A conversation about Chancenkarte

I've been thinking about applying to Chancenkarte to move to Germany for work. I spoke to colleague about how they did the process and what made them land a job. The following is an outline of the conversation I had with them.

Why did you pick Germany despite the reportedly low freedom of speech?

Despite the reports, the reality on the ground so far seems like freedom of speech isn't too much of problem unless you're at a certain protest, which is unfortunate. I mostly moved here because I have friends here.

A lot of YouTube videos talk about Chancenkarte and a lot of them are bleak: because the jobs aren’t there and it has become an immigrant trap. Even TNM is covering it now.

How did the job search work for you?

At my level of experience (8yrs?), I was eligible for a lot of jobs. I picked SRE roles because I don't want to sit in Leetcode interviews. Interviews are ritualistic and you just need to say the right words in the right context to pass. Leetcode is too much effort that I could put elsewhere. In my case what helped the most was referrals. I'd say, don't apply to Chancenkarte unless you get positive feedback from German companies you apply to from Bangalore.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

Munich, Hamburg, and Berlin are the larger cities where most of the jobs are. Once you get a Chancenkarte, you can also move to a cheap city in Germany to offset the living cost till you get a job, most job interviews are going to be video calls anyway. Germany is a particularly good option for naturalization because you can apply for a passport 21 months from when you get a Blue Card issued. Despite it having stringent rules, you could consider getting a freelance visa.

Use a Europass resume format, consider using relocation job boards, VC news portals for companies that have raised a Series A or higher, talk to maintainers of OSS repos you have contributed to for referrals. Prepare a document with your details and blurbs to make it easier for people to refer you.

Probation is 6 months so that is something to really consider.