Events during my blogging hiatus: Part 4 (final)

Part 4: Career change into financial services.

After years of commuting almost everyday from the city Frankfurt to Darmstadt, first for my graduate school at Hochschule Darmstadt and then to my jobs in that city, I had a thought of finding a job in Frankfurt, where I live since October 2013.

Switching field

I reckon that the Hessian cities Darmstadt, Rüsselsheim, and Wiesbaden are suitable for people looking for engineering jobs, whereas Frankfurt is more to financial industry, especially banking. The first challenge is to convince prospective employers to hire someone from an engineering background like myself.

I can still recall my last conversation with a senior colleague from my previous job in Darmstadt-Eberstadt, during our train ride after work. I told him about my wish to jump into finance, to which he said go ahead - "In the end of the day, what counts is the money you bring back to your dinner table."

TLDR

Late July 2017, I received a job offer as a junior developer in a financial services company, here in Frankfurt.

Sometime later in October 2017, I moved into a new rental apartment in the Frankfurt's district Gallus with another fellow Malaysian.

After 2 years living there, we moved elsewhere separately, having made our jobs stable.

Now in 2020, I am still working at the same place and satisfied being there. I have had eventful challenges at this job, but I thrived. There are always rooms for improvement.

I have also been spending some hours once every week attending Japanese language class in the city center. I intend to travel alone to Japan in the future, taking at least one full month away from my work.

Conclusion

I have not entirely changed my career: I still practice software engineering albeit in an entirely different field. What I have abandoned are the fields of robotics and computer vision. I doubt that I will return to either of those two fields, especially considering the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Events during my blogging hiatus: Part 1

My previous post was on August 20, 2016.

I went to a hiatus from blogging for certain reasons.

Follow @HafizVonPJ

The fall of a small robotics company

In July 2015, I joined a small robotics start-up company called Bionic Robotics GmbH in Darmstadt. The company was not really that young at that time. It started as a spin-off project from the Technical University of Darmstadt. I found the job there as a software engineer satisfying, despite the under-average salary.

At the end of August 2016, the company's financial status forced it to file for a temporary insolvency. Unfortunately in October 2016, the final negotiation with the only remaining possible new investor hit the wall. Consequently the company had to be shut down.

I could have prepared myself during the temporary insolvency to look out for a new job. But I did not, because I wanted to remain loyal and I was optimistic of the company's future. After all, we did sell most of our robots.

Reflection

I took pride in staying with the company till the very end. The experience from working there was absolutely educative.

I learned to use Linux, coded with Python, worked with the Robot Operating System (ROS) framework, improved my skills with the Qt framework, and most important of all: I did delve into robotics. My job there covered the software development, as well as the practical handling of the robotic arms. I can say that I did practice my profession as a mechatronics engineer.

As an employee of a small and understaffed company, I acknowledged that I was expected to do more than just software development. I was sent out for integration and reparation jobs at customers' sites and support the company's booth at certain industrial fairs.

My last outstation assignment was in Switzerland, where I spent one day to conduct an instruction course for our Swiss customers - in full German.

Next: Being jobless for two months in Germany.

Job Hunting in Germany

The author has started to look for a job as soon as he graduated in the end of January 2015. The job search started seriously in February and then became more aggressive from April 2015 until the middle of May 2015. This post summarizes the process of job hunting by the author. With pleasure, the author has ended this hunt recently. The rōnin has finally found a new master to serve.

 

Online Profile

As suggested by local peers, the author has set up his profile on the website XING.com, considered as the top network site in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It turned out to be positive, as the author has been approached by recruiters per e-mails and telephones. Apart from that, other websites have also been used, namely StepStone.de, MONSTER.de, and access.de. The author strongly  advises readers to avoid their facebook profiles from being accessible to prospective employers.

 

Resumé / CV

The author has prepared 2-page CVs - in German and English. The 2 pages were due to the intention of being simple and direct / straight to the point, as these are common in Germany. One of the recruiters, hinted on how the author's resumé / CV can be improved. The recruiter suggested to add the summary of the 2 theses written by the author into the CV. Consequently the author added 2 more pages to each CV - 1 page of summary for each thesis. The following figures give an overview of the author's German CV.

Figure 1 - The author's CV, written in German.

Figure 2 - 2 summaries in the CV for the 2 theses by the writer.  

Results

The following figure sums up the job applications sent by the author.

Figure 3 - The numbers of sent job applications, rejections, and interviews experienced by the writer from February 2015 until middle of June 2015.

  Interviews

Prior to certain face-to-face interviews, there were phone interviews. Regardless of the type of an interview, job hunters must do their homework ahead. The expected questions were - academic background, projects, earlier experience, thesis/dissertation, expected salary, etc.

If an interview is conducted far away from the residence of the job hunter, reimbursement for the travel expenses can be requested after the interview. Regarding the travel method, there were 2 times when the author had to switch to express bus, instead of long distance train. These were due to the strikes by Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer or GDL (trade union for German train crews).

The author went as far as to München / Munich for a job interview. There were also interviews in the cities Herzogenaurach (near Nürnberg / Nuremberg), Rüsselsheim, and Stuttgart. Finally the author has landed a job in Darmstadt, near to his former college.

 

Salary, Taxes, and Living Costs

This article by IngenieurKarriere.de can help engineering graduates to estimate an expected salary for entry level. On the other hand, several websites also provide assistance in calculating monthly income after taxes, e.g., Steuerklassen.com and Brutto Netto Rechner.

The main factor for the author to estimate an expected salary is the total of living costs per month. This consists of:

• rent and utilities,
• broadcasting services tax,
• cellphone bill,
• laundry,
• commute/train ticket, and
• workdays' expenses.

 Save before spending. Spend what is left after saving.
[Credits to Warren Buffett]

Apart from that, savings money for general purposes and investments is also crucial.

 

Conclusion

It has been very adventurous and challenging in finding a job in Germany. Foreign job hunters are advised to sharpen and refresh their German language skill, which will be definitely advantageous during any interview. The author looks forward to share this experience with other Malaysian students, probably in a formal presentation session or talk.