My wife is in mechanical engineering. I am in academia. I think in my job there would be more pressure against it, but that's mainly because it's younger people. In my wife job, the CEO goes around encouraging people to drink while working, especially on Fridays.

> My German colleagues are mostly serious when saying “Kein Bier vor vier” (i.e. no beers before 16:00/work ends).

4pm doesn't mean that work ends then though. Many people continue working after that beer.

> industry corporation

If this means factories full of machinery that can be very dangerous if safety rules aren't followed, it probably makes sense that they'd have stricter rules than say a small webdev shop.

I think there is a 20/80 split between blue collar and white collar workers here at the HQ in Westphalia. So mostly a cubicle-farm of sorts.

I asked around and my german colleagues tell me it is a Bavarian thing with the beers.

> 4pm doesn't mean that work ends then though. Many people continue working after that beer.

We are also offered a beer a few times at official Company events etc. and most can have a beer and do proper work after. It is also legal to drive after a single normal-sized beer.