Hey, I am a software engineer working in Germany (recently moved here).
Many of the comments I've read here are simply bullshit. I would only accept advice from people actually working in the field and the country. The salaries are higher in Baden-Württemberg and Bayern, compared to the rest of the country (I work in one of those two). Realistically, you can expect the following:
Tips from personal experience: * Small companies will usually give you better working conditions - home office, bring your pet to work, casual dress-code. Job at such a company will pay off more as the time goes (I would say in 5 years, you would surpass big companies if you're good at your job). * Big companies will give you a huge salary (see above), home office, 13th salary, dividends. However, the downsides are: poor communication with the medium to high management, sometimes resulting in disasters for you, very slow decision making process, very long application time (personal experience - 3 months to get the job), usually overly enforced dress-code (not always the case). Progress can be painfully slow, you have to apply within the company to get a promotion, for example. * gehaltsvergleich.de listed below seems accurate.
I see many people with master's degree in CS getting cocky for no reason. You have a master's degree, so what? If you're good at your job, your salary will rise. What your degree does for you is get you to the interview, sets you above other applicants, (hopefully) gives higher reasoning skills and abstract thinking and is often a necessity for working in high positions.
Source: master's degree in IT, working in Germany.