Question for Darmstadt

[Aman]

Was the contract at ESOC then?

ESOC was my first contract after uni, I moved there with only 2 days notice, having borrowed money for the flight and about £20 in my wallet. If I had the cash I'd up sticks and do it again.

I was just looking up ESOC the other day and the guy who started with me is now a mission manager, though he has a PhD.

Many of the job sepcs on Jobserve list Frankfurt am Main as the location for ESOC jobs.

The canteen and coffee shop were excellent, I wonder if they still sell beer in the canteen? The library on site is decent if you are planning CPD.
There was quite a laid back civil service campus working culture except during LEOPs.
The trams were always dead on time too, 10 into Darmstadt from outside my gate at 06:30, 4.5 minute wait for the 9 to site, so I was never late.

If you are relocating Stek, Darmstadt or the satellite villages (Eberstadt, Seeheim, Jugenheim are really nice places to stay. There are published guides to moving in to DA - Anmeldung, tax and social insurance guide, Barmer card healthcare, finding a place, what's on etc - floating around the campus and a large supportive expat community to help.

The notice board has loads of European civil service jobs and contracts posted in case you find youself planning your next move eg CERN, E. Patent Office, CEC ...

If you want to leave it open to come back to the uk maybe consider voluntary NI payment.

Although English was the working language I found it quite difficult outside of work in DA itself with poor schoolboy-level German. Frankfurt was a bit easier. I went to evening classes since for German but never used it as I still must be pushing the wrong buttons to get back there.

It's really nice there, good standard of living. I'm envious.
It's a shame the UK agents I'm registered with can't even find London, so approaching them for a role in Damstadt may be a bit too challenging.

[stek]

Sounds good, looks like you may fall foul of the German IR35 rule though, with a long term contract. The pensions dept does check up fairly often. I'm now getting an enquiry on an annual basis. It isn't toooo bad as you don't need to pay the employer's contributions, costs EUR 500 a month. I work in Switzerland so I don't need to pay it, but I'm kind of factoring it in a future contract especially if its longterm. If you have short contracts 6 months or less it isn't a problem.

But anyway take some advice when you get there. Best to go freelance (freiberufler) and churn over the options on paying into the pension scheme, after advice from a German tax accountant. One option is to pay half rate for a couple of years.

Thanks mate, but I should have said we want to relocate permanently, so I don't mind paying into the German system so long as it's a good thing to do! Can't be any worse than UK....

Missus is a fluent German speaker, interpreter/translator and has worked for a year there before so she knows the fun that can be had!

[BlasterBates]

Sounds good, looks like you may fall foul of the German IR35 rule though, with a long term contract. The pensions dept does check up fairly often. I'm now getting an enquiry on an annual basis. It isn't toooo bad as you don't need to pay the employer's contributions, costs EUR 500 a month. I work in Switzerland so I don't need to pay it, but I'm kind of factoring it in a future contract especially if its longterm. If you have short contracts 6 months or less it isn't a problem.

But anyway take some advice when you get there. Best to go freelance (freiberufler) and churn over the options on paying into the pension scheme, after advice from a German tax accountant. One option is to pay half rate for a couple of years.

[stek]

Thanks everyone.

Still no clue who it's for but I still reckon Space or Satellite mobs!

As I've said before we (ie family) are looking to relocate to Germany or CH, as risk-free as possible. I wish I was one of those guys who can just up sticks and go. Mouths to feed...

Another thing is gig starts in July which is a bit odd. Plenty can happen twixt now and then. Still if it comes off be nice to able to plan for it rather than panic.

[threaded]

<snipped>, good canteens.

Seconded. They appear to always have cake in at least one of them square buffet things of which there are a few. Can't go wrong.

[darmstadt]

There's quite a few places in Darmstadt and I quite often get mails inquiring but they never actually tell you who it is until you're really interested. One of the easiest ways is to read the jobspec which quite often helps. As people have said, there is:

- ESA (actually ESOC) but you won't be working for them directly but one of the many firms who operate there such as Serco or Logica
- Eumetsat, same applies as above
- Merck
- Deutsche Telekom, well kind of. There is T-Systems, T-Online, T-Com, etc. They have built a huge campus, T-City, which has all of them there and take on a lot of staff. I got offered one there at the start of this year and even went along for a couple of days even though I had never used the software so jacked it in before making a fool of myself
- Software AG, headquarters are here
- Wella, headquarters are here
- Schenk

There are a lot of smaller IT companies here as Darmstadt is trying to promote itself as a 'high tech' city even going so far as to build a number of small technology parks and office blocks for tech firms. The Technical University is quite respected and so attracts these firms. Looking at the 3 years makes me suspect its either ESOC or EUMETSAT though, good canteens.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Could be Merck or Eumetsat ,,,

[stek]

Darmstadt I am not, but I have been there. Could it be Deutsche Telekom?

Eee, dunno now! I've had non-productive calls in the past for ESA, Darmstadt - long term again - two and two and all that!

Let's see what happens....

[expat]

Got a call today, gig in Darmstadt, three year contract! Not a great rate but three years...

Should I assume it's ESA? Pimp wouldn't say, but was surprised I'd guessed at it - D'oh, for me Darmstadt=ESA, Knutsford=Barclays, not rocket science, harhar!

Odd call too, back to the old days, encouraging me to add stuff back to my cv I'd long since deleted.

Cheers Bud!

Darmstadt I am not, but I have been there. Could it be Deutsche Telekom?

[threaded]

Only 3 years? They're 5 years behind at the moment, and working as hard as possible to make it 6. It's a lifetime sentence...

threaded in "ground station test" mode

[stek]

Got a call today, gig in Darmstadt, three year contract! Not a great rate but three years...

Should I assume it's ESA? Pimp wouldn't say, but was surprised I'd guessed at it - D'oh, for me Darmstadt=ESA, Knutsford=Barclays, not rocket science, harhar!

Odd call too, back to the old days, encouraging me to add stuff back to my cv I'd long since deleted.

Cheers Bud!