2025-07-13 19:00:00
I’ve been living in Germany for seven years. During that time, I’ve gone through many bureaucratic processes — from getting my Blue Card to setting up a sole proprietorship (Einzelunternehmen). I’ve also changed jobs a few times and was unemployed for a short while.
If you search online, you’ll find a lot of jokes about Germany still using fax machines and how the country is behind when it comes to digital systems. In this post, I want to share my personal experience with how digital or non-digital things really are.
First of all, I’ve never had to use a fax machine. I’m not sure where that stereotype still comes from, but I also don’t know anyone who has actually used one here.
Let’s look at some specific examples so you can get a better idea of how the bureaucracy works in practice. Just keep in mind, this is based on my experience living in Hamburg. Things might be different in other parts of Germany, so don’t treat this as the full picture.
Over the past seven years, I’ve gone through several visa-related processes in Germany. I first applied for a Blue Card, later renewed it because I got a new passport, and eventually applied for permanent residency. All of these steps were handled digitally.
I booked my appointments through the official Hamburg state portal and uploaded all the required documents as PDFs. When it was time for the appointment, I just brought the original documents so the officer could verify them in person. After the process was complete, I got a letter letting me know my ID was ready. I booked another appointment online to pick it up — and that was it.
As for the supporting documents, like proof of health insurance or pension contributions, I was able to get all of them from the websites of the relevant providers. For example, when applying for permanent residency, you need to show your pension payment history. To do this, you can log in to the official portal using your Blue Card.
Here’s how it works: You open the AusweisApp on both your computer and smartphone. Then you connect the devices, hold your Blue Card on your phone to scan the NFC chip, enter your password, and log in. Once you’re authenticated, you can download your pension history — and this system works across many government websites.
Honestly, I find this system quite impressive. It’s secure, straightforward, and works well (at least in my experience).
When it comes to work, most companies in Germany now allow you to sign your contract digitally — using tools like DocuSign, for example. That said, some employers still ask for a physical (wet) signature, even if you’ve already signed it digitally, just to be on the safe side.
However, when it comes to resigning, things are less flexible. You always need to hand in a signed resignation letter, and digital signatures are not accepted for some reason. It has to be on paper, with your actual signature.
When I started my first job in Germany seven years ago, I used to receive my payslips by post every month. Any promotion or salary change also came with physical documents. Over time, this process has become more digital. Many companies have stopped sending paper payslips and now use platforms like Workday, Personio, or DATEV to share payslips and other HR documents in PDF format.
If you have permanent residency in Germany, you’re allowed to start your own company. I wanted to do that because I develop apps and earn income from them.
Starting a sole proprietorship (Einzelunternehmen) was actually quite simple. I went to the website of the responsible office and filled out an online form. After that, I used a third-party accounting service to submit another form to the Finanzamt (tax office) to get a new tax ID. I think you can also do this through Elster, but I didn’t take the time to figure it out.
The biggest downside was the waiting time. If I remember correctly, it took around six months to get the official confirmation that my company had been registered. But honestly, this wasn’t a huge issue because I received my tax ID after just a couple of weeks. That was the important part — it allowed me to start selling apps right away.
Like most bureaucratic processes in Germany, I got several letters in the mail confirming different steps along the way.
When it comes to taxes in Germany, if you’re working full-time as an employee, you usually submit your tax forms the following year. Your employer will send you a document that shows how much you earned and how much tax you paid. You can then use Elster to submit your tax return. The cool part is that you can authenticate yourself through the NFC chip in your ID card to log in to Elster.
The good thing about Elster is that the information your employer sent you is already loaded into the system. You don’t have to manually enter the numbers. You can just use what’s already been submitted. This also applies if you paid for health insurance out of pocket during a gap between jobs, or if you received unemployment benefits. You can see all these documents directly in Elster.
However, the worst part of Elster is definitely the user interface. Since Elster is available to everyone, and taxes are complicated, the forms can be super overwhelming. If your German isn’t great, it’s almost impossible to navigate and figure out where to put certain numbers. If you’re just submitting the standard information from your employer, it’s not so bad. But if you want to deduct some expenses for tax returns, report investments, or account for freelance work, it gets really tricky to figure out.
Because of this complexity, there are several third-party services that help with filling out tax forms, like SteuerGO or Taxfix. For the first few years, I used SteuerGO to handle my taxes, but in the last couple of years, I decided to switch to Elster, even though my forms got more complicated due to my sole proprietorship. I wanted to learn the entire process because I’ll need to submit tax returns every year for the rest of my life, and I didn’t want to rely on a third-party service forever. Plus, those services charge around €30, while Elster is free.
I really hope that one day the Finanzamt realizes how difficult Elster is to use and improves the user experience. Once you’ve submitted your tax forms, you’ll receive a letter from the Finanzamt that tells you how much you owe or how much you’ll be refunded.
So far, I’ve mentioned quite a few letters. If you live in Germany, you’ll definitely need a folder to keep track of all the letters you’ll receive. From my understanding, letters are still the preferred method of communication because it’s the most reliable way to ensure you receive important information. The alternative would be using emails, but then there’s the issue of needing some form of tracking to confirm that the person opened the email. Plus, emails aren’t encrypted, so there’s a privacy concern as well.
At some point, maybe the government will introduce a system to replace physical letters. Some government offices already offer digital-only communication options, meaning you can choose to receive only emails and not letters. But if you miss something, it’s on you. In these systems, you’d get an email notifying you of a new message, and then you’d need to visit the official website to view the content of the message.
Dealing with all these letters can be overwhelming, especially if you’re constantly checking your mailbox. That’s where Deutsche Post comes in with a free service that notifies you when a letter is on the way via the DHL app. I really appreciate this because I don’t have to check my postbox every day. You just register for the app, confirm your address with a letter, and from then on, you’ll get notifications whenever a letter is on the way. They even send you a scan of the letter, so you can see who it’s from before it arrives.
In most cases, you get the letter the same day or the next day. The app also notifies you when a package is on the way, which I find super useful. This service is one of the main reasons I always use DHL for my packages.
A couple of years ago, when you got a sick note from your doctor, you’d receive three copies: one for your insurance, one for your employer, and one for yourself. You’d then submit the papers to your employer and health insurance. Some companies even allowed you to take a sick day or two without a note, so you didn’t have to deal with any paperwork. But in the last few years, this whole process has been completely digitalized. Now, when you get a sick note, the doctor submits it directly to both your employer and health insurance — no more paper handling.
The same goes for prescriptions. These were also digitalized recently. If your doctor gives you a prescription, you can simply go to the pharmacy and redeem it by showing your health insurance card. If you need a refill for medication you regularly take, you can usually just email your doctor to request it. There are also services where you can see a doctor via an online call, so many aspects of healthcare are now fully digital.
When it comes to payments, you typically don’t pay for most health services, but if you’re staying in a hospital after surgery, you’ll pay €10 per day. Once you’re discharged, you’ll get a letter for the payment. The same process applies to dental treatments — you get the service and then a letter for the payment.
There are a few issues I’ve noticed with the health services, though. One is the lack of a standard way to make appointments. Some doctors use services like Doctolib or Jameda to manage their appointments, while others have their own system, or some don’t use any online service at all. In those cases, you have to call them, which I personally dislike, especially when I have to do it in German. That’s why I always prefer doctors who offer a digital appointment system.
Another issue I’ve encountered is when you switch specialists. Your old doctor prints out a bunch of papers for your new doctor, who then scans those papers into their system. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but I believe this problem is being addressed through the introduction of digital health records (ePA). With this system, you won’t have to carry physical papers from one doctor to another.
During my 7 years, I also lost my job once and was unemployed for a while. I was really surprised by how digital the whole process was. I’ll write another blog post later about what to do if you lose your job in Germany, but for now, I can say that you do almost everything through the Agentur für Arbeit website.
You just sign up using your ID card, fill out some forms about your situation, and upload the letter your employer gave you about the job ending. Most of the time, you’ll need an appointment to speak with someone about your case, but you can also do that online if you prefer. Sometimes, you may need to send them a letter, but if you use your ID card, you can send it online by signing the document digitally. You can also choose to get all messages through the website instead of by mail, and they’ll send you an email when there’s something new.
When I told my German friends about this, they were also surprised at how digital it is. The website even has Passkey support now, which was another surprise for me. Through the Agentur für Arbeit site, you can tell them you’re unemployed and looking for a job, set up an appointment and have a video call, apply for benefits, send an appeal, get a confirmation that you’re unemployed, and later let them know when you’ve found a job. It’s all online, no need for paper.
When it comes to payments, you can use your card almost everywhere in Germany these days. Of course, there are still some places that don’t accept MasterCard or Visa — they only accept Girocard, which is a local payment system with lower fees. From what I’ve observed, most places offering cheaper products tend to avoid card payments, but this is probably true for only about 10% of the places.
If you need to make a payment at a government office, you’ll usually need either a Girocard or cash. I assume the reason for this is that they don’t want to pay commissions to MasterCard or Visa. One other common thing I’ve noticed is that many Döner shops don’t accept any cards at all, so keep that in mind.
For person-to-person payments, PayPal is still the most widely used method. If you’re selling something you no longer need, most people prefer paying through PayPal. Similarly, if you’re paying a friend for something, PayPal is usually the go-to option.
In the past few years, many supermarkets have introduced self-checkouts, where card payments are the only option. This is part of the shift towards cashless transactions. For public transportation, many people now use the Deutschlandticket, a subscription that lets you travel without limits. You can also buy tickets through a mobile app developed by the transportation company in your city. The cool part is that there are no card readers on buses or trains. Instead, there are random ticket checks to make sure you have a valid ticket. You can add your Deutschlandticket to Apple Wallet, for example, and just show the QR code on your Apple Watch during those checks.
When it comes to renting a flat in Germany, there’s one rule that keeps the process from being fully digital: you have to see the flat in person. Before that, though, you need to somehow secure an appointment for a viewing, which can be tricky due to the high demand and limited supply. In most cases, landlords post their ads on websites like ImmobilienScout24, and within minutes, they receive dozens of messages from interested tenants. These messages typically include basic information about the applicant, like their job, salary, and other personal details.
Once you secure a viewing, you’ll go to the flat, and if you’re interested, you’ll fill out a form with the same information you shared earlier to show your intent to rent. If the landlord chooses you, you’ll get the contract, which you’ll sign in person. So, while the process is mostly digital, the in-person viewing and signing remain essential steps.
After you’ve signed your contract, managing utilities is fairly simple and can be done entirely online. If you’re moving from another flat, you just inform your internet or electricity provider, and they’ll update your address in their system. This means no interruptions in service. If you want to cancel a utility contract, it used to be necessary to send a signed letter, but thanks to the Kündigungsbutton law, companies now have to provide a cancellation form directly on their websites. However, some providers try to hide this cancellation option by burying the link deep in their site or making it hard to find. Their goal is to get you to call them so they can try to convince you to stay.
In addition to utilities, phone contracts are also easily manageable and cancellable online. If you switch your phone number or bank account, you might need to verify your identity. In most cases, you can do this via a video call where you show your ID or by simply uploading a photo of your passport or ID through an app. No need to visit offices or send physical letters anymore.
There are probably some things I didn’t mention here because I haven’t needed to deal with them or just forgot. A friend of mine also mentioned that when you buy a second-hand car, you can handle everything digitally. I’m not a German citizen, but I know that for elections, you can either vote by mail or in person. However, when you vote in person, you still use paper ballots. For things like museums, concerts, and other events, you usually get a QR code for your ticket, and that’s all you need. You can also add it to your Apple Wallet sometimes. Gone are the days of printing tickets!
If you’ve made it this far, you might be wondering, “Germany seems fairly digital—so why do people still complain about bureaucracy or the lack of digitalization?” There are three key reasons for this, and they’re exactly why I wanted to write this post—because these issues often don’t get the attention they deserve.
One major problem lies in how digitalization is defined. Take this year’s elections in Hamburg, for example. When I tried to learn about the political parties’ platforms, I visited their websites. Instead of finding clear, digestible summaries, I was faced with 100-page PDF documents packed with dense policy details. Technically, yes, that’s digital—they’ve uploaded their programs online. But realistically, that’s not useful. A giant PDF isn’t reader-friendly. There are much better digital tools out there—web pages with interactive elements, infographics, or summaries that make information accessible.
So while something may be available online, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s been digitized in a meaningful or user-friendly way. And that brings us to the deeper issues.
Even though many administrative processes are now online, you still have to collect and resubmit the same documents multiple times. For instance, if you hold a Blue Card and want to apply for permanent residency, you’ll need to provide your address registration (Anmeldung), pension history, and other records—again. Even if you’ve already submitted them elsewhere.
This redundancy slows everything down. In a truly digital system, government offices would be able to access the data that’s already on file, pulling your information automatically from connected databases. This wouldn’t just save you time—it would ease the burden on civil servants too, reducing manual work and room for error.
Even with online forms and uploads, many processes still move at a snail’s pace. A big part of the problem is staffing: there simply aren’t enough people working in government offices to handle the volume of requests. So even if you submit your documents digitally, you might still be waiting for months.
This is especially frustrating for critical applications like visas or residence permits—delays here can affect your ability to work, relocate, or make long-term plans. If agencies were digitally integrated and systems could communicate, that alone would speed things up significantly. There’s also potential for express services, where applicants pay extra for faster processing, which could help fund more staff and reduce overall wait times.
And when I say “long,” I don’t mean a few days or weeks. I’m talking about months, sometimes even years. I know people who waited six months just to get an appointment, and then another three months for their Blue Card to be issued. Citizenship applications are even worse—despite going digital recently, the process still requires collecting documents from different offices, facing repeated requests for more paperwork, and enduring radio silence for years on end. Some people have had to hire lawyers just to navigate the delays. In fact, over 1.000 people sued the immigration office in Berlin for its lack of action. As a result, the process has improved, and now, while naturalization still takes years in many cities, in Berlin, it can sometimes be completed in just a few weeks.
Like my previous blog posts, this one turned out to be pretty long, but I think I’ve made my point. Everywhere on the internet and in the news, you hear a lot about digitalization and bureaucracy. But I think these terms don’t really capture the real issue. What we should be talking about is the integration of government offices and reducing waiting times.
Government offices need to be held accountable for how long people have to wait, and they should be incentivized to speed things up. One idea is to share average waiting times on their websites, just like Deutsche Bahn does with train delays, and compare between the cities. That could give people a clearer picture and push for improvements.
2025-07-01 23:00:00
The second quarter of this year went by faster than I expected. For some reason, I didn’t read or watch as much as I did last quarter, but I still read some really good books, watched interesting TV shows, and played games that reminded me how fun gaming can be. Let’s get into it.
This quarter I read six books. I liked many of them, but three really stood out because they opened my mind to new ideas.
Like last quarter, I couldn’t resist reading another book by David Graeber. He might be my favorite author. I’ve read four of his books so far, and none have disappointed me, including this one, The Utopia of Rules.
This book is a collection of three essays and one movie review. I really enjoyed it because it shows how smart Graeber is. He talks about how bureaucracy started and how it affects our lives. Then he asks why we still don’t have flying cars. He also connects video games to bureaucracy, and ends by criticizing a superhero movie—specifically The Dark Knight Rises by Christopher Nolan.
Like his other books, this one taught me things I didn’t know before, made me think about new topics, and helped me question ideas I had accepted without much thought.
If you like coffee, you probably know James Hoffmann. After struggling with my capsule coffee machine and finally buying an espresso machine, I wanted to learn more about coffee. The coffee world is very big, with lots to know—from types of beans to brewing methods.
When I said I wanted to learn more, a friend recommended Hoffmann’s The World Atlas of Coffee.
This book was exactly what I needed. It starts by explaining the coffee fruit and its different kinds. It shows how coffee is grown, harvested, separated from the fruit, dried, roasted, and shipped. Then it explains how to brew coffee in different ways. At the end, it talks about the main coffee-producing countries and their taste profiles.
I found this book very helpful. It made me more comfortable talking about coffee with friends. I even wrote down some countries I want to try beans from. My coffee journey has just started, and I think I’ll write more about it later. So, stay tuned!
Maybe because of my interest in coffee, I finally bought Tastes of Paradise by Wolfgang Schivelbusch, a book that had been on my reading list for years.
This book is about the history of spices, stimulants, and intoxicants—all covered by one German word, Genussmittel. It talks about how tobacco, chocolate, coffee, tea, and alcohol became part of our daily lives.
I love reading about everyday things and their origins, and this book gave me just that. For example, learning how a simple spice like pepper changed the world, or how coffee was once used as medicine, surprised me and made me want to read more history.
The way the author tells the story is very engaging. Because of that, I added two of his other books to my list: one about train journeys and another about the history of light in the 1800s. I’m excited to read those too!
This quarter, thanks to a friend, I finally found a way to subscribe to HBO from Germany. At first, I planned to watch The Last of Us Season 2, but after the second episode, I lost interest. Then I looked for another show to watch before my HBO membership ended—that’s how I found The Pitt.
The Pitt is a show that follows the emergency room of a hospital in real time. There are 15 episodes, and each one covers one hour of a single shift on the same day. I really liked this style because it shows what healthcare workers face every day.
There are also intern doctors and students, which adds interesting points of view. You see their different behaviors and how they work with others.
As you might expect from HBO, there are some tough scenes—blood, surgery, childbirth, and more. So if you’re sensitive to that kind of thing, this might not be for you. But if you want a realistic look at how an emergency room works, this show does it well. You see how they treat patients, decide who needs help first, and what happens in big emergencies.
Another thing I liked was the lead doctor, played by Noah Wyle. At first, I didn’t recognize him, but once I did, I was happy to see him again. The last time I saw him was in The Pirates of Silicon Valley, where he played Steve Jobs. There have been many movies about Jobs since then, but none as good as that one.
It’s hard to know where to start, but I’ll just say it up front—Andor was probably one of the best shows I’ve ever watched. And I say that as someone who isn’t a Star Wars fan. The great thing is, you don’t even need to know anything about the Star Wars world to enjoy Andor. What makes this show so good is how well it tells its story and how deeply it builds its characters.
Unlike other Star Wars shows or movies, there’s no Force, no lightsabers. Instead, the focus is on the early days of the rebellion—how it starts, who joins it, and what they give up for the cause. You also see how harsh and cruel the Empire really is, and how normal people are treated under such a system.
One of the things I liked most about the show is that it doesn’t rely on one great actor—there are many strong characters, and all of them are played really well. You get to see each person’s backstory, understand their reasons, and see why they make the choices they do. That makes it easy to connect with them.
Another thing that stands out is the main character, Andor. He doesn’t follow the usual “hero’s journey” you see in most shows. Things don’t always go as expected, and that makes the story feel more real and surprising. As a viewer, you’re the only one who sees all the sacrifices people make. You start to wish the characters in the story could know what each other went through. Especially with Andor himself—he goes through so much pain and loss, and you just want his story to be known, especially by the leaders of the rebellion.
There are also other characters who give up a lot, but their efforts are never recognized. That’s part of what makes this show so powerful—it shows the hidden costs of fighting for change.
I highly recommend watching Andor. I got Disney+ just for this show, and I can honestly say it was worth it.
After selling my gaming PC, I decided to buy a second-hand Xbox Series X so I could keep playing games using Xbox Game Pass. I felt this was the best way to finally get rid of the last computer that uses an x86 processor and stop using Windows.
I’ve loved puzzle games since I was a kid. I started with flash games online, and later played big franchises. I still remember enjoying Portal, Portal 2, and The Stanley Parable. I would put Blue Prince in the same league as those.
In Blue Prince, you play as a child who inherits a big mansion from his uncle. But before you get it, your uncle sets a challenge—you have to solve the puzzle to claim the inheritance. The mansion itself is the puzzle. There are 45 rooms, and you need to find the 46th.
The tricky part is you have a limited number of steps each day. Every time you use all your steps and start a new day, the rooms change their places, so you have to think carefully about your moves.
I really enjoyed Blue Prince. It was probably the first time in a long while that I needed to use pen and paper to solve puzzles. There are many different puzzles, not just one, so you have to think hard. Sometimes it can get frustrating, but it feels great once you solve a puzzle. As you solve more, you learn more about the uncle and his family’s story.
If you like puzzle games, I definitely recommend this one!
I don’t really remember if or when I last played Doom, but I always wanted to try it because it’s one of the classics of the gaming world. When I saw the new game was on Xbox Game Pass, I decided to give it a shot. And wow, it was a really fun experience that I hadn’t had in a long time!
Doom: The Dark Ages is a first-person shooter with very simple controls. You have guns, a shield, and a health and armor bar. There are 22 chapters where you complete missions by killing monsters from hell. Timing is very important—you have to time your shield and attacks well to avoid taking too much damage and to kill enemies quickly. When you get the timing right, the game is really fun.
I can’t say much about the story, but it keeps you wanting to play more. I also liked the heavy metal music in the background—it fits the action perfectly and keeps you pumped.
You can upgrade your guns, shield, and melee attacks. After a while, I found my favorite setup—the Super Shotgun and the Cycler—and I stuck with them for the rest of the game. Because of that, I lost some interest in collecting upgrade items like gold and rubies since I didn’t need to change my gear, and collecting took extra time.
Even though I had fun with the game, I don’t think it’s worth 80€. If I were to buy it, I’d pay no more than 30€. So I recommend playing it on Xbox Game Pass instead. Once you finish the story, there’s not much else to do—no multiplayer mode.
If you want a fun, simple game to play after a long day without needing to think too much, this is a great choice.
If you enjoy this blog series, don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter so you’ll know when I post new updates. I already have lots of books, games, and shows lined up to share. See you in the next post!
2025-06-30 16:30:00
If there’s one thing I’ve learned to do well, it’s budgeting. Ever since I was young, I’ve understood the value of knowing where my money goes and how to get the most out of it. That’s why I want to walk you through my budgeting process, so you can learn how to save more and spend more on the things that actually make you happy.
Let me be clear: the goal of budgeting isn’t to live a boring life or to cut costs on everything just to have more money sitting in your bank account. Budgeting is really about making better choices with your money. It’s about dividing your income wisely so you can enjoy life both now and in the future.
Before we get into the details, I should mention that I’m a single person living in Germany. So, the examples I share will mostly reflect that lifestyle and might be more useful if you’re in a similar situation.
The first step in budgeting is figuring out your essential expenses. These are the things you need to pay for no matter what, things you simply can’t live without. Here are some examples from my own budget:
Since these are fixed costs that come up every month, even small savings here can make a big difference over time. That’s why I review my essentials every year to see if I can cut back or switch to better deals.
Let’s go over each of these categories so you can get an idea of how to optimize them. I’ll also share some of my actual numbers to give you a point of reference, especially if your lifestyle is similar to mine.
In Germany, rent is usually split into two parts: cold rent and warm rent. Cold rent is just for the apartment or house itself. Warm rent includes additional costs like heating, water, and sometimes other shared building expenses.
In many cases, there’s not much you can do to lower your cold rent unless you move to a smaller place, a different neighborhood, or live with a partner or flatmate to share costs.
However, warm rent gives you more room to save. One way I’ve cut costs is by using smart radiator valves, like the ones from Eve. Since I installed them, my heating bill has dropped by about 30%. These devices control the heat more efficiently, so you don’t waste energy. The upfront cost pays for itself in about a year or two, and after that, you’re just saving money.
When it comes to utility bills like electricity, internet, and mobile plans, there’s actually a lot you can do to save money. In Germany, most companies use the same infrastructure, so the quality of the service stays the same no matter which provider you choose. This means you can switch providers without losing quality, and often pay much less.
One of the easiest ways to save is by taking advantage of special offers for new customers. Many companies offer lower prices or bonuses during the first year or two of a contract. Websites like CHECK24 can help compare offers, but keep in mind they often only show deals from companies that pay them a commission. Because of this, you might find even cheaper options by looking directly on company websites or using other comparison tools.
When comparing offers, don’t just look at the monthly cost. Some contracts come with bonuses, cashback, or discounts that only show up if you calculate the total cost over the full contract period. Always check how much you’ll pay in total over 12 or 24 months, and use that number to compare.
Once your contract ends, never just continue with the same provider. Prices usually go up after the first contract period. It’s better to switch again and take another new-customer deal. This might sound like extra work, but switching is actually very simple in Germany, especially for electricity, internet, and mobile. Most of it can be done online with no paperwork.
You can also save more by waiting for Black Friday deals. Many companies offer bigger discounts during that time. If you time your contract to start on Black Friday, you can plan to switch again the following year when new deals come around.
I review my contracts every year to make sure I’m not overpaying. Just by doing this, I’ve significantly lowered my internet and phone bills. I also tried switching to an hourly-rate electricity contract to save more, but this year it didn’t work out as expected due to low wind energy. Still, I believe it will be cheaper in the long run.
Here’s what I currently pay:
I only use 3 GB because I don’t stream videos, and I spend just 2–3 hours a day on my phone. I also use FaceTime for calls, so I don’t need a phone or SMS package.
One of the biggest money drains in many people’s budgets is ordering food. I can’t stress this enough: ordering food regularly can quickly add up. I’ve seen many of my friends spend a lot of money on food delivery, and it’s not just a small expense. If we look at the order value and revenue of major food delivery companies in 2024, it’s clear how much money is at stake:
The top food delivery companies alone are handling over $200 billion worth of orders.
When you order food, you’re paying not only for the meal but also for the delivery, the restaurant’s profit margin, and the app’s commission. In the end, you end up paying a lot more than if you made the meal yourself.
Now, I’m not saying you should never enjoy a meal prepared by a chef, I’ll come back to this later. But the reality is, you have to eat at least two meals a day for the rest of your life. So instead of relying on delivery, there are much cheaper and healthier alternatives.
Here are a few options:
When it comes to my monthly grocery expenses, I spend around €200–250 per month for one person. This includes:
Compare that to the cost of ordering food. For example, a Big Mac menu ordered through McDonald’s app costs €12.59 for the food, but with delivery fees and service charges, it’s closer to €15. If you ordered two meals a day, you’d be spending over €1,000 per month. Even if you opt for cheaper fast food, you’re still paying 3–4 times more than if you cooked at home.
When I worked in an office, I noticed how expensive it was to eat out for lunch every day. I’d spend around €10–15 per meal, which added up to nearly €200 a month. But many offices in Germany have microwaves, and a lot of people bring meals from home to heat up. There’s even a Reddit community called Meal Prep Sunday, where people cook for the whole week and store it in the fridge. This way, you just warm it up each day. Since I work from home now, I prefer to cook fresh meals when I’m hungry.
Similar to groceries, I also buy most of my toiletry items from store brands. However, keep in mind that some of these products might not work for everyone, especially if you have skin sensitivities or other specific needs. For example, I’ve used the same shampoo for years, and if I switch, I get skin problems. So, if you do decide to try store brands, make sure they’re right for you.
One trick to save even more is to stock up on toiletries when they’re on sale. These products have a long shelf life, so you can buy in bulk and save money over time, while avoiding the impact of inflation.
In Germany, there are a few key insurance policies that are highly recommended, particularly liability insurance and household insurance. These are both affordable and provide peace of mind. I use Getsafe and pay about €5 per month for both. Depending on your situation, you might also want to consider dental insurance since regular health insurance doesn’t cover all dental expenses.
Another unavoidable expense in Germany is the Rundfunkbeitrag (broadcasting fee). This is a contribution to the public broadcasting system and costs €18.36 per month per household. There’s no way around this, so it’s something to factor into your monthly budget.
Self-care is essential, but it can vary greatly from person to person, making it hard to set a fixed budget. For example, this category can include things like haircuts, cosmetic products, and other personal care items.
For me, self-care expenses are minimal because I don’t use many cosmetic products. When I do buy something like sunscreen, deodorant, etc. I include it in my grocery budget.
When it comes to haircuts, during the COVID pandemic, I learned how to cut my own hair. I invested in some tools to help me, and now I cut my hair at home. If you think you could manage this, I highly recommend it. Haircuts are something we all need regularly, and by doing it yourself, you can save a lot of money over the years. If you or your partner can learn to cut hair, that’s a skill that pays off in the long run.
I don’t own a car, and I have no plans to get one. I believe owning a car is expensive, and I’m lucky to live in Hamburg, a city with great public transportation. I could pay €58 per month for the Deutschlandticket, which gives me unlimited access to public transport.
That said, I don’t use public transport much because the city has very good cycling infrastructure. A couple of years ago, I bought an e-bike, and now I use it for almost all my transportation needs. So, my transportation costs are practically zero.
If you live in a city with great public or cycling infrastructure, I highly recommend you skip owning a car. If you need a car occasionally, consider using MILES or other car rental services for those rare occasions.
This is probably the most fun part of budgeting. Once you’ve followed the advice I’ve shared and saved money on your essentials, you’ll have a bigger budget to spend on things you enjoy. But before diving into the different categories, I want to mention one important thing: savings.
What helps me spend money without stress is having a clear savings plan. In Germany, the average savings rate is around 10%. However, this varies depending on your goals—whether you want to build a retirement fund or maybe even retire early. I’ve written more about this in a different post, so I won’t go into detail here. I just want to emphasize that setting aside some money each month is crucial. It’s not just for the future; it also gives you peace of mind now, knowing you’re financially secure.
For me, once my essential expenses and savings are sorted, I know exactly how much I have left for the non-essential stuff. I get my salary, set aside the amount for essentials, send the money I want to invest to my broker, and then I’m left with the rest to spend freely.
I give myself a bit more flexibility in the eating out category since I save money by cooking most of my meals at home. Going out for a meal with friends is a treat, and I don’t stress too much about the cost. Typically, a café visit with coffee and cake costs around €10, while a meal at a restaurant averages €15–20. For special occasions, I might splurge on a slightly pricier restaurant, but even then, I rarely spend more than €35.
Since I only eat out 7-8 times a month, it’s hard to spend more than €150 on eating out. This makes it a manageable and enjoyable category for me.
Vacation is one of the non-essential categories where I recommend setting a budget, just like you would for savings. The key is to plan ahead and save regularly, so you’re ready when it’s time to go.
Most people don’t take vacations every month, but there are likely a few times during the year when you want to go away for a week or two, plus maybe a couple of weekend trips. To make this possible, set aside a bit of money each month for your vacation fund. The amount you save will depend on how often you go on vacation and how much you typically spend.
Here’s how to do it: Estimate how much you usually spend on vacations throughout the year. Once you have that number, divide it by 12 (for the 12 months in a year) and save that amount each month. To keep the money separate from your daily spending, I recommend using a neobank like N26, which has a feature that lets you create separate saving spaces. This helps you avoid accidentally spending your vacation money on other things.
The key tip here is to plan your vacation a few months in advance. By doing so, you can score cheaper deals on flights and hotels. These are often the biggest expenses of your vacation, and by saving money there, you’ll have more left over for things like dining out, museums, or activities.
Also, don’t forget to look for seasonal discounts. Hotels and airlines often offer discounts in the opposite season. For example, many summer deals are available in the winter months, and winter deals can be found during the summer. If you don’t have kids, consider booking during school periods (before or after holidays) to find cheaper prices, as that’s when fewer families travel.
Some people may consider shopping as an essential, especially for things like clothing or household items. However, I include it in my non-essential budget. Typically, you already have what you need, and the desire to buy something new comes when things wear out. While I understand that some people want to buy new things constantly, I don’t find that sustainable.
My approach is simple: I focus on buying items that last longer, rather than purchasing a lot of cheap things. For clothing, I prefer UNIQLO; for sports gear, I go to DECATHLON; and for electronics, I stick to well-known brands like Apple.
If I’m saving for something big—like a new device or a piece of furniture—I follow the same method I use for vacations: I save a little each month until I’ve reached the amount I need to buy it. If an unexpected need arises, like a broken phone, I tap into my emergency fund and then replenish it by saving a bit each month.
Leisure spending can vary a lot depending on your interests. For some, it includes streaming services, gym memberships, or going to concerts/cinema. Personally, I don’t have a gym membership; I prefer exercising at home or in the park unless I’m going bouldering with friends.
When it comes to streaming, I avoid juggling multiple subscriptions. Instead, I cancel one after I’ve finished watching, then switch to another when I’m ready for something new. This keeps things interesting, and by the time I return to a service, there are usually plenty of new shows to catch up on.
The biggest part of my leisure budget goes to books. I buy a lot of them, but I always try to shop second-hand on sites like medimops to save money.
The key here is setting a clear leisure budget. It’s easy to overspend on things you enjoy, so having a spending limit ensures you don’t go overboard. Another way to stay on track is to plan your activities in advance. For example, if you love concerts or festivals, set a goal of attending like 4 per year. If you’re into video games, you might decide on buying 4 AAA games and 3 indie games each year.
I hope you found this post helpful! As I mentioned at the start, the goal here is to share how I approach budgeting. I focus on saving money in areas I don’t mind, like cooking at home or buying supermarket brands, so I can spend more on things I truly enjoy, like eating out, buying books, and traveling.
Of course, your priorities might be different, but the key takeaway is this: you need to save in some categories to enjoy more in others. It’s all about finding a balance that works for you and making sure your spending aligns with what brings you joy.
2025-06-26 13:30:00
Ever since ChatGPT came out, the tech world has jumped on a new hype train—just like it did before with crypto, NFTs, and the metaverse. This time, I think the hype spread even faster because it was so easy to try—just open a website and start typing. ChatGPT quickly became one of the fastest-growing products ever, reaching 100 million users in 2 months. Like past trends, it also brought a lot of debate and strong opinions. I’ve used ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs), and I’ve even added them to products at work. But even with all that, I’m still not on the AI hype train. In this post, I’ll explain why.
The models behind ChatGPT and others are trained using text from across the internet. The problem is, these companies didn’t ask for permission from the people or websites that created the content. They just crawled the web and copied whatever they could find. While doing that, they also caused a lot of traffic to some websites, which led to higher bandwidth costs for those sites. (How OpenAI’s bot crushed this seven-person company’s website ‘like a DDoS attack’) Big publishers like news websites have already sued OpenAI for this (The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement), and some have made deals to license their content (A Content and Product Partnership with Vox Media). But smaller websites and creators didn’t get a choice at all.
Some companies, like Meta, went even further. They didn’t just use web content—they also used pirated books to train their models. (The Unbelievable Scale of AI’s Pirated-Books Problem) If a regular person did this, they’d probably get into serious trouble. But when billion-dollar companies do it, they usually get away with it. And if they do get fined, it’s often such a small amount that it doesn’t even affect their yearly profits.
The way these models are trained is already a big issue. But a bigger problem is that they use all kinds of content from the internet. They do this because they need huge amounts of data to make the models better. That’s why Meta turned to pirated books—they had already used most of what was available online. And this is where things get risky. While most people only visit handful of websites, the internet is full of harmful content. These models are trained on all of it, and that means they can end up repeating or using that harmful content in their answers. (The risks of using ChatGPT to obtain common safety-related information and advice) Since the models often give answers with a lot of confidence, it can be hard—especially for younger people—to tell whether something is right or wrong.
Once the companies collect the data, they start training the models. This isn’t like running a normal website. It requires special data centers with powerful graphic cards built for AI training. These cards use a lot of electricity, which means more energy needs to be produced. That’s why companies like Microsoft have made deals to reopen old power plants. (Three Mile Island nuclear plant will reopen to power Microsoft data centers) Some companies are even building new power plants that run on fossil fuels. (AI could keep us dependent on natural gas for decades to come)
But it’s not just about needing more electricity. These data centers also cause other problems. For example, they can affect the electricity grid and cause small but important changes to the frequency of the power. (AI Needs So Much Power, It’s Making Yours Worse) That can mess with electronic devices in homes near the data centers. Because they use so much electricity, they also produce a lot of heat. To cool everything down, they need large amounts of water, which can create issues for local water supplies. (AI is draining water from areas that need it most) The situation has gotten so bad that companies like Microsoft, which once aimed to become carbon neutral by 2030, might not be able to meet those goals. (Microsoft’s AI obsession is jeopardizing its climate ambitions)
After using huge amounts of data and electricity to train these models, you’d expect something truly useful. But even though companies promote these models like they can solve the world’s biggest problems, the way people actually use them can be disappointing. A lot of students use these tools to do their homework, both in school and university. (26% of students ages 13-17 are using ChatGPT to help with homework, study finds) When teachers notice that homework quality has gone up, they start using these tools too—to grade the homework. (Teachers are using AI to grade essays.) Lawyers have also been caught using AI tools to help with their legal cases. (Law firm restricts AI after ‘significant’ staff use) Many people now use AI for advice on money, relationships, or even health. (AI models miss disease in Black and female patients) And if you look at the leaked chats with Meta AI, you can see how everyday people are really using these tools. (Meta Invents New Way to Humiliate Users With Feed of People’s Chats With AI)
These use cases are often ignored, especially by software developers who push AI tools heavily. As a software developer myself, I can say that many in our field don’t really think about the long-term impact of the tech they build. They’re often focused on interesting problems and high salaries. For developers, it’s easy to test the output of these models by running the code or writing automated tests. If something breaks, you can just undo it. But for others—like students or lawyers—it’s not that simple. A student might get a bad grade (School did nothing wrong when it punished student for using AI, court rules), and a lawyer might embarrass themselves in front of a judge. (Mike Lindell’s lawyers used AI to write brief—judge finds nearly 30 mistakes)
There’s also a growing group of people using these tools to create content just to go viral or make money from ads or affiliate links. This floods social media and websites with low-quality, copy-paste content. (AI Slop) Even newspapers have used these tools to make book lists that include books that don’t even exist. (How an AI-generated summer reading list got published in major newspapers)
Worse, some people use AI tools to replace real social interaction. There are now startups offering AI girlfriends. (AI Tinder already exists: ‘Real people will disappoint you, but not them’) Kids talk to these tools like they’re real friends—some have ended up with serious mental health problems, and in tragic cases, even suicide. (A 14-Year-Old Boy Killed Himself to Get Closer to a Chatbot. He Thought They Were In Love.) People now argue by quoting AI responses instead of doing real research. I’ve had friends who do this—they trust ChatGPT over actual facts. I end up spending time correcting them with real, trusted sources, especially on serious topics like law, taxes, money, and health.
The long-term risks are even bigger. We might raise a generation that doesn’t know how to write essays, can’t read and understand long articles, can’t communicate well, and struggles with real relationships. (Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task) Most people don’t know that these models don’t really “understand” anything—they just predict the next word in a sentence. They’re not intelligent, but they look smart because they talk like us. Companies use words like “thinking” and “understanding” to describe these tools, which makes people believe the models are smarter than they really are. In truth, these models can make things up completely. (What Happens When People Don’t Understand How AI Works)
Many companies now push these tools as replacements for entry-level employees—especially interns and junior roles. But they don’t think about what happens later, when there are no trained juniors to become seniors. Klarna, for example, replaced their customer support with AI (Klarna CEO says the company stopped hiring a year ago because AI ‘can already do all of the jobs’), but later had to go back to using humans. (Klarna Slows AI-Driven Job Cuts With Call for Real People) Because at the end of the day, people want to talk to other people—especially when they need help.
More and more people will depend on AI tools and slowly lose their ability to think for themselves. As a software developer, you might feel like you’re working faster thanks to AI. But your own skills might slowly get worse. And by the time you realize it, you might be out of a job—and not ready for the next one. The scariest part is, you might not even notice it’s happening, because the output at work still looks good.
When you see AI everywhere, it’s not by chance—it’s because companies are spending huge amounts of money on it. Big names like Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are spending tens of billions of dollars every few months just to buy the graphic cards needed to train these models. They’ve spent so much money, but they aren’t making enough in return from the AI tools they offer. (AI’s $600B Question) To make their financial reports look good, they’ve started laying off employees. (The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine) At the same time, they say AI is making them more productive, so they don’t need as many workers.
Smaller companies are copying what the big ones are doing. They’re also putting money into AI and claiming they’re getting more work done. But in many office jobs, it’s hard to actually measure productivity in a clear way. (Cannot Measure Productivity) Because of all this pressure, even Apple—usually slow to jump on tech trends—felt the need to quickly release “Apple Intelligence.” But many of the things like Swift Assist and Siri improvements aren’t even available yet, and the parts that were released aren’t being used much. (Apple’s AI isn’t a letdown. AI is the letdown) The hype has now grown so big that both companies and governments are being pushed to use AI, just so the investors who poured billions into it can try to get their money back. (The US intelligence community is embracing generative AI) Meanwhile, there are startups with no real product being bought for billions of dollars—like the one Jony Ive is working on. (OpenAI is buying Jony Ive’s AI hardware company for $6.5 billion) If you look at how these startups are valued, it’s hard to see how they could ever make enough money to justify it. (AI Valuation Multiples 2025)
All this leads to a big problem: monetization. ChatGPT has around 500 million weekly active users, but only around 20 million of them actually pay for a subscription. That means the vast majority of people think it’s not worth $20 a month. (OpenAI Is A Systemic Risk To The Tech Industry) Other companies like Canva and Salesforce, which have added AI features to their tools, have also raised their prices. (Canva says its AI features are worth the 300 percent price increase, Salesforce Increases Prices as it Promotes New AI Features) Even if you never use the AI tools, you still have to pay the higher price. That’s because they’ve spent so much money building and running those features—they have to make up for it somehow. Because only a small number of people are paying, companies like OpenAI, Antrophic, Microsoft, and Meta offer AI tools for free—but with limits. And as anyone in tech knows: if something is free, you are the product. People often share very personal thoughts with these tools, sometimes things they wouldn’t even tell friends or family. That lets companies build detailed user profiles, which they can then use to sell ads and try to make money. (ChatGPT is getting ‘memory’ to remember who you are and what you like)
But even that won’t be enough. The investment money in AI is bigger than anything we’ve seen in tech—or maybe in any industry. So now governments are stepping in with contracts. (Introducing OpenAI for Government, Expanding access to Claude for government) These tools will be used for surveillance—not just for their own citizens, but for people in other countries too. There are already reports that the U.S. military has hired employees from companies like Meta and OpenAI. (The Army’s Newest Recruits: Tech Execs From Meta, OpenAI and More) It’s also known that companies like Microsoft and OpenAI are getting government contracts. (OpenAI wins $200m contract with US military for ‘warfighting’) One day, you could use ChatGPT to talk about a sensitive topic, and later find yourself denied a visa or even deported—without ever knowing why.
Since most individual users aren’t paying, the money is coming from big companies. I know some of them are buying bulk licenses from companies like Anthropic and Cursor, and then pushing their developers to use these tools. That might help companies work faster, but employees don’t benefit from this productivity boost—in fact, they may become even more dependent on AI. (Time saved by AI offset by new work created, study suggests) And when the company decides to lay off workers, those same people may have to keep using AI tools on their own and start paying for it out of pocket. Right now, the most advanced AI models cost up to $200 a month. Not long ago, it was just $20. Even at those prices, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic still aren’t profitable—so they might raise prices again. In the end, you could find yourself having to pay a lot of money just to keep doing your job.
If you want to understand what’s going on in the tech industry right now, you need to look at what motivates these companies. There are two groups: the new players and the existing tech giants.
OpenAI started as a non-profit, but now it’s the face of the AI hype. (The Accidental Consumer Tech Company) It’s trying to break into the ranks of the big tech companies—maybe even become the next Apple. Some former OpenAI employees started Anthropic, but outside of software developers who use Claude Code, not many people even know about it. These companies all have one goal: to become the next big tech.
As for the big tech companies—Microsoft, Google, and Meta—they’re trying to protect their position. Microsoft has added AI features to all its products, but I doubt anyone at Microsoft really believes these features will directly make a lot of money, other than letting them raise prices on existing products. (Microsoft bundles Office AI features into Microsoft 365 and raises prices) Their real focus is on the infrastructure—providing the tools and servers that others use to train and run AI models.
Google is in panic mode. Their entire business depends on search, and search is where they make most of their ad money. Now that AI could change how people search, they’re doing everything they can to keep up—but it’s not going well. (Google defends AI search results after they told us to put glue on pizza)
Meta tried to stand out by releasing their models to the public. But people quickly lost interest when they saw the low quality of the models—and the fact that Meta manipulated the results of model tests to make them look better than they actually were. (Meta cheats on Llama 4 benchmark) Mark Zuckerberg seems obsessed with finding the “next big thing.” First, he poured $50 billion into the metaverse, but I don’t know anyone who actually uses it. (The VR winter continues) Now he’s putting AI into every Meta product—WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook—and calling it “Meta AI.” Lately, he’s even been buying startups and hiring top talent to build a team focused on creating “superintelligence.” (Meta launching AI superintelligence lab with nine-figure pay push, reports say)
Amazon and Apple, meanwhile, are trying to catch up. Maybe they didn’t think the AI wave would be this big. Maybe they didn’t have enough data or talent. Or maybe they just want to take a different path. To me, Apple stands out. They aren’t trying to build a chatbot that knows everything. Instead, they’re focused on using AI as a tool to help people interact with their apps and data in smarter ways. They’re also working on on-device AI and private cloud systems, so your data stays on your device—or when it doesn’t, it’s handled with privacy in mind. (Private Cloud Compute: A new frontier for AI privacy in the cloud) The downside is that Apple’s models aren’t very good yet. But I think they’ll catch up, especially since models from OpenAI and Anthropic have also stopped improving lately. (Recent AI model progress feels mostly like bullshit) What I really respect is that Apple isn’t trying to make money from Apple Intelligence, unlike the others because they’re already making a lot of money by selling you hardware.
What surprises me the most is how quickly people trust these new companies. They share personal thoughts, give access to their devices, and let these apps do all sorts of things. When you install their apps, you’re often giving them permission to control your computer. Some companies are integrating their APIs deep into their systems with just a few lines of code. And these AI companies? They’re not profitable. They don’t have a long history of earning trust. What they do have is a huge hunger for more data to train their models. (“I lost trust”: Why the OpenAI team in charge of safeguarding humanity imploded)
And finally, there’s one thing these companies keep shouting: “AI will replace jobs.” They say it all the time, but economists don’t fully agree. (Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu: Don’t Believe the AI Hype) I don’t think the people who built personal computers went around warning that typewriters would lose their jobs. The goal of these AI companies doesn’t seem to be making people’s lives better, but making them jobless.
ChatGPT didn’t start as a real product—it was more like a research tool. But over time, it turned into a way for people to interact with large language models. In some cases, a chat interface makes sense, but most of the time, I don’t think it’s efficient.
If you’re looking something up, you usually type a few keywords and get a list of links. But with a chatbot, you have to write full sentences, and how fast you can type limits how fast you can interact. Then, instead of getting quick, scannable links, you get a big block of text. You read it—but you’re always aware it might be wrong. On a regular search engine, you can judge a source just by looking at the domain of the website, the design of the page or even reading the “About” page. You can make quick decisions with a few clicks. In short, searching and skimming is usually much faster than reading chatbot answers. It’s like someone describing a view in a paragraph vs. just showing you a picture. OpenAI seems to have realized this, because they added a voice interface. (ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak) That might work for some people, but it’s also slow. You can’t skim a voice reply, and it’s not private—you can’t really talk to it in public. So it’s still not a perfect solution.
Eventually, these companies tried something new: agents. The idea is that instead of just answering questions, the AI would actually do things for you—like a smart assistant. But in order for that to happen, someone first has to define all the functions the agent can handle. Then, when you ask the chatbot for help, it picks the right tool, sends your request to the third party service, and shows you the result. This isn’t new. We’ve had bots that do things for years—the only difference here is that now you ask in a chat box instead of clicking on buttons.
At first, agents sounded exciting, especially for businesses. But again, there’s a catch: someone has to define every tool the agent can use. These models aren’t smart enough to just find a random tool online and figure out how to use it. So Anthropic released something called the Model Context Protocol (MCP), which is basically just a new way of writing an API doc—except this time, it’s for chatbots, not human developers. (Introducing the Model Context Protocol) You hook up all the MCPs you need, and your chatbot uses them to get things done. This is especially useful for people who don’t know how to code. I know many people who already use Zapier to automate their work. With agents, they won’t even need to build a flow—they can just ask the chatbot to do it.
But here’s the real issue: if agents just use third-party tools to do the actual work—like translation, calculation or retriving information—why are these companies spending so much time and money training massive language models? These models take months to train and use more electricity than an entire village. If their only job is to talk to the user and hand off tasks, we don’t need models with all of human knowledge—we just need one that’s good at chatting and picking the right tool. If you need information, just connect to something like Wikipedia’s MCP.
That’s why I think companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta have a serious product problem. On the other hand, companies like Apple and Google already have an edge. They own the platforms—macOS/iOS, Android—and they can build their own MCPs for default apps like Mail, Calendar, Notes, and so on. This is already something Apple promised but couldn’t ship it yet. (Leaked Apple meeting shows how dire the Siri situation really is) They can also let other developers create MCPs that plug into their systems. That’s a real ecosystem, and it might actually work. (Integrating actions with Siri and Apple Intelligence)
Maybe that’s why Anthropic launched Claude Code. Coding is very structured. You can test the output easily—run it, write tests, see if it works. For software developers, tools like this can boost productivity and save time on things like reading documentation or hunting down bugs. But for most other professions, I don’t think these tools help much. Honestly, I see it more like how Figma made designers more productive compared to Photoshop. Figma didn’t get hyped like this, even though it costs about the same ($20/month). And Figma was valued at $20 billion—after six years of actual product usage and growth. (Adobe to acquire Figma in a deal worth $20 billion)
Not only these companies, now every company is racing to create a product with “AI”. What they really mean is: “you can now use our app through a chat window.” That’s it. They’re marketing it like it’s a huge innovation, but most users don’t even use them. (Customers don’t care about your AI feature)
One of the biggest problems with the current AI hype is the people who are driving it. The folks who built these models or launched startups around them act like they’re changing the world. Because they’ve raised millions in funding, they already see themselves as successful—even if their companies don’t make any profit. This is especially true for people who work at OpenAI or used to work there. (Inside the Chaos at OpenAI) Some of them are treated like tech celebrities. There are even groups that act like fan clubs—or even cults—where everything these people say or do is cheered without question. (OpenAI’s anarchist science chief is a techno-spiritual culthead)
With so much attention and praise, it’s no surprise that they’ve started making bold claims. One of the biggest ones is that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is just around the corner—and that they’ll reach it using the same methods they used to build today’s large language models. (‘Empire of AI’ author on OpenAI’s cult of AGI and why Sam Altman tried to discredit her book) But there are many studies that show these models can’t really reason or think in the way humans do. (Proof or Bluff? Evaluating LLMs on 2025 USA Math Olympiad) Calling them “intelligent” just because they use language well feels misleading. (The Illusion of Thinking: Understanding the Strengths and Limitations of Reasoning Models via the Lens of Problem Complexity)
Still, regular people hear these claims and get pulled in. They believe them without question. It’s becoming harder to explain to people what these models can and can’t do. Many truly believe that these tools can solve any problem. They ignore the warnings, don’t question the answers they get, and treat the tools like magic. (ChatGPT Is Becoming A Religion) In the end, we’re left with a group of people living in a kind of bubble. They believe these tools will change the world—but they’re not really looking at what’s actually happening.
This post turned out longer than I expected, but I wanted to cover every angle to explain why I’m not riding the AI hype train. There are just too many red flags—how the models are built, how they’re used, the impact on people and the planet, the money behind it all, and the motivations of the companies pushing it.
All those companies are throwing everything they’ve got behind AI like it’s destined to be the next big thing. But here’s the thing—none of the past “big things” were pushed like this. They didn’t get flooded with billions in investment before proving themselves. The iPhone, for example, wasn’t even designed to support third-party apps. That only changed because developers wanted in. It grew organically, from real demand. You can’t force a revolution by brute-forcing money into it.
That doesn’t mean these tools are completely useless. I use them myself, sometimes—for proofreading or solving tricky programming problems. But I don’t rely on them. I don’t pay for them. I don’t use them with an account. And I definitely don’t treat them like they’re going to change the world. They’re just tools. If they disappeared tomorrow, it wouldn’t affect how I work or live.
In the end, I see AI for what it is: a powerful but limited tool—not a revolution, not a replacement for human thinking, and definitely not something worth worshipping. It has its place, just like every other piece of tech that came before it. But I won’t buy into the hype. I’ll keep using it when it helps, ignore it when it doesn’t, and question it always. That’s not resistance—it’s just common sense.
2025-06-14 18:00:00
Over the long weekend, thanks to Whit Monday being a public holiday in Germany, I decided to visit a friend who lives in Munich. I spent about three and a half days there and thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts. I saw a lot during my stay, and since I live in Hamburg, I naturally started comparing the two cities. There are quite a few differences.
Before I go into the details, I should mention that I’ve been living in Hamburg for seven years, and this was my first time in Bavaria. Besides Munich, I’ve also been to Berlin and Magdeburg, but Munich gave me a very different impression. It felt worth writing about. I know German history and how divided the country used to be, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see these differences. But still, I think people don’t talk about them enough. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to visit both Hamburg and Munich to really notice them. I’m not trying to say that one city is better than the other. This is just my personal take on what makes each place special. If you’re trying to decide where to live, keep in mind that I’m very biased towards Hamburg, so this might not be the most balanced view.
To understand the differences between Hamburg and Munich, I think it’s important to look at the history of both cities. When you visit them, you can really see how their past shaped what they are today.
The Wittelsbach family was a Bavarian dynasty that ruled Bavaria from 1180 to 1918. The blue and white pattern used in Bavaria today comes from the coat of arms of the Wittelsbach family. That light blue color is all over the city — you see it on the trams, street signs, and even on house number plates. Around the same time the Wittelsbachs rose to power, in 1189, Hamburg was given the status of a Free Imperial City by Frederick I “Barbarossa.” That made it an important trade city. If you check out Hamburg’s coat of arms today, it still carries the same style and the red color you see throughout the city, just like the blue in Munich.
So while Munich was ruled by a single dynasty for centuries, Hamburg was more independent and focused on trade. I believe this played a big role in how the two cities developed. A city ruled by one family means power and money were more centralized. That can lead to big, impressive projects, but it also means the city grows in the direction that one ruling power chooses. A free trade city like Hamburg, on the other hand, had power and wealth spread out among merchants. That means more voices in the room and more variety in how the city grew.
There are also clear religious differences. Both cities were Catholic until the 16th century, but during the Reformation, Hamburg became Protestant. You can feel that shift even today. In Munich, the churches are bigger and more detailed. In Hamburg, they’re simpler and more minimalist. When I visited the Alte Pinakothek museum in Munich, I was surprised by how many paintings were focused on the Holy Mary and Christ. Religion still seems to be part of daily life in Munich — you notice it especially when older locals greet you with “Grüß Gott.”
You can also see the wealth of the Wittelsbach family when you jump ahead to the 18th century and look at King Ludwig I of Bavaria. While walking around the city, his name kept coming up. From Ludwigstraße and Königsplat to the museums like the Alte Pinakothek and Glyptothek — many of these were created or shaped by him. The Egyptian artifacts at the State Museum also came from his personal collection. It’s hard to imagine these things existing without someone who had the money and the interest in art and culture. He also moved one of Bavaria’s oldest universities to Munich, which became LMU Munich. Today, it’s considered one of the best universities in Germany. I think it’s fair to say that without Ludwig I, Munich wouldn’t be as developed and rich in culture as it is today.
I also visited the Munich Residenz with its 130 rooms, where the Wittelsbachs lived, and the gardens of the Nymphenburg Palace, which served as their summer residence. I didn’t have time to go inside the palace, but the garden was beautiful. There were ducks, geese, and swans everywhere. The whole place felt very peaceful and well kept.
If I had to choose one word to describe Munich, I’d go with “wealth.” The wealth of the Wittelsbach dynasty and the way it shaped the city. That’s why I think you can’t really understand Munich without knowing this history — just like you can’t understand Hamburg without knowing about the Hanseatic League.
On the day I arrived in Munich, I went to the Isar River with my friend. I was really impressed by how clean the water was. Since it comes from melted snow in the Alps, you can actually see through the water — even the fish swimming inside. Maybe it’s not fair to compare it with the Elbe in Hamburg, but seeing such clear water was exciting for me. The flow of the river is also very fast. Of course, I should mention that the Elbe is much deeper than the Isar, so they are quite different in that sense.
After that, we went to the Englischer Garten. It’s a great place to walk, run, or cycle. It reminded me of Planten un Blomen in Hamburg. In the Englischer Garten, you can still follow the Isar River. Because the current is strong, it’s dangerous to swim there, but my friend told me that people do group activities like standing or sitting on logs and floating down the river. Sounds like a lot of fun.
I also visited the Olympiapark. If you go up the Olympiaberg, you get a great view of the city and see the Alps. It’s also a spot where people sometimes sit and listen to concerts at the Olympiastadion. The only thing that bothered me was the building with the O2 logo. I was surprised that the city allowed it. It really stands out and ruins the view a bit. I did a quick search and found out that after that building was built, Munich had a vote to stop any new buildings over 100 meters tall. I wish they could also do something about that building now.
From up there, you can really see how green Munich is. But while walking around the city, I also noticed several “naked streets,” as I like to call them — streets without any trees. These streets have buildings, sidewalks, and wide roads for cars, but no trees at all. That was a bit disappointing. I had the same feeling when I visited Stockholm. In Hamburg, this is less common. You can usually find trees on almost every street. I think this is really important because trees give shade and help cool the streets, which makes walking much easier. Even though it was only about 20°C, I sometimes felt really hot walking around in the sun.
Munich has many parks, but what makes it really special is the number of lakes nearby — like Starnberger See, Ammersee, and Tegernsee. You can reach most of them with just about an hour of train ride. You can also visit Garmisch-Partenkirchen and go up to Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. Since this was my first time in Munich, I decided to stay in the city, but I’m already planning a second visit to explore those places.
Even though Hamburg has the beautiful Alster Lake right in the center, it doesn’t offer as many nature spots nearby that you can reach within two hours. But at least there are lots of forests around the city, and the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are around an hour away by train. That’s something you don’t get in Munich.
When it comes to museums, Munich has a lot more than Hamburg, at least in terms of numbers. The wealth of the city definitely played a big role in building up that collection. During my trip, I visited six museums:
One thing I didn’t know before buying the tickets is that some museums only charge €1 for entry on Sundays. I really liked that idea, and I hope Hamburg introduces something similar.
I also wanted to visit the Deutsches Museum, but since it’s quite large, I decided to skip it this time and focus on smaller museums so I could see more. I’ll definitely visit it during my second trip.
Even though Munich has more museums overall, I find the ones in Hamburg more interesting in terms of variety, at least for my personal taste. I’m thinking about places like Miniatur Wunderland, the International Maritime Museum, and Museum der Arbeit. In Munich, the paintings at the Alte Pinakothek were impressive from a technical point of view, but after a while, I got a bit bored — around 80% of them were focused on the Holy Mary and Christ. On the other hand, I really enjoyed the Residenz and the Egyptian Museum. They were more engaging for me and had a better mix of history and culture.
In general, I found Munich to be a very walkable city. The public transportation was also really good, and unlike Hamburg, it has a tram system. I actually enjoy riding trams because they move slower than the U-Bahn, so you can look around and see more of the city. On the downside, I find the tram noise and overhead cables a bit annoying. When I was in Lisbon, the noise from the trams there was awful, but overall I still think trams are an important part of good public transport.
There were two things about Munich’s transport system that surprised me. First, some train station escalators were double-sided. That means the escalator doesn’t have a fixed direction — when someone approaches, it starts moving in their direction, whether that’s up or down. I thought that was a pretty smart solution. The second thing was the buses with attachments. At first they looked strange, but I assume they add the extra section during rush hour to carry more people, and remove it later to save energy. That also seemed like a smart idea.
Aside from public transport, I felt Munich was a bit more car-centric than Hamburg. There were bike lanes, but not as many, and the ones I saw weren’t very noticeable. But I guess that makes sense, considering BMW is based in Munich. It was also the first time I saw those black-and-white striped prototype cars that car companies use for testing. Even without the logo, it was pretty obvious they were BMWs. The city also had a lot of long, wide streets, which I don’t like much. They’re harder to cross, reflect more heat, and just don’t look nice.
In terms of architecture, the city center had some impressive buildings — large and detailed. But the residential areas weren’t really my style. I think I’m just used to the brick expressionist buildings in Hamburg, which blend in nicely with the trees and feel more natural to me.
One thing I really noticed while walking around Munich was how crowded it felt. At first, I didn’t understand why — after all, Hamburg has a larger population. But then I checked the population density: Hamburg has around 2.600 people per square kilometer, while Munich has about 4.900. That explained the feeling. And if you also count the number of tourists visiting Munich, which is higher than in Hamburg, it makes even more sense. For me, this really matters. I don’t enjoy being in crowded places, and at times I felt a bit overwhelmed walking around. Luckily, the neighborhood where I was staying was calm and quiet.
One last thing I want to talk about is the food and beer. Some people don’t really like German food, but I’m not one of them. I actually enjoy trying different dishes. On my first day, I went to Haxnbauer in the city center and had Kalbshaxe (veal knuckle). It tasted really good, even though it was a bit expensive. Another day, I had Schnitzel at Andy’s Krablergarten, and I have to say, it was the best Schnitzel I’ve ever eaten.
When I drink beer, I usually go for Weißbier if they have it. Most of the time it comes in a bottle, but in Munich you get it fresh from the tap—and you can really taste the difference. I know there are a few good Bavarian restaurants in Hamburg, but after this trip, I think I’ll visit them more often.
Beyond traditional German food, I also had the chance to try something feels home. Thanks to a friend’s recommendation, I discovered a nice spot in Munich called Altın Dilim, which serves tasty baklava and other Turkish desserts. Most places that sell baklava in Germany tend to overdo the sugar, but this one struck a good balance and used good-quality pistachios. That said, I wouldn’t personally recommend their baklava. Instead, if you check it out, go for the Fıstık Sarma or Fıstıklı Kadayıf, those were excellent. One thing to keep in mind: the neighborhood where this shop is located felt quite different from the rest of Munich. So be ready for a bit of a cultural shift when you visit. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find a similar spot in Hamburg someday too.
Overall, I liked Munich. Even though it’s a German city, during my time there, it felt like I was experiencing a different culture compared to Hamburg. The number of museums and the natural spots nearby definitely made me think about visiting again.
Living in Munich also comes with some clear advantages. You’re close to places like Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, which makes it easy to travel. From what I know, big tech companies like Apple, NVIDIA, and Google have offices there, and the startup scene is much stronger than in Hamburg. So, if you work in tech, there are definitely more opportunities.
That said, because of the cultural differences, the car-focused layout, and the higher population density, I don’t think I would enjoy living there — at least not as much as I enjoy Hamburg. But who knows where life will take me.
2025-06-01 14:25:00
There are countless ways to approach life, but two of the most prominent ones I’ve noticed are the American mindset and the European mindset. Because I mostly consume content in English, I often see the American perspective dominating online spaces. Interestingly, people who embrace this mindset sometimes mock or dismiss the European approach, often without making any real effort to understand it.
Let me begin with a bit of my own background. I was born in Turkey and spent much of my life there before moving to Germany, where I’ve lived for the past seven years. I bring this up because Turkey has been significantly shaped by European ideas. We have public healthcare, a mandatory pension system, widespread public education, and decent public transportation. When Turkey was being modernized, it even adopted laws from various European countries.
At the same time, however, American cultural influence has been very strong. Over the years, society has increasingly leaned toward American ways of thinking. For instance, things like your car or your phone can heavily influence how others perceive your social status. As a result, people often feel pressured to earn as much money as possible to display their success. This mindset also leads to longer working hours, fewer vacation days or sick leaves, and a more competitive work culture with clearly defined hierarchies.
Having lived in both systems and currently living in a country that clearly reflects the European mindset, I feel well positioned to compare the two.
Because of strong American cultural influence, most people are more familiar with the American mindset. It is often centered around hard work, climbing the career ladder, earning more money, and improving your life by owning things — a house, a car, maybe even a second car. I have to admit, it is an attractive idea. The American mindset promises that if you are talented and work hard, you can achieve anything, even become a millionaire or billionaire. That belief is likely one of the biggest reasons why more than a million people move to the United States every year.
But there is also another way of living: the European mindset. Unlike its American counterpart, it does not focus solely on individual advancement. Instead, it emphasizes improving the quality of life for everyone. That is why taxes are high, very high in some cases. In Germany, for example, around 42 percent of your gross salary goes to taxes. In return, you get access to things like public healthcare, a pension system, free education, reliable public transportation, and more. You also get generous sick leave, which can last up to six weeks, and around thirty vacation days every year.
The work culture is different too. It is less competitive. People generally understand that working more or harder does not necessarily mean they will earn significantly more. And even if they do, a large part of that extra income goes back in taxes. So instead of chasing a higher paycheck, many people prefer to work fewer hours and enjoy more free time. According to OECD data, Germany consistently ranks among the developed countries with the lowest average working hours. The Nordic countries are similar. In this mindset, life is less about accumulating more and more, and more about spending time in meaningful ways.
This way of thinking surprised me when I first moved to Germany. I remember asking my German flatmate why he used second-hand furniture instead of buying new things. He said he would rather spend that money on another vacation. Over time, I realized this attitude is quite common. People are often content with what they have and prefer to buy used goods instead of working harder just to afford things they do not really need. There is less pressure to impress others with possessions. In fact, openly talking about what you own is not something people enjoy here. Instead, they talk about experiences, most of which do not cost much at all.
At work, people aim to do their jobs well and then focus on life outside the office. Work is not everything. Most people have hobbies and interests they enjoy beyond their careers. They do not define themselves by their job titles and rarely talk about work in their free time. As a result, there is less stress. People are not terrified of losing their jobs, because they know the system will support them if they need help. There is also less of a rigid hierarchy in the workplace, unless you work in a very old or large company.
I experienced both sides while working for an American company, and the contrast was striking. In that environment, hierarchy was more visible, and leaders made sure their authority was recognized. The company also put a lot of effort into promoting its mission internally, often presenting our work as something world-changing. In contrast, the German companies I have worked for felt more down-to-earth. There was less focus on job titles, less internal marketing, and a more practical approach to work. I will explore this more in a future post, but for now, it is enough to say that the difference is significant.
To sum up, the American mindset tends to focus on personal success and achievement through material gain. The European mindset, on the other hand, prioritizes collective well-being and ensuring a high quality of life for everyone.
As someone who grew up in a society shaped by the American mindset, it took me some time to understand and adjust to the European way of thinking. I want to be clear that I am not saying one mindset is better than the other. It all depends on the kind of life you want to live. If you choose one and it makes you happy, then that is what matters. However, I have also seen many people struggle because they live in a society that follows a different mindset from their own.
Before I moved to Germany, I was not really aware of the European mindset. I believed the only way to live a good life was to work hard, earn more money, and buy more things. That was the message I grew up with. I thought that having more would automatically make me happier. I did not realize there was another way to approach life. But once I arrived in Germany, I slowly started to understand that this society is not built around that idea. If I had kept chasing the same mindset here, I would have ended up feeling frustrated and disappointed.
After a few years, once I understood how the European mindset works, I realized it actually suits me much better. I do not enjoy constantly pushing myself to earn more money, especially when I am not that interested in buying new things. I am not a materialistic person. I live simply, and that makes me happy. I noticed that the money I already earn is enough to enjoy the things I care about. This shift helped me feel less stressed and more content. I no longer feel the need to always aim for more or bigger. I spend less time thinking about what I own and more time enjoying life through new experiences.
The reason I wanted to write this post is to share the idea that there is another way to live. As I mentioned earlier, I often feel a strong pressure from people who follow the American mindset. Many of them seem to believe that their way of life is the best. They earn more, they buy more, and they assume this means they enjoy life more. Maybe they do, from their perspective. But there is also a large group of people who find just as much joy, or even more, by living in a society where everyone has access to basic needs and where there is more time for life beyond work and material things.