<p>Background: I’m an undecided engineering student, finishing Calc I, Chem I and CS I next week.</p>
<p>I would really like to find a job in Germany after graduating and want to be very competitive for a job in Frankfurt, Munich, or Berlin (I know that may look difficult with the Euro debt crisis and all).</p>
<p>The school I’m going to is a top 5 engineering school, but it is ranked 10th in Computer Science. It is highly regarded and heavily recruited by top firms for its engineering programs, but from what I understand it is less regarded for its CS programs.</p>
<p>I am very interested in a couple of fields of engineering also but (slightly) more interested in Computer Science. I should also note that until I took CS this semester, I had little exposure to programming and had never really considered it as a major. As a CS major I feel like the learning curve will be tough competing against kids who’ve been hacking video games since they were 10. I know many people like me do major in CS though.</p>
<p>**My Question: **Will majoring in a CS at a school ranked 10th in CS make my job search more challenging in Germany? Also, in general?</p>
<p>And… to ask a completely off-topic question, does anyone have any insight about getting a tech job as an American in Germany? I know they require that a job go unfilled for a period of time before foreigners are allowed to be recruited, but that’s not very specific.</p>
<p>5 in engineering and 10 in computer science doesn’t seem like a substantive difference in ranking to me.</p>
<p>Getting a job in Europe is difficult because of employment visa requirements. You may be the most attractive employee candidate around but you may not be able to get a work visa. You are on your own on how best to get a visa.</p>
<p>But before you get to that point you may want to ensure that you are an attractive candidate. Learn German and try to get an internship in Germany during college.</p>
<p>If at first you can’t get a permanent job in Germany consider seeking employment with a German owned subsidiary in the US. Some German companies have programs to transfer people to HQ.</p>
<p>Employers aren’t going to split hairs when it comes to the top schools, and if you find an employer that’s stupid enough to care, chances are, it’s not an employer you’d want to work for anyway.</p>
<p>As for the question of whether or not you’ll be able to keep up at the school… that’s a tougher question to answer. I had the same fear when I transferred from my community college, but I found that I actually did better in the uni. At the same time, I had a lot of classmates who had excellent records at their high schools or community colleges, yet struggled at the uni. So I guess my point is that it’s difficult to know how well you’ll do there until you start.</p>
<p>My advice is to not obsess too much over grades, or rankings, or making yourself more attractive to employers. Just focus on learning as much as you can, and success will follow.</p>