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Who Actually Works in Kayseri? A Sleepy Rant from Someone Who Should Be Sleeping

@Sofia Lane2/8/2026blog
Who Actually Works in Kayseri? A Sleepy Rant from Someone Who Should Be Sleeping

so like, i was sitting on a cracked curb at 2am after some terrible open mic thing downtown (don’t ask), and it hit me: who the hell even works here? kayseri isn’t istanbul or ankara, and thank god for that, but still - this place has jobs, right? google says they do.

i’m not talking about your nan’s neighbor’s nephew who "runs a business" out of his basement. we’re digging into real jobs, real companies, and the kind of paychecks that keep people grabbing breakfast gözleme from corner joints instead of raiding the fridge at midnight. seriously.

anyway, i looked stuff up. like a nerd. here's what makes this city run, besides the garbage trucks and the endless low-key weddings playing arabesk at full volume outside your window.



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the machinery



first, big names. no joke, the industrial side of kayseri is solid. companies like *TOFAŞ (the Fiat owned joint? total cash cow) and Kordsa Global (which is owned by sabancı-fancy people in fancy suits moving carbon fiber around). they've got actual factories pumping out… stuff. mostly automotive parts. also some mechanical thingamajigs. right now, TOFAŞ directly employs over 8,000 people. just digest that. and none of them live in brooklyn.

the academics



then there’s the education brain drain-central, Erciyes Üniversitesi. full disclosure: i tried to go there once and accidentally stumbled into a political science lecture about cuban cigars. didn’t ask questions. they’ve HIRING, and the hiring seems to mostly revolve around adjunct hell - just enough cash to afford çay every morning and wonder if you’ll ever pay off student loans.

my drunk friend claire from the US told me, “meet someone whose dad knows the rector and then see if you don’t get a job grading fake papers.”

truth bomb? i still ain’t got that gig.

“we make clothes and ship 'em everywhere”



oh yeah-and the textile industry hits hard. GSD Holdings (global fashion vessel) operates multiple apparel lines here, which apparently exports to places like h&m and zara. people are stitching for low wages, but you can still afford a place near Kayseri Sanayi Bölgesi (a mega-trendy place, very Tourist-Gone-Wrong) without eating cat food for weeks.

personally i heard this from barış (the twitchy dude who sells dried herbs down the street):

> “i know a girl who worked in that so-called 'modern textile factory', she left after the AC broke and stayed off WhatsApp for three days. toxic environment. worse than the high school halls.”

some other companies trying to blend in



there’s also stuff like Koç Holding franchises and some smaller e-commerce start-ups skulking around erciyes teknokenti trying to look cool on linkedin. nothing too wild. life happens slow here unless you’re folding socks for a paycheck.

and trust - you need that paycheck. the rent here? median is approx. 3,500 TL/month for a one-bedroom in the city center according to expats i talked to on /r/Kayseri. not gen z rockstar money. unless you earn better.

speaking of $, here's the daily damage table i made around 3am:

ItemApprox. Monthly Cost (TRY)
Rent, 1BR (center)3,500 TL
Local Beer (pub crawl)20 TL
Kebap Dinner60 TL
Metro Pass (30 days)400 TL
Coffee (shitty café)15 TL


needless to say, if you're dragging yourself to a job at tofaş factory at dawn, yeah you might get by on toast and bitterness. but people do. because the region is safe (reported crime rate was 1.3 per 100 people in 2023, surprisingly low). you can walk back from the bar at night without fearing invisible dancing angels.

and finally - kayseri’s brutal honesty period



back to the weather - it’s may, and the sun is teasing us again. same boring blue sky since february. very dry heat. ho-hum. but listen, you're only an hour away by car from Develi or Yahyalı*, and damn near two hours from cappadocia. if your soul dies a little each day, an escape route is always around the corner.

also, someone whispered loud enough near me:

> “everyone works because their mom threatens to stop cooking if they don’t.”

true story. family pressure is harsher than any boss yelling about quarterly revenue.

if you're job hunting or bored of life looking through another window like me, check out TripAdvisor for surviving trips or run over to Yelp Turkey and ask the yakitori authorities how many jobs they lost yelling at their brother-in-law.

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we all resonate with unemployment pain differently, but hey - paycheck, paycheck, wherever you may be.

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About the author: Sofia Lane

Collecting ideas and sharing the best ones with you.

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