Pros
The area is extremely cheap. If you can survive off staying inside your apartment, not spending any of your money aside from food and other basic essentials you can save a lot of money within a year or two.
Cons
I worked for this company for sometime. In this time you witness that you are not welcome. They give the impression that is a family atmosphere but it is really a bunch of backstabbing people. The only way to move up in the company is not by providing good work, it is only by working longer than others or making others look worse by talking bad about them to the higher management. On average between 18 to 20 people leave the company per year from what I saw during my time and others who have been there before me have verified it. This tells you a lot. The contracts are barely legal and provide you with below German standards for vacation and sick days. If you’re sick for 3 days you do not get paid, or they remove it from your vacation days. I got sick, was in the hospital for a week and was told by the doctor to stay home to rest, they took all my remaining vacation days without telling me until 2 months later because they only update our pay slip twice a year. If you do not come into work because you are sick your chances of getting fired are very high. You are forced by fear to go into the office and sit there trying to work while being sick. If you get the rest of the staff sick, they must do the same. I should mention that you will work longer than others in the area and be paid less than them. You will be talked badly by people who have been there long enough that are now part of the inner circle. Even if you do good work, you will never be acknowledged for your work, until you willingly work longer without extra pay. Your salary will not increase but you will get more love from management and more work. If they deducate something from your salary, it will be told you later and will not be shown on your monthly payment invoice. If you ask why, be prepared for an answer that does not make sense. It won’t be the same as mine as I heard 3-4 different explanations told to different employees. Speaking of salary, whatever you agreed to is the lowest price, you can get more and your work will double without an increase. If you want an increase, you will be told how horrible your work is and don’t deserve any money, however, you are encouraged to come to the office to work and invest more time after hours to better the company. They go beyond to make you feel as you can’t do any better. While the company brands itself on being carbon neutral and solar powered, it is really not. They meet the bare minimum for this and over exaggerate everything. The solar panels more power the companys blue LED lights during the night. If you do decide to work here be prepared to work at least 5 years behind industry standards. If you make a mistake you will be talked to like a child because you can’t figure out a system you never used before. If you do not ask and try to figure it out on your own, you will be screamed at because you did it not ask. You can't win, and are always wrong. You can not be right, only the upper management can be right, even when they do not tell you anything. If you need help regarding payment questions, how taxes work or anything, write an email because anything you provide in person will most likely be complete nonsense and you will be told things that are illegal or misleading. Especially if you are not from Germany you will be lied to as it is easier than doing work. Everything you get take to an outside party who is qualified to double check what information you got. You will be pressured into coming in on weekends to work for free, or investing in the company as they say. Same with staying late, if you work until your agreed time you will be scolded because you should stay longer. Even if you finished everything and sit there doing nothing for another hour, that is fine. Everything you do is wrong. No matter what, they will go out of their way to find mistakes or create mistakes just to put you down. When discussing something they will bring a second person that agrees with them just to outnumber you. Even if you are correct, they must prove you wrong and they use numbers to their advantage. Be prepared to argue, even if you have a simple question. The reason behind this is they really have no idea and do not want to appear so, in this case they must turn it that you are not smart enough to understand. They search for people who are musicians. This is because they think musicians see this as the holy grail of music potential but you can forget that. You will stop playing music because of the long hours, the constant screaming and arguing. Your passion for music will fade. I would advise you to keep track of your health as I saw many people start eating junk food and the very little fast food available here due to just not caring. The company does have a lot of negative effect on you, physically and mentally. Consider your options and do more research online about what former employees have written about this company. For anybody still willing to come here, this is my advice to you. Save up everything you can, do not accept more work than you are legally required as they will take full advantage of it. Do not spend more time in the office than you signed your contract, as they will try to make you work longer and no extra money. Be polite, take notes, make contacts with industry people fast and leave as soon as you can. Get an employment letter before you leave and do not use any of the management as a reference as they will only say negative things about you to future potential employers. Only use your coworkers that you trust, anybody else will only speak negative of you. Secure a lawyer in case you do leave as numerous people did not receive their final salary. Overall do not be fooled by what they show. This is a very negative place which you will regret down the road. Only come here if you are struggling, save up whatever little money they pay you, and move to better things.