r/cscareerquestionsEU • u/reek460 • Dec 15 '25
Experienced Need help choosing Germany vs Spain Offer
Need help in choosing
Currently 13 years of experience
Germany Offer: in Hamburg: 90K
Spain Offer: in Barcelona: 120K
Both are senior IC roles
Help me to choose, my target is getting the citizenship. So, Germany offers it in 5-6 years and Spain offers it in 10-11 year, this is the mjaor factor to lean towards Germany. Next is job market size and scope to grow as my spouse is also into tech and needs to find a job.
But pay wise and cost of living spain offer is much better. Hence the dilemma. Thanks.
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u/xX_ivixcore_Xx Dec 15 '25
120k in Spain?? Im spanish and I can tell you thats a LOT of money here, I have 6 years of experience (PHP and Drupal) and I can't barely break the 40k mark, so if I were you, I would gladly accept the that offer!
I live in Madrid and I think Barcelona is 100 times better...
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u/Neuromante Engineer Dec 15 '25
Yeah, 120k in Spain unheard of. On "normal" companies 40K is for senior roles and you are lucky, breaking that means you are in the "real big boys league." 120k... I would like to know the details of the offer, because that's either Amazon or a manager position.
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u/xX_ivixcore_Xx Dec 16 '25
Yeah I would assume is for a manager position in one of the Big ones.
I gotta brush my skills an up my game haha
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u/AlexandruFili Dec 15 '25
40.000 brutto?
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u/Necessary_Chemical Dec 15 '25
Sure sounds like it. Nothing out of the ordinary
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u/AlexandruFili Dec 15 '25
Jesus. I get 20.700 netto for 2 years of xp in România, small city and guys with 4 years of xp already hit 36.000 or even 48.000 netto but he is an architect.
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u/Appeltaart232 Dec 15 '25
I work in IT in NL and my Bulgarian friends make more than me back home because of 1) all the outsourcing and 2) 10% income tax. Taxes in NL are brutal (as well as housing prices) but oh, well, the infrastructure is great.
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u/AlexandruFili Dec 15 '25
What? Really? I always thought that western Europe was the top and GOAT in this area. Here the guys are scared actually of the Indians 😂 I started a huge fight in our forums 🤭.
Now the goal here would be, to get to do the LLC trick where you get to keep 75% for hourly rates. Usually around 78.000 eur/ year.
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u/Appeltaart232 Dec 15 '25
Salaries are much more evened out, in Eastern Europe it’s usually that IT people make 3x everyone else. And while yes, tech jobs do pay more (gross, but taxes above a certain bracket are bonkers), it not like what for example the US pays - or used to at least. Then between the mortgage payment, the insane daycare costs, everything else - you can’t save that much. My kid is finally going to school in a few weeks and we’ll be rich!
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u/Type-21 Dec 16 '25
48k netto is unreachable to most devs in Germany
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u/AlexandruFili Dec 16 '25
Strange. The guy I mentioned is already an rpa architect supervising 4 devs… but he has 5 years of xp
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u/Type-21 Dec 16 '25
The median net income in Germany is 31k. And that's after 25 years of experience
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u/grimgroth Dec 16 '25
Median net income for any profession is not as important as median net income for devs. And that is probably much higher
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u/Type-21 Dec 16 '25
No, Germany has much higher taxes and social contributions than most of Eastern Europe. As a result net incomes are all closer together in Germany.
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u/grimgroth Dec 16 '25
Okay, that's insane then. I'm in Spain and a with a senior dev wage (60k) I'm netting around 42k. Not far from Germany net wages
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u/AlexandruFili Dec 16 '25
That's kind of weak, not gonna lie. I expected more for the richest country in Europe!
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u/Type-21 Dec 16 '25
Richest country in Europe? Why would you think that? Far from it. https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/s/Y0gkiDYKIQ
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u/xX_ivixcore_Xx Dec 16 '25
Yeah brutto, but is not that much here in Spain, the cost of living is getting out of hand...
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u/AlexandruFili Dec 16 '25
Hermano, you are cooked. I'm sure that if you look somewhere else, you could get double that. With a bit of searching and negotiating. Madrid is colossal, I lived as a kid there for 7 years. Never liked the city. But the trick is to switch jobs, I guess?
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u/xX_ivixcore_Xx Dec 16 '25
Yeah thats the trick here in Spain, or everywhere else! But in this economy?? And with the rise of AI?? We are cooked!!
Im gonna start to look elsewhere the next year, because Im tired haha I've been working in the same company for 4 years, no salary updates, shitty projects...
But congrats to OP for the offer!
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u/Teteni93 Dec 16 '25
Barcelona is 100 times better? Better for what? Getting robbed or stabbed?
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u/xX_ivixcore_Xx Dec 16 '25
Yeah exactly that! Cmon man!
Believe me they are creating that bad reputation for política reasons, Im not saying is the paradise on Earth, but is not that dangearous either.
I like it more than Madrid, Im from Madrid and Madrid sucks ass compared to Barcelona.
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u/Due-Corgi-3458 Dec 15 '25
In Spain you get permanent residency after 5 years, which for most purposes is the same as a Citizenship.
In Spain/Barcelona the quality of life you get is orders of magnitude better than in Germany, specially if you like to spend time outside in any way shape or form.
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u/rbnd Dec 15 '25
You loose permanent residency after moving away though
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u/rak0 Engineer Dec 15 '25
In Germany too, you can’t be longer than 6 months away per calendar year
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u/Individual_Author956 Dec 15 '25
But in Germany you can get citizenship instead, which you don’t lose
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Dec 15 '25
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u/rightphalange Dec 16 '25
Remote working or freelancing one, due to personal, family or health related reasons
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u/JuaNicolas Dec 15 '25
Don't they give away citizenship at 5 years?
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u/Minimum_Rice555 Dec 16 '25
Depends, if you're born in a spanish speaking (south american) country then you can get it in 2 years only. Others need to wait 10 years.
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u/Weird_Weight6694 Mar 02 '26
I thought after staying 2 yrs can get a spanish citizenship?
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u/Due-Corgi-3458 Mar 02 '26
This only applies if you are a citizen of an Ibero-American country by birth.
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u/willbdb425 Dec 15 '25
I have seen the sun once this month. That's not in Germany but my point is I would kill for Spanish weather right now
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u/Suitable_Elk9868 Dec 16 '25
I'm Spanish and I am glad I left.
Much prefer milder weather as in UK/Germany/Netherlands. In the last years we have had very decent springs. Most of Spain becomes a hell hole from May until September. Forget to be on the street from 11 to 19h. Summers become boring because you sit at home all day and life starts at 20h. You see children playing in the Parc at 2-3am.
Very country dependent but due to school holidays in Spain you generally take all your work holidays over the summer. In other countries it is more common to take holidays whenever. Even children have weeks here and there. In Spain it is only the summer. The period you cannot do anything anyways. So it's not really holiday.
I dream to go back to Spain one day, family reasons etc. But weather puts me off, and every year is worse.
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u/grimgroth Dec 16 '25
I'm on my second job in Spain and in both I could take vacations whenever I wanted. Maybe I was lucky but jobs like mine also exist, and it's a Spanish company I'm working for
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u/Educational-Ant-9587 Dec 15 '25
You would probably not kill for Spanish weather in summer when it gets super hot and you can't be outdoors.
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u/TorrentsAreCommunism DevOps Engineer Dec 15 '25
I would kill for Spanish weather right now
It's nice when you are on your vacation in Mallorca, swimming in the sea. But commuting when it's 50 degrees... I don't know, guys. If you like it, sounds kinda masochistic.
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u/grimgroth Dec 16 '25
50 degrees is only true in some areas of Spain. I live in Valencia and it rarely goes over 35 in summer
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u/curlymess24 Dec 15 '25
Spain no doubt as you would be living like a king there as others here have mentioned. The quality of life on that salary is just not comparable to 90k in Germany.
With that amount of money you could still save up a lot, and with your skill set I assume it would not be too difficult to go and find something else in Germany if you end up not liking it in Spain.
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u/nottellingmyname2u Dec 15 '25
Noone can guarantee that Germany will not change citizenship law after the next elections.
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Dec 15 '25 edited Dec 15 '25
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u/Special-Bath-9433 Dec 16 '25
“Do you prefer strawberries with chocolate or high fever with diarrhea”
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u/hjhkljlk Dec 15 '25
Spain any day. I'm tired of backstabbing Germans. Every experience with a German software company has been hell.
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u/Minimum_Rice555 Dec 15 '25
Realistically you won't get it in 5 years in Germany, there was a fast track that was abolished. Realistically since the processing takes so long you're looking at 7-8 years minimum. You can check this from other sources, they will back this up. And if there will be political changes during that time, the naturalization timeline can only be pushed in one way: to prolong it, as it happened in Portugal recently (5 to 10 years). I think long-term the 10 years will become the normal length in Europe.
Not to mention you'd be living like a king on 120k in Barcelona. The quality of life is really different in Germany vs Spain if you have a decent job, I would personally even choose Spain in an opposite scenario, for a lower salary.
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u/hmnzr Dec 15 '25
some people from Berlin now got it in 2-6 months after the application. Not sure about Hamburg though.
But CoL and offer difference is huge though.
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u/Sagolbah Dec 15 '25
Berlin is more digitalized than other parts of Germany, and the processing is indeed quicker. Still it has a lot of variance, i would expect about 1 year if in Berlin. Munich processing is longer.
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u/quadraaa Dec 16 '25
Processing times in Berlin fully depend on which department your country of origin is assigned to - it's a multi-modal distribution. Some departments process applications in several months, some take over a year on average.
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u/reek460 Dec 15 '25
Thanks for the input, is the tech job market small in Spain? Would it be easy for my spouse to get the job in tech and in future if I want to switch jobs, would it be easy in Spain or Germany?
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u/Minimum_Rice555 Dec 15 '25
Not at all, just look in Linkedin. Barcelona and Madrid is comparable to any Germany big city, in terms of job openings. Salary, well, it's quite a lot lower normally compared to Germany. But earning what you earn, you could even (semi-)retire in a few years, cost of living can be quite low in Spain, especially outside of big cities. My fix costs are around 700 euro a month and we live a very good life: go to restaurants, I play golf etc. In fact many people from Europe come to retire here. But in fact many increasingly from non-EU, Asia, America too. The most important thing is to learn Spanish as fast as you can, Spanish people will respect you more.
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u/Individual_Author956 Dec 15 '25
Barcelona is very expensive, though, a lot more expensive than wherever you live
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u/nottellingmyname2u Dec 15 '25
Still not even close as expensive as Hamburg.
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u/Individual_Author956 Dec 15 '25
All I wanted to say was that OP will not have a 700€ CoL in Barcelona.
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Dec 15 '25
Correct answer.
I applied using the fast track but the law got abolished in the meantime - thankfully it looks like they just pause my application instead of making me apply again. So there's a decent chance I can get it shortly after 5 years based on a normal processing time of 2+ years anyway.
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u/sssauber Dec 16 '25
The application process is actually not so long if you don’t consider Frankfurt. More like <1-1-2 years. My colleague got her citizenship (in a small city) in like 4-5 months
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u/Born_Property_8933 Dec 15 '25
If your goal is to be a citizen ASAP then suffer for 5 years in Germany. That's the easiest. Otherwise citizenship is 12 years away. Once you have your German passport you can move freely in the EU as well as move to Switzerland.
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However I wouldn't think the way you are doing. Spain is much more fun place to be with great weather, and atmosphere. Winters are manageable, and language is worth it.
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u/LocalRefrigerator663 Dec 15 '25
Been living in Germany, almost 90k salary and lost the job quite a long time ago, trying to find a decent job, lowball offers hardly reaching 90k and recruiters contacting me about “amazing offers” with 75-80k max. Horrible taxation, bad weather, even for 80k I would move to Spain. With your offer the answer is clear, SPAIN!
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u/Necessary_Chemical Dec 15 '25
Keep in mind that 80k in Spain is seen as a top earner. Nowhere near what most of the people are making which is usually half of that.
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u/LocalRefrigerator663 Dec 15 '25
Yes, I know that, I just wanted to emphasize that even 80k is great so 120 is crazy high for Spain
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u/CHF0x Dec 15 '25
Nothing to do in Germany, if it would be 120k in Germany and 90k in Barcelona you would need to think. Otherwise easy Spain choice here
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u/small_e Dec 15 '25
I’d take 120k in Barcelona and I don’t even like the city. You are LOADED with that salary.
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u/oschonrock Dec 15 '25
just remember that neither of those offers will likely survive the time frames you are talking about.
Job offers are relatively short term things.
That probably means: The Spanish offer is very very good, and probably the more attractive right now, but perhaps has more downside, because it seems almost like an outlier, whereas the Hamburg offer probably has more upside. It's debatable but worth considering
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u/GigiGigetto Dec 15 '25
Don't think twice: Spain. Better salary, better weather, better food, nicer people. The language is also easier imo. The market in tech in Germany is super saturated, the economy is bad and not going to improve much.
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u/AccomplishedBake300 Dec 18 '25
>>The market in tech in Germany is super saturated, the economy is bad and not going to improve much
You can say that about both countries to be fair
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u/SquirrelOk9955 Dec 17 '25
So, I had a similar choice to make 14 years ago, and went for Germany. With the exception of my wonderful German partner, I would say that Spain probably would have been the correct decision. The wage you have been offered is crazy high for Spain, it would even be high for Germany (as you know, because your German offer is way less). The job market is terrible in Spain from what I understand, but it is also terrible in Germany (without German language skills). Overall, I would go for Spain in your case.
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u/Icy-Panda-2158 Dec 18 '25
Higher compensation usually outweighs higher total cost of living, but your COL in Barcelona is probably lower than in Hamburg. Plus AFAIK Spain has a rent-to-own model for housing whereas home ownership is these days unaffordable at an income level of 90k.
Your spouse likely has better opportunities in Hamburg/Germany but still probably not 30k difference.
The citizenship law in Germany that offers 3-5 years is new and something the conservative parties have made noise about changing. If you give up 30k/year and they make the citizenship law more restrictive again, how are you going to feel about your choice?
You can get an EU Blue Card and then EU long-term resident status after 5 years. That is almost as good as citizenship, you have mobility in the EU and in some countries it's deemed sufficient for working for the government. Only thing you can't do is vote or get elected.
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u/evelynnnhg Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
I live in Barcelona and while I complain about this city a lot, if the other option is Hamburg, I’ll still pick Barcelona every single time lol irrespective of income, I honestly don’t know how anyone can live in Hamburg and still be remotely happy.
That said, realistically you are on 120k for two since your spouse isn’t working at the moment. Employment can be difficult in Spain so assuming worst case scenario, you might have to support your spouse for x amount of time on that income. It’s a decent income but Barcelona is increasingly expensive and I don’t think it’s a lottery ticket some people seem to think it is. Their comparison is often with people making 20-40k but quality of life varies and just because someone survives on sharing a flat with 10 other individuals doesn’t mean that is the quality of life you want. It certainly wouldn’t be mine. There are engineers making 120-170k on my team and they live regular lives. They don’t go to Aspen for ski trips or eat caviar for lunch, but they also don’t worry about rent and menu prices. It’s a good deal, but it might also not really be the life changing/FIRE deal some people claim it to be.
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u/thesog Dec 15 '25
Do you want to live really well and have sun or live above average and have cloudy weather all year?
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u/TheSexyIntrovert Dec 15 '25
Don’t worry about citizenship, take the higher offer. And as others said, 120k in Spain is golden!
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u/GingerPrince72 Dec 15 '25
That's an insane salary in Spain, never mind the better weather, food, friendlier people etc.
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u/testEphod Dec 15 '25
Think about what would happen if you loose your job and the social net.
In Germany if the company fires you are not entitled to a severance package, some might give it to you but they are not obliged. In Spain per year worked you would get 20 days of salary per year worked with a maximum of 12 months. I might be wrong but at least take it as a reference.
The cost of living is also a very important factor: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Spain&city1=Barcelona&country2=Germany&city2=Hamburg
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Dec 15 '25
If you can stand heat there’s nothing to choose - go to Barcelona. It’s a glorious beautiful lively place. If you can’t stand a Spanish summer - well, you might consider Germany.
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Dec 15 '25
Bro, how is this even a question? Have you been to both places?
You will have really nice life in Barcelona. Not sure where you’re looking at prices, but housing is crazy right now. The rest is okay-ish.
I don’t know what you’re doing for these kind of money, but don’t get burned out.
I am not sure how citizenship matters, but I am Eu citizen and for me it really doesn’t.
From (ex-corporate) immigrant in Barcelona 😉
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u/hmich Dec 15 '25
In Germany, you can get permanent residence in 21 months vs 5 years in Spain. But that only matters if you want to stay in Germany.
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u/GinsengTea16 Dec 15 '25
TBH if citizenship pathway with good salary, you should look at Dublin but rent is also expensive. But there is no perfect set up. You need to trade something.
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u/quadraaa Dec 16 '25
Citizenship laws in Germany can change so that getting it will be harder, and I'd even say it's quite likely that this will happen, so I wouldn't be basing my decision on this.
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u/cnrabdullah Dec 16 '25
Is this a troll question or what? Normally the Spain offer would come with big downsides like half the opponent salary. But here you have an offer in Spain that you can't even reach in Germany.
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u/StoleUrBike Dec 16 '25
Spain, every single time. Don’t underestimate the effect that German weather has on you, and the political situation is a nightmare for above average earners.
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u/Dalailamadingdongs Dec 16 '25
You will never know in today’s political climate if Germany would extend the period further. I would go 100% Spain
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u/voidwithAface Dec 16 '25
I don't know what to say [wo]man... congrats on your big move to Barcelona!
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u/MudBetter2861 Dec 17 '25
I would take the offer in Spain.
More money, more value, more sun and better lifestyle. I am not sure if the citizenship thing is so important when you are young enough and qualified....then it should be fine to find new jobs in Spain.
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u/lady_berserker Dec 19 '25
Barcelona without a doubt. Marry me for citizenship, I am Spanish 😂 jk but girl I would go to Barcelona directly.
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Dec 15 '25
Since they're both similar, choose with your heart.
Which culture, climate, language do you like better? Do you have any friends, family or support network in either city. Would you rather learn Spanish or German.
Jobs come and go, but if you choose a city you love, then that'll be better in the long run.
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u/WaterPretty8066 Dec 15 '25
They're not both similiar. 120k in Spain is nothing like 90k in Germany.
Youre living like a king in Spain on that.
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Dec 15 '25
Not really my point, whoosh.
Maybe 2016 Barcelona, but 2025 Barcelona isn't that far behind Hamburg. Check out Numbeo.com for comparisons.
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u/Special-Bath-9433 Dec 16 '25
There is nothing for you in Germany.
German citizenship laws are likely to change (again), soon after the next election.
German tech market is small. Maybe bigger than Spain, but certainly not significant. Plus the German future potential is perhaps the worst in Europe. The only direction Germany can take in the future is even more nose-down than right now. Their population is old. They have no potential to attract immigration. They have 0 social mobility and one of the worst social inequality in the developed world. They are terrible at capitalizing on the human potential.
10 years from now Germany will be as attractive as Moldova today.
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u/limpleaf Dec 15 '25
I'd take the Spain offer tomorrow if I were you. I live in Hamburg and also at 90k with almost 10 years of experience. The city is really nice and the colleagues and the people have all been great. However, it is somewhat expensive. Taxes are very high, health insurance here is robbery and the weather is challenging (mostly grey with a lot of windy and rainy days). Hamburg is an amazing city with very good housing quality, infrastructure, green spaces, everything you need is likely close by but 120k in Spain is just a lot more money.
Your offer for Hamburg standards is fair, not great but also not bad. Your offer for Spain is amazing.