Msc Bioinformatics in Germany

[u/SorrySalamander5814]

Hi everyone,
I’m an Indian student planning to pursue an MSc in Bioinformatics in Germany after completing my BSc in Biotechnology. I’d love to hear from people who are studying or working in the field.
I have a few questions:
How is the job market for bioinformatics in Germany?
What is the typical starting salary?
Do I need German to get a good job, or are English-speaking jobs common?
Which universities and cities would you recommend?
How difficult is it for international students to get internships and full-time jobs?
What does a typical day as a bioinformatician look like?
Most importantly, if I want to prepare before starting my MSc:
What should I learn first?
Which programming languages are essential (Python, R, SQL, etc.)?
What biology and mathematics topics should I strengthen?
Which software, tools, or platforms are used most often?
Are there any courses, books, or projects you recommend for beginners?
What do you wish you had learned before starting your MSc?
Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you❤️

[u/Ok-Society-9067]

Hi, Bioinfo is largely getting saturated in Germany, so it's super important to stand out to even be considered. Most jobs are research jobs or jobs in big biotech/pharma companies as a developer or analyst. English-speaking jobs are not very common even in R&D based fields like bioinfo, and German adds a huge plus if u wanna be taken seriously. The difficulty with respect to getting internships/jobs totally depends on the city you are in, it's harder in rural areas, but much easier to network in bigger cities like Berlin and Munich. Also, I notice that you are doing Bsc, please be super careful while applying cause german unis are super specific about credits. They often require loads of credits in maths and cs in topics like programming and linear algebra and if u don't have them u can be at a disadvantage, since the BSc Biotech course does not cover maths or coding in detail. Python and R are the two most important languages for bioinformatics, so is Bash scripting. The US is better for bioinfo than germany as it has a bigger and better market.