I'm a 25 years old international CS master student in Germany. Soon I will finish my thesis and graduate. I focused on machine learning, data mining and information visualization. I'm also very experienced in Java because I had to do all my projects at the uni in java. However I don't have a real-world experience in the jobs market. As I said soon I will graduate and I need to look for a job in Germany. I'm thinking to look for jobs in Munich or Zurich because I like these cities.

I always wondered how much money I would make per month since I heard that people in CS get high salaries in Germany and Switzerland.

My questions thus are:

1- How much money per month I would make in Munich or Zurich? Before taxes and after taxes?

2- Is it going to be difficult for me to find a job in a very good company in Munich or Zurich?

3- Do you recommend Zurich or Munich and why?

I don't mean to sound harsh but some things just don't add up with your post.

* If you're studying in Germany how is it possible that you don't know what salary levels are advertised for your sector in Munich?
* The actual salary depends on a bazillion parameters and varies wildly by employer
* Java these days, carries no currency as the world if full of Indian robo-coders. Focus on AI and mining
* The difficulty factor again depends on many things like: your grades, your past projects, references, intern ships you may have had, the employer's needs at the time
* Zurich/Munich: My recommendation is don't ask people because everyone has different criteria. It's not a comparison between Zurich and Hellmand Province. As the cities are both good the best thing is to get your travel card and spend a weekend in both and decide for yourself whether you like the ambiance or not.

My 2 cents. And sorry if I sound negative but your post took me aback.

you need a job and since you have a degree in cs you are probably going to get a cs related job. if you like munich or zurich you can focus on finding a job there, apply for it and incur the salary they offer you. it will be the highest you can get unless you have other degrees. it will be high enough because the cleaning lady can also survive. if munich or zurich dont work out you can try any other city in the world. you simply need a job, after all.

bottom line: do your own research first.