Follow that if you are interested in meeting people and or asking questions. Hint: Do not try to post stuff which is does not have the "Berlin and startup" relevant connection and do not try to sneak in a "but in theory this is about startups ...", I will delete the post and ban you permanently.
If you are looking for a job in Berlin, are a Berlin based startup looking for employees or for a co founder, this facebook group can be helful for you
http://hascore.com/ limits itself to "Hascore is a job board focused on Product Development for the Berlin Startup Scene that provides relevant context for making better decisions" BUT because the way they list their jobs you can surf through it and find the links to lots of companies.
You need to drop your corporate thinking first. I suggest you get into some projects to figure out if you are able to work in and with a startup. Note that I am saying that with a background of 15 years in corporate. ;)
Most of the startups are actually very busy doing stuff (as in they don't are yet at the point understanding what proper Communcation means sigh), but http://hascore.com/ has a good list of links.
I will be posting an overview posting asap with additional links.
It is widely known that Telekom had problems with certain areas and that is why you make a "Verfügbarkeitsprüfung" before even looking further at renting something. ;)
"The official work experience I have on my CV is more enterprisy stuff"
That already is your point. You are coming from an enterprise thinking and payment structure - Berlin is everything but Enterprise.
With your kind of payment expectations, they will simply expect you to step up the game, and that probably is at least CTO if not co founder. If you want to be your specialized dev, you need to be extra good to work around this area and _understand_ what startups are about.
Also, judging by your nickname here, your name still sounds German. If you are from A / CH by definition (and if not proven otherwise on your CV and through experiences) you are not automatically startup material. Don't get me wrong: it is just about different skillset and mentality and if you cannot provide proof that you are not tainted by that obstacle, you will have an even harder time getting a job in that environment.
A majority of startup folks I run into from Berlin do not speak any german at all. Many of them have been living there for a while, some for several years.
You will need German and or a translater when you talk to officials and you should get somebody with german knowledge before entering contracts, but by itself you will have an easy tiome getting around Berlin when you are in the startup relevant areas.
There is a second part to it. The text may be better when edited, but that is not what they get paid for.
You also should teach aspiring writers about the new digital ways of earning money. I still see so many people who are in the "I am a journalist / I am a writer" and so on camp relying on old thinking about 'but I only get paid by that'.
Here is the claimed background for this http://www.young-targets.com/formation-of-tech_hub-started/
with implying that most of the people are on board with this - most of the organizer used in that image however where only asked if they liked the idea of the techhub nothing more. The good thing about the connected world is that those kinds of statements can be easily verified.
The discussion is happening with the guy here https://www.facebook.com/groups/159595270791268/permalink/44...
if you don't like to join, you can see statements of organizers also here https://www.facebook.com/nicole.simon/posts/1015164077361130...