Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#41

Post by seivan » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:18 AM UTC

dagw wrote: post #34

nodesocket wrote: post #26

I consulted with a startup in Stockholm Sweden for 2.5 months at the start of the year. It was an amazing experience, and needless to say I had an absolute blast. Made many great friends, a few of which have come to SF to visit me since. It is cold Dec-Feb, but around March starts getting nice, and Swedes come out and play. General Rules: - Don't talk to people on the subway. Swedes like their public transportation s…

Everything is he wrote is true, expect the bit about pizza. Swedish pizza is a culinary abomination and the people responsible for the kebab pizza should stand trial for crimes against humanity. If I could improve one thing about Sweden it would definitely be the pizza.

You and me, we got beef. What the hell man, the Kebab pizza is the future.

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#42

Post by Wobblebobble » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:18 AM UTC

Is $10k per month considered a normal salary for a developer in Russia? Where I live (not Sweden but close, also a far higher GDP per capita than Russia) you'd have to be among the best in your field to expect to be paid even half that much.

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#43

Post by msvan » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:25 AM UTC

Stockholm is lovely but the housing market is a mess. Decades of idiotic policies have halted the construction of new apartments shot the prices through the roof. Just this week I was talking to someone who was renting out his one-room apartment for more than USD 1800/month. If you want to live centrally, prepare to pay for it.

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#44

Post by nisse72 » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:28 AM UTC

Finding a rental apartment in Stockholm can be a nightmare unless you're happy commuting from the distant suburbs. It can take many years (even decades) of queuing to get something within the central city ("inom tullarna"), and there is a large black market where rental contracts are sold. You might be able to find sublets, which tend to be for short times only (typically less than 2 years) and even then, competition can be tough unless you know someone looking for a tenant. If you're not in a position to buy, I'd strongly suggest you get your employer to help you find a place to live, or perhaps even rent it for you.

That said, Stockholm is a great city and I'd jump at the opportunity.

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#45

Post by pathy » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:37 AM UTC

msvan wrote: post #43

Stockholm is lovely but the housing market is a mess. Decades of idiotic policies have halted the construction of new apartments shot the prices through the roof. Just this week I was talking to someone who was renting out his one-room apartment for more than USD 1800/month. If you want to live centrally, prepare to pay for it.

To add to this, to get a contract via the government run queue for rentals[1]:

Average time in queue in the Stockholm region: 8.5 years.

Average time in queue for central Stockholm: 15 Years.

If you don't want to wait that long, you generally have to a) sub-let, which as the example above shows, is very expensive. b) buy something, which in the central areas of Stockholm cost something like 50-80K SEK per square meter.

[1] http://www.dn.se/sthlm/lang-bostadsko-i-stockholm/

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#46

Post by dan1234 » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:47 AM UTC

mrmekon wrote: post #30

I moved to Stockholm from the US earlier this year. The salary is supposedly good for Stockholm, but about 20-30% lower than offers I had in the US. I took it because I particularly loved the idea of living in Sweden, and I was not disappointed. Comparing the cost of living is difficult. I don't know anything about the lifestyle in Moscow, but the US is so extremely different from Sweden that it turns out I did all o…

Do you find there's any language barrier or have you picked up the language?

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#47

Post by TiduZ » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:51 AM UTC

I live in Norway, right over the border of sweden. What we experience is that people for sweden move over here, becouse the pay is better. As a software - engineer, pay is much higher in Norway.

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#48

Post by mrmekon » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 9:52 AM UTC

dan1234 wrote: post #46

mrmekon wrote: post #30

I moved to Stockholm from the US earlier this year. The salary is supposedly good for Stockholm, but about 20-30% lower than offers I had in the US. I took it because I particularly loved the idea of living in Sweden, and I was not disappointed. Comparing the cost of living is difficult. I don't know anything about the lifestyle in Moscow, but the US is so extremely different from Sweden that it turns out I did all o…

Do you find there's any language barrier or have you picked up the language?

I'm terrible with languages... it will probably take 5 years to reach 'conversational' levels.

My company is extremely international, and all business is done in english, so there is no problem. Other companies I interviewed with did bring it up as a problem. Startups seem to care very little, major corporations care a lot.

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#49

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 10:09 AM UTC

pathy wrote: post #45

msvan wrote: post #43

Stockholm is lovely but the housing market is a mess. Decades of idiotic policies have halted the construction of new apartments shot the prices through the roof. Just this week I was talking to someone who was renting out his one-room apartment for more than USD 1800/month. If you want to live centrally, prepare to pay for it.

To add to this, to get a contract via the government run queue for rentals[1]: Average time in queue in the Stockholm region: 8.5 years. Average time in queue for central Stockholm: 15 Years. If you don't want to wait that long, you generally have to a) sub-let, which as the example above shows, is very expensive. b) buy something, which in the central areas of Stockholm cost something like 50-80K SEK per square mete…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Should I go to Sweden for work?

#50

Post by junki3 » Mon, Oct 21, 2013, 10:26 AM UTC

vanderZwan wrote: post #23

seivan wrote: post #9

Be ready to pay up for a place to stay in Stockholm, I'm native and I gotta stay in queue in order to get to rent. There is no free market for apartments - at least not for rentals. You can take your chance at the Swedish equivalent of Craigs List or get to know someone. I've given up and decided to buy. Taxes aren't as high as people complain about, unless you're a freelancer. Small businesses get screwed royally an…

I think your nativity makes you miss a few problems simply because they never cross your path. For example: > Language skills... nothing to say here. Every Swede can speak and write English. You won't have problems here. This is true insofar as that I've been studying Interaction Design in Sweden for one and a half years now (one half year to go) and I have not needed to learn Swedish. However, I've been informed tha…

I don't think this is entirely true. I'm a native that have worked in Stockholm for almost 7 years (digital agencies, production companies). At every place I've been we've had at least one person that did not know swedish at all.