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A guide to freelancing in Finland

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Re: A guide to freelancing in Finland

#23

Post by mongol »

aspirin wrote: post #10
lawlorino wrote: post #5

This is really great, thank you. Maybe I missed this bit but I noticed the guide doesn't touch on language issues at all, how hard is the transition for someone who doesn't speak Finnish?

In professional contexts as a software developer you will manage just fine with just English. Free time context and true integration to society will require learning Finnish. But you can take your time with that. I’m a Finn.

I think the challenge with going freelancer will be with the things that are required of you as a corporate entity. Such as, reading up on legislation, accounting rules, dialog with tax office etc.

Re: A guide to freelancing in Finland

#24

Post by kharak »

This is great. How many people have solved similar problems to this and not written anything down? How often are the same problems solved, over and over again? You did a great service and I hope it catches on.

I'm just wondering, will the people who would benefit the most from your guide actually find it?

Re: A guide to freelancing in Finland

#26

Post by sam_hosseini »

shaneprrlt wrote: post #25

It's incredible that Finland gives you a monthly grant to become an entrepreneur. Definitely wish something like that existed in the US, even if only possible at the state level.

It is indeed. Makes taking the risk of going from employee with lots of protections in Finland to freelance with no protection whatsoever much less dangerous financial wise.

Re: A guide to freelancing in Finland

#27

Post by sam_hosseini »

kharak wrote: post #24

This is great. How many people have solved similar problems to this and not written anything down? How often are the same problems solved, over and over again? You did a great service and I hope it catches on. I'm just wondering, will the people who would benefit the most from your guide actually find it?

I have to be explicit as I have been in my guide [1] that I did it for both selfish and selfless reasons. So it has not been done in pure good will :), but I think it can be thought of as maybe a good sweet spot of serving the community and benefitting from it at the same time.

About finding it, yes. It's gotten #1 on /Finland subreddit, I myself have an extensive network in Finland, and it's gone relatively big on twitter and linkedin. So given the size of Finland and the software dev community, I think word of the mouth will eventually spread it to most people who are interested in freelancing.

[1] https://github.com/sam-hosseini/freelancing-in-finland#now-t...

Re: A guide to freelancing in Finland

#29

Post by ryanlol »

mongol wrote: post #23
aspirin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In professional contexts as a software developer you will manage just fine with just English. Free time context and true integration to society will require learning Finnish. But you can take your time with that. I’m a Finn.

I think the challenge with going freelancer will be with the things that are required of you as a corporate entity. Such as, reading up on legislation, accounting rules, dialog with tax office etc.

You can do all of those in English without any issues.
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