[biztos]

I agree completely that "cheap Berlin" is rapidly disappearing. Just this morning I was checking real-estate prices[0] for the first time in a few years and was a bit shocked. Folks in Silicon Valley or Munich or Hamburg would probably still find it cheap-ish but AFAIK local salaries have not remotely kept up with this trend. A million Euros for a nice family-sized flat in a good neighborhood is not exotic anymore, but for most Berliners that's an absurd sum.

Another interesting thing is that there are more and more ways to spend more and more of your money in Berlin. Consumerism is definitely on the rise, which IMO is bad news for people not making much money.

I wouldn't say Berlin lacks an international airport, I would say instead that the corruption/incompetence nexus managed to spare us the monstrosity of BER[1] and we can continue to use the lovely old urban airport at Tegel[2], though granted there are a lot of stopovers depending on where you're going.

Anyway I really doubt Berlin will be anything like Silicon Valley, well, ever. You could start with how radically differently the local tech scene views labor, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. I would love to be wrong though.

[edit: formatting]

[0]: https://www.immobilienscout24.de

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Brandenburg_Airport

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Tegel_Airport

[hknd]

Rents (and cost-of-living) are still super cheap compared to other metropolises like NYC, London or Singapore. Ratio of salary and cost-of-living is still looking good in Berlin.

[walshemj]

How do you think the views on labor differ between SV vs Berlin ?

[biztos]

In SV there is (it seems to me) an attitude that tech entrepreneurship is a win-win for capital and labor, meaning (among other things) talent is paid well. In Berlin I'm sure there are some companies that see it that way, but many are in Berlin because of the cheap labor and they have every intention of leveraging that.

Once you get above a certain level, especially working for bigger companies, it levels out, and you won't be compensated in cash as much as in SV but you'll get all the other things that come with a reasonably well-run social democracy.

But in SV, say, nobody who's any good would work for the Brothers Samwer. In Berlin lots and lots of people need the job.

I could be wrong about this of course, I'm an old fart with a stable gig and all my data are anecdata.

[LifeLiverTransp]

Its all those riches from authoritarian countrys fleeing to "safer/stable" countries.

A millionaire in a party state is one head of states headache away from loosing it. And they know it.

[guywhocodes]

As someone traveling between Europe and Asia a lot and a former resident in Berlin. IMO Berlin is far from having an international Airport, it has two European airports but flying there means transiting somewhere. I appreciate Tegel tho, only airport in a capitol I've been able to make a flight when still in the cab 30min before take off. Less than 4h door to door between my appartment in Berlin and my friends in Stockholm.

[biztos]

I should have included a smiley or something with my swipe at BER. :-)

For the lack of options out of Tegel you can pretty much thank Lufthansa.

[raverbashing]

Oh yeah, BER is a very expensive joke at the moment.