Home financing - please provide an assessment

We had initially planned with 5-5.5k as well.

Which we roughly have after building the house.

Then it was too risky for us, so we bought a house that was 2 years old.

That way you could plan the costs.

Maybe you’re looking for something in the area and waiting to see if something comes up?

We were then a bit lucky and the salary was comfortably a few thousand higher.
Which was just as unpredictable as my (now) ex company planning to close one year later, 3 months after moving in.

Life changes.
Something like that only works with a buffer.

A company that fails to give a young engineer a raise every year in my opinion deserves to go bankrupt. (...)

Stories from the Paulaner Garden... then the company goes under, 100 others too, and in the end, 1000 engineers fight over 100 jobs.

We are on our way back to an employer's market, not the other way around. But I’ve only been in the international project business for 20 years... what do I know...

Stories from the Paulaner Garden

Ah yes, the classic engineer surplus as has always been feared.
I have only been an engineer for 10 years, yet it has never been a problem.
My brother is also an engineer and he even managed to quit without having applied elsewhere first, simply because his boss was a complete idiot. Still, he always got a good job in his field.
For every company that closes, the business area moves to someone else who continues to build it. Very rarely does the engineer's field become obsolete.

At least I speak from experience in BW, although quite far from the classic automotive industry. None of my fellow students with whom I am in contact ever had the problem of not getting an adequate job even once.

There are always sought-after workers. Nevertheless, the job supply in Germany has been steadily decreasing for some time. The shortage of skilled workers has always been specific to certain fields, never a general one. In the areas I have insight into (digitalization of structures in companies and authorities, educators and special education teachers, teachers in the STEM field), there is still a shortage and allocated funds are not utilized because positions remain vacant. So there is work that no one can be found for. That does not mean that elsewhere there are not more workers than jobs. In a fast-paced world, retraining should be possible on a monthly basis – of course, it is not.

But I have only been in the international project business for 20 years... what do I know...

Sounds like an automotive supplier bubble. Other engineering sectors are booming, e.g. medical technology. But of course that depends on the region. If there are only a few potential employers in the area, you have to be more cautious.

The shortage of skilled workers was

... and is not a shortage of skilled workers as it is often claimed. In the end, it is a shortage of labor. I do not want to rank salespeople, hospitality workers, or care workers lower than IT nerds or engineers, but with the latter, the shortage of skilled workers is always equated. Still, about 1.2 to 1.4 million positions are vacant. I find that incredible – especially in the "simple" professions (health/social, retail, hospitality, crafts), the shortage is extreme.