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Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

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Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#21

Post by bogomipz »

dilemma wrote: post #11
bogomipz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am curious. Sweden is a very practical and policy driven place, is the local government addressing those housing issues in some form? I know this has been an issue for some time now. I'd be interested to hear what the local discourse is on that.

The housing shortage situation is same as that of the Bay Area if you switch loose VC capital inflating prices to loose, close to zero interest rate mortgages. As for discourse, there is none. Absolutely nothing.

Doesn't the housing shortage pre-date the low interest rates though? I understand it would certainly exacerbate it though. I near zero is most of the EU at the moment no?

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#22

Post by kpil »

throwy667 wrote: post #19
kpil wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this downvoted? There is a predicted shortage of up to 1,000,000 residences In a market of 4,500,000 or so, and a population of 10 million, recent refugees not included (yet). The last 'fix' to the problem in 1960-1970 was building brutalist suburbs that turned into high-crime areas, and eventually into 'no-go' zones, fuelled by the virtually unlimited immigration. This is now not limited to the (three) larger…

Can you point me to some readings about the suburbs crime situation?

I am not sure there is serious research done. Probably not. There is no interest as it is a career ending move.

Some news: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37161752

http://www.thelocal.se/20160404/teen-stabbed-in-street-flown...

http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&art...

https://www.nrk.no/kultur/nrk-team-truet-og-kastet-stein-ett... (Norwegian - a Norweigan tv-crew is attaced in a suburb.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-go_area#Sweden (Claims 55 areas, the referenced source lists around 100 additional areas that are on the police's "watch list" whatever that means.)

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B6dert%C3%A4ljen%C3%A4tve... (swedish - Assyrian mafia in Södertälje)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/magnus-norell/the-muslim-broth... (Not really related to the crime, but also problematic due to the segregation that follows a muslim society within the society.)

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#23

Post by uola »

throwy667 wrote: post #19
kpil wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is this downvoted? There is a predicted shortage of up to 1,000,000 residences In a market of 4,500,000 or so, and a population of 10 million, recent refugees not included (yet). The last 'fix' to the problem in 1960-1970 was building brutalist suburbs that turned into high-crime areas, and eventually into 'no-go' zones, fuelled by the virtually unlimited immigration. This is now not limited to the (three) larger…

Can you point me to some readings about the suburbs crime situation?

Even the "worst" neighborhoods are calm in Stockholm. It's nothing compared to, say, Paris or Brussels. Living in the suburb, you're far more likely to get hurt by boredom than anything else. A lot of people in Stockholm (like in other cities) are bitter of how things have developed in recent years with the financial crisis, youth unemployment and housing situation while at the same time many people have been profited of real estate and consulting. Then they extrapolate this to mean that everyone is doing badly and the country is "going down the drain". I put no judgement in that it's just not particularly relevant for you. Your personal situation is going to overshadow the other factors.

The $100k USD figure is low, it's more like 10x that for a family sized house or apartment in or close to the city. People don't really buy apartments so much as rent them from the bank.

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#24

Post by kpil »

uola wrote: post #23
throwy667 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point me to some readings about the suburbs crime situation?

Even the "worst" neighborhoods are calm in Stockholm. It's nothing compared to, say, Paris or Brussels. Living in the suburb, you're far more likely to get hurt by boredom than anything else. A lot of people in Stockholm (like in other cities) are bitter of how things have developed in recent years with the financial crisis, youth unemployment and housing situation while at the same time many people have been profite…

I think you will find that some suburbs in Stockholm, Malmö and Göteborg will come out rather competitive in regards to crime rate, but I give you that there are areas that are way worse.

Look at the statistics from BRÅ (The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention) - the actual research and statistics, and the trends are clear.

I am not sure were you are going with the "extrapolate" bit, but are you perhaps living in Södermalm, central Stockholm and extrapolate yourself? I've got a nice job (in consulting actually) and a reasonably small loan for my overvaluated house, so I am far from bitter, but it does not change the macro trends.

I'm especially concerned about the inflated house prices, and the long term economical trends in the industral sectors, and the lack of any politicial will to even touch the problems.

You are right about the $100K It was a typo, I corrected it.

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#25

Post by dilemma »

bogomipz wrote: post #21
dilemma wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The housing shortage situation is same as that of the Bay Area if you switch loose VC capital inflating prices to loose, close to zero interest rate mortgages. As for discourse, there is none. Absolutely nothing.

Doesn't the housing shortage pre-date the low interest rates though? I understand it would certainly exacerbate it though. I near zero is most of the EU at the moment no?

Yes and no. Stockholm grows by a relatively large percentage per year, and would grow even more if people could find housing there, but almost nothing is built. Whatever housing is available is condos, not rentals, so the low interest rates work to increase prices because with no rentals there's no other choice than to buy.

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#27

Post by dagw »

throwy667 wrote: post #26

Also is the 6 month probation period everyone is offering me common? Looks a lot to me, I'm not a new grad without experience.

Yea, pretty much. You have to take into account that after those 6 months it will become very difficult/expensive for the company to get rid of you so they want to make sure you're 'worth it'.

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#28

Post by kpil »

kpil wrote: post #24
uola wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even the "worst" neighborhoods are calm in Stockholm. It's nothing compared to, say, Paris or Brussels. Living in the suburb, you're far more likely to get hurt by boredom than anything else. A lot of people in Stockholm (like in other cities) are bitter of how things have developed in recent years with the financial crisis, youth unemployment and housing situation while at the same time many people have been profite…

I think you will find that some suburbs in Stockholm, Malmö and Göteborg will come out rather competitive in regards to crime rate, but I give you that there are areas that are way worse. Look at the statistics from BRÅ (The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention) - the actual research and statistics, and the trends are clear. I am not sure were you are going with the "extrapolate" bit, but are you perhaps liv…

But is it really common with grenade attacks in Paris, Brussels and London?

I found one reference to a attack in 2003 in London after a bit of searching. In Sweden, there has at least been 10 or so the last year, with one causalty - the 8 year old that was killed in his bed.

The rest have been explosions outsite apartments - I suppose it's a bit hard to throw a grenade through a window a few stories up. There was also an attack against some policemen in their car - I think they escaped by pure luck.

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#29

Post by bjourne »

bogomipz wrote: post #20
uola wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To some extent, but personally I think it has just gone to far in the current direction that it doesn't really matter what you do. When people think of Sweden as a "practical and policy driven place" it's a legacy of a couple of decades ago when the social democrats, for better or worse, were dominant in Swedish politics. Not necessarily because everything they did was good, but because they could trade reforms tit f…

Thanks. So this "housing issue" is really just about central Stockholm then is that correct? 15 to 30 is not much of burden in terms of commuting times.

15-30 mins in commuting distance is very optimistic unless you are able to pay through your nose. Think of it like this, if you earn an average salary then you can spend this much (pre-tax income) for living this close in commuting time from the city center.

  75% of it for living  60 mins away
Adjust percentages upwards if you are desperate and downwards if you have enough funds to purchase an apartment.

Re: Ask HN: Working in Sweden?

#30

Post by michaelleland »

hankmander wrote: post #10

Stockholm native working as a dev for 5+ years here. I'll just add the only two things I see missing from previous posts: You won't make any friends among the natives. We'll have a beer with you after work but don't expect anything serious. None of my friends have foreign friends. Can't really say why this happens though. We are pretty reserved. Nightlife is not snobbish as somebody else said. There is the whole rang…

I lived and worked in Sweden for a bit more than a year (I'm an American) and one thing helped me get native friends: learning the language. Everybody speaks English well, but I found that the Swedes I was around were much more open when I started the relationship in their native tongue. I really noticed this about 6 months in when my Swedish had attained a certain level.

Now, I'm married to a Swede, and we moved with the express intent of learning the language to speak it to our children. It is a commitment, but as languages go it is close to English.

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