As a Brit in her 30's who was a staff engineer at one of the "Big 5" tech companies on the West Coast, I took a more than 60% compensation cut ($350k -> $100k) to join a company here in Sweden because I wanted to experience the work-life balance and culture. Almost a year on, I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. Since arriving here, my WLB has been completely transformed - no more expectations of availability after 5pm without pay, no more hunger games inspired performance review process hanging over my head and conversations around protecting diversity and mental health are standard and not in the slightest bit contentious. I'm healthier, happier and have more freedom to enjoy life without strings attached than I ever experienced in either the UK or US. On paper I'm less wealthy now, sure, but the standards maintained in the basic provisions for the Swedish population such as housing (you can rent even the cheapest apartment here and it will have a good standard of maintenance and allow you to keep pets, for example), health (by far the most hassle-free access to care I've ever experienced) and standards that apply being an EU state to things like food and environment give me for free what I had to buy elsewhere (if I even could).
Why sweden? Even if you wanna work life balance and want to live in Europe there are better countries with better salaries and maybe even better conditions or at least the same.. like Denmark, Norway, Switzerland🇨🇭.. or countries with lower wages but better weather and you don’t have to worry much about working hard maybe.. 😅😂 like Spain, Portugal ..
Wrong thinking. The money you gave up would have allowed you to retire much much earlier. For all of its positives, even in Sweden, you have to get up in the morining, out your pants on one leg at a time, and go to work. So sad.
I’m an American scientist who moved to Sweden 8 years ago for work. It was the best decision I ever made! I don’t know if I could go back to working in the US.
I'm just happy we seem to have gained such a level headed and toughtful engineer into our country. I don't know for how long you've been here, but welcome!! 🇺🇸🇸🇪
I'm Danish, living in Sweden near Malmö and drive back and forth each day. Taxes are paid in Denmark, since I work there, and then I don't have to pay in Sweden. Apparently Denmark sends money to Sweden each year due to the many Danes living in southern Sweden. This is to balance out the benefits you get when paying taxes in another country, as you get access to schools, healthcare etc. I like the nordic countries and what is provided to us. I know people always talk about taxes, but the freedom you get from not having to worry about your current life situation (good or bad) really pays off. As you say you don't have to worry about vacation, health, leave or any other situation that might take a hit on your work.
Yeah Malmö is a very poor area when it comes to taxes comming in do to the high amount of illegal immigrants that doesnt work or pay taxes and then leach of the system
@@zpokie123 In 2024 Malmö is way over income taxes average in Sweden per capita. About the Danes moving to and living in Malmö, we don't get compensated enough (as always when dealing with Danes) and would be better if they moved back to Denmark.
Denmark compensates Sweden as per an EU law that exists to balance out the loss in taxes and other expenses a country gets when people are living in one country and work in another.
You pay taxes thru the Øresundsaftale.. What was supposed to happen is that your app. 10% "kommuneskat" should go to your home "commune" i.e. Malmö. What happened was that SKAT accumulated all tax from workers living in SE taxing in DK and did one transfer to Swedish "Skatteverket" every year. Apparantly like almost every Swedish company they have "saete" (mainoffice) in Stockholm which meant that the taxes ended up feeding the Swedish state and not the "communes" in Southern Sweden where they were supposed to go. Former mayor of Malmö Ilmar Reepaly actually accused Danes living in Malmö that they were " parasiting" Swedish taxpayers..
@@zpokie123 They are not illegal immigrants, but they are immigrants with refugee status. Don't confuse the two things. But sadly many of them still living on welfare. But... "immigrants" by definition are not the same as living on welfare. I am an immigrant but always paid a very high tax here because I always worked. So is also ChristianBlueChimp since he says that he is Danish... Malmö has always had a very high number of people living on welfare, even before 2015, and long before mass migration started. Read the real history of Malmö.
It’s often hard for Americans to know the difference. They are taught to think the same way as Karl-Bertil Jonsson’s father in the animated Christmas story; anyone who ever gives anything to someone for free is a communist. 😉
I thing that if there was one thing that really personifies Swedish culture, its the emphasis on personal responsibility and respect. As long as you do your part, no one will judge you or disrespect your way of life.
A small correction from a fellow Swede and developer: Healthcare isn't free, it is subsidized. You pay 15-40$ depending on what type of visit it is, but comparing to the US it might as well be free.
@-xziaz-7839 The tax is not that different from any other European country with healthcare and education paid by taxes. For an example of actual cost of living in practice, try video titled "LIFE AT MINIMUM WAGE: USA vs. Germany | Housing, Utilities, Food & More!"
It depends on the company. I'm from Germany and work at a German company and almost everything said in the video about swedish work culture could also be said about the company I work at.
Thank you, Vanessa, for another insightful video! As a female junior back-end engineer in my late 30s, I really appreciate your perspective and advice. I’ve noticed some similarities with working in tech in the UK, though Sweden definitely seems to have more green ticks when it comes to promoting work-life balance and career support. Your content is so motivating-looking forward to more! 😊
Thank you so much for your kind words! It's really interesting to hear about your experience in the UK tech scene. I'm glad you enjoyed the video - it is super fun to be able to connect with other engineers (:
@@WilsonSilva90 Not really. You have state socialism where the means of productions are owned by the state, there is no private company except taylor trade or plumbing as the only private entities. They you have the real socialism where the means of productions are owned mostly by the employees working in those businesses. This is where the majority of countries in EU are. Just so you know Sweden has twice as more billionaires per million population than US has.
@@car9167 You are talking nonsense. You are clueless about the EU and about socialism in general. Rather than writing nonsense on the Internet, you'd better go back to high-school and learn the fundamentals of reading, critical thinking, geography, economy, politics and many other things. Traveling abroad will always help you getting smarter, too. Until you make bigger changes in your life, you could at least open the window and get some fresh air. Maybe your mind will become less foggy. It's obvious you stay indoors too much.
@@car9167 What are you talking about? Or what planet are you from??? You have NO knowledge of Sweden or Europe! All nations in Europe are capitalist but some countrys may have social democratic rule but that changes often with democratic elections! There are NO socialistic countrys in Europe!
Social democracy is a reformist branch of socialism. Contemporary social democracy, like the one in Sweden, is a significantly watered down version of that.
Building wealth involves developing good habits like regularly putting money away in intervals for solid investments. Financial management is a crucial topic that most tend to shy away from, and ends up haunting them in the near future.., I pray that anyone who reads this will be successful in life!!
Starting early is simply the best way of getting ahead to build wealth , investing remains a priority . I learnt from my last year's experience , I am able to build a suitable life beause I invested early ahead this time .
We must consider safer investments with promising returns in order to plan for the future. If you approach investing with a five-year perspective and simply DCA whenever you receive a check. Under the direction of my investment advisor, Jason Lunvo Rodriguez whose expertise in portfolio diversification is unsurpassed and client-focused, my portfolio has gained almost $643k since January 2024.
12:30 Here in Finland, if you're on vacation and you get sick, you get your vacation days back because you're sick and couldn't use those. However, first three days of the holiday are called "omavastuu" which means that you won't get those back because it is considered to be on your own risk but if you are on longer holiday (e.g. 4 weeks during the summer) and you get sick for a week or two, you only lose 3 days worth of your holiday. To receive this benefit, you have to contact your employer immediately when you get sick on your vacation and get doctor's note for the sickness.
Don't know if we have the "omavastuu" in Sweden but otherwise it's the same. If you're sick during your vacation you don't use up those days as long as you contact them right away and have a doctor's note ready if they ask for it.
Here in Germany we also don't have a concept of "sick days".When I was in Canada I was really shocked that people were like "I only have 10 sick days" and I was like "and what if you're sick more often".."then you go to work or take vacation days". Who comes up with such an idea? If you're sick, you're sick, you can't work to your full potential and even maybe a endanger others to get sick too and thus you're a liability for the whole company. In contrast to Sweden here in Germany you're always paid in full and depending on the company you work for, you have to go to the doctors after 2-4 days (most common is on 3rd day I think). If you're sick longer than 6 weeks, your insurance company will pay, but no longer 100% it'll be up to 90% of your netto salary. And the 6 weeks count for a year and add up if you get thick several times for the same reason, but it resets every year. And when you get sick on vacation you get your vacation days back (if you inform your employer), because vacation is meant to be used for relaxation and recovery and you can't recover if you're sick obviously.
There is no concept of "sick leave" in Japan too, but in a different way. If you're sick those days will be deducted from your annual leave which is also laughable in European standards. You get 10 vacation days once you complete an year at work. Until then, you go no-pay.
so what happens if your employer have a small business (with 2-3 employees), if you are sick a lot he or she is going to bleed a lot of money. Does the employer have to pay full wages for 6 weeks? that sounds crazy.
@s4bc I see where you are coming from, but this is not a problem of the employees aka you. Your personal health is more important and a business owner, no matter if large a small, needs to take precaution measures. Of course if an employee is sick for a very long time and or has a chronical illness that is a total liability for the whole business, they could be fired. But several companies also can compensate that and try to give people a chance. Of course if you only have 3 employees and you rely an the workforce of all of them and you’re not able to support one of them being sick for extended periods, you have almost no other chance. But otherwise it should be part of your business strategy. Making people work although they are sicks and even a danger for others, this is the madness! Of course you could argue, that someone with just a cold could work. But even a cold can be a risk for others and for yourself due to longtime effects e.g. on your heart when you work and not rest and so on. You live for you and your family and so on, not for your job or your CEO. It is also the responsibility of the employee by law. As an employee you have the duty to maintain health. And working while being sick is not maintaining health. This law in particular is in place to ensure the existing workforce for the employer! In general of course all this just doesn’t mean you stay home and don’t work, just because you have a very minor issue. In the end it’s about giving and taking. Employers trust their employees not to take sickbays just for one or two days of extra and employees try to do their best and so on. But a system that penalises people for getting sick is a system of misstrust and basically just unhealthy. Btw an employer can check up on how an employee is handling his sickness, but this is rarely done. Tesla did this in some cases and it was directly in the press, because of course a US company and especially Musk tried to bust every union, wants to control everything and people are supposed just to work no matter what…really great to work for such a company…;) oh and btw: for companies with less than 30 employees, insurance company’s pay the salary partially up to 80% (80 is default but in some cases can be lowered down to 40%) So as a company you have special insurances just to compensate for that an to support smaller businesses.
Hi Vanessa! I heard that you don't know much about what it's like for parents who have children and what applies in Sweden. You have a total of up to 480 days of parental leave from the day the child is born, when the mother and child come home from the hospital. Then the father has 10 days of paid paternity leave to be at home with his wife/partner and their newborn child. Then of the 480 days of maternity leave, 90 days of these are for the father to be on paternity leave with the child, otherwise it's up to the parents to agree on who should be on parental leave with the child. Then when it comes to WAB for a sick child, you can take it up until the child turns 12. EXCEPTION is if you have a child who has a mental disability and cannot be at home alone. Pregnancy: It is free to visit the midwife every month, to follow up on how the pregnancy is going. Then giving birth is also free and it costs nothing. After you get home, it is natural to visit the children's clinic to see how the child develops as he/she grows and these visits are also free. When the mother/father's leave is over, the child should be placed either in a daycare or a daycare center, it is up to the parents to choose which. The cost for this is a certain percentage of the parents' salary but there is a maximum limit for what this can cost. It is free for children up to 18 years to go to the dentist. School is free and the children get real food at school and also those who go to kindergarten.
@@dementati7326 If you pay the maximum amount, it depends on your income being that high BUT it's not much anyway. I heard from a German who moved from London to Sweden with her husband and she said that kindergarten in London cost 12000 kronor / 1200 dollars (if the dollar is 10 kronor).
"Sweden is a socialist country" 😂😂😂 It's a country that takes care of its citizens so you won't have to live in fear of the medical bills ruining you financially, or ending up on the street if you lose your ability to work for health reasons. It helps people to reach their full potential, as they have a sense of security in their lives.
@@s4bc In America you seem to think that. Fact is that Sweden is not socialistic. It's a mixed economy, heavily capitalistic but with a generous welfare and social security. That's not specifically socialism. In America everything that isn´t far right seems to be socialism. There's nothing bad to actually get rewarded for working, compared to America where 30% of American households are living paycheck to paycheck according to Bank of America's internal data - despite they are working really hard. It's way easier to go bankrupt in the USA. It's a system without responsibility to their inhabitants. Like, what do they even get out of their taxes there? You seem to pay taxes for nothing. In my opinion America seems so far behind in the western world, not doing what the rest already has taken for granted as important.
@@s4bcNo, socialism is an economic system. We do have socialistic ideas, like our social security system, but our market is free, even more "free" than the US.. So no, we're really not socialists, we're capitalists, with a high focus on social security and benefits.
Great and rather true video. If the company you are working for is Scania then you are probably working for one of the best companies in Sweden for this subject. They have been very very good for a long time and are really producing really good results because of it.Congrats and hope your happy here :) The socialist part is a bit uneducated. Sweden is NOT socialist. It is a free market economy with everybody (including large companies) expected to contribute to the social well being of our society. HUUUGH different.
I don't know how I stumbled upon this video but sometimes I look at videos how other people reacts to for instance to swedish candy or visiting Swedan as tourist. It was interesting to see what a foreign worker thinks of Sweden and how it is working here. Perhaps a little bit to often, as a swedish sitizen you tend to take all those thing for granted, nice to have another perspective and get the feeling that we actually have it pretty good here, take care 🙂
Living and working in Sweden myself I agree to most of your points. Though I was very surprised that you didn't look it up before you said "Sweden is a socialist country!". That was a really weird statement especially coming from not an American, but someone who lives in Sweden! Google is your friend.
I wish Vanessa was correct in her statement that most employers are remote first in Sweden, but it's not correct. I have insight into a lot of Swedish tech work places, both in Stockholm and smaller cities, and while hybrid for sure remains, the majority of work places (especially outside of Stockholm) have switched to one or two days a week WFH. Some offer three days, but it's becoming rarer. It's correct that Spotify and Klarna offers close to or full remote work, but most government employers do not, as well as many in the private sector. 2-3 days WFH is the norm, but leaning more towards two days. In practice, most developers simply don't care and the employer's don't enforce their less remote friendly policies afraid of losing their staff. This applies to developers especially, in other fields outside of tech I've seen a shift to even less remote friendly work.
Her own employer forced a lot of developers probably in a different department from her to be at the office 5 days a week earlier this year. Maybe the pull to return to the office is not as strong as in other countries, but it is definetely there like you say
@@matzofAt same time they also reduced office size during cor. So when they forcing back people it's no space to work from and some that get used or even hired with the promise to do 100% remote.
@@mickearrow8035 can confirm, especially there might be desks, but not enough meeting rooms, so people were just having meetings projecting on TVs in the open space.
I think it more or less implied that she refers to tech industry. Traditional Swedish companies may vary a lot depending on culture of the individual company as well as your position.
Your take on PTO makes me wonder if you directly experienced it in the US. I know from experience with Netflix and Dropbox that PTO is not questioned as long as your tasks are being met. It is not uncommon for people to take a cumulative 2+ months off at various times in the year. That is on top of being paid much higher than Swedish salaries.
Good question, which I also would like to know. She claims all this high education yet she looks so young... Three different university degrees in three totally different fields, not compatible in any parts, so it would take what... 5 years each, that 15 years of University... she must have very rich parents. Not very easy without rich parents even in Sweden because CSN ends after 6 years of full time study, so parents or a full time job must finance 9 years. Not easy, that's for sure.
@@AdaptingCamera BA takes 3-4 years, a Master's ~2 years, so approx 6 years if full time at university. Economics and psychology have an interdisciplinary approach called "behavioral ecomics" as there is a lot of overlap. Getting into a full stack position doesn't require going back to university. I know some people that went from Bio or Chem to DBA/DE roles, not as big jump as FS but they got their roles while working and not doing university study for the subject.
I’m curious how many companies here you’ve worked for? I feel as though your first few points are very specific to a certain company culture that you’re working at. I’ve worked for large corporations and smaller companies also in engineering field and have had quite mixed experiences regarding employer appreciation and support personal development. And true there is little incentive in Sweden to go above and beyond for a job due to the lack of pay increases and general “lagom” culture.
2:30 I wish many more young people would share your viewpoint that understanding how the hardware works makes you a better developer! I think that even if you only code in C# or Java which implement automatic garbage collection ("managed language") you should still understand what happens under the hood and which operations are fast and which are slow because of the underlying runtime system and hardware. Way too many fresh software developers have zero understanding how computers actually work on hardware level.
Sounds great.... I'm in the US, and its not always doom and gloom. I check in regularly on the teams workload and unless its chronic don't ask my team to use sick days and they are fully paid either way. My team is currently remote and we only come in once a quarter or if we need to for project reasons. The team can come and go as they please and the expectation is just that they meet their commitments to their customers. All depends on where you work and who your manager is in the US I guess.
Hey, hope you're enjoying Sweden. Regarding vacation days & "sick days", if you become sick during your vacation you can also use sick days so that your don't lose your vacation time. Example: you have 2 weeks of vacation but you go down with the flu for a week. Instead of that vacation time being spent, you can take regular "sick days" (80% pay) for the week you were sick instead if you prefer. This has happened to me (severely food poisoned while abroad, out for 5 days) and i did decided to call in sick and use those vacation days at another date. On a bit of a side note: Sweden has traditionally always been a very trusting society with low crime for many years and it has worked well, but recently with globalization & the influx of different cultures this has started to shift and people are starting to abuse the welfare system. I would not be surprised if things became more strict in the future in terms of healthcare, time off, sick days etc.
@@khuiification I mean the fact you only get 80% pay for sick days. Everywhere else I've worked in Europe (UK, Italy, and Norway) you get paid 100%. (Norway lets you recover vacation days too.)
@@-_James_- Actually, you don't even get 80% in Sweden, because it depends on your salary. It is pretty easy to reach maximum sick leave benefit, so you can lose a lot if you have good salary. The maximum sick benefit today is about 23k SEK / month and the average salary is about 35-40k SEK so a person who gets 80% when on sick leave has a pretty low salary. Of course, you can have different agreement between you and the company, or between the Union and the company, but generally speaking, if you are sick you do lose a lot of money, but you get back your holiday days when on sick leave. BTW, sick leave compensation was higher even here a long time ago, but it was abused by people who claimed to be sick and then worked somewhere else, or were on holidays in a foreign country and through that they could keep their ordinary yearly holiday days to be used at another time.
Nice job summarizing many of the really super positives with working life in Sweden. Perhaps you can do another video where you talk about the challenges that also exist.
@@abrrrakadabrrra It isn't, it is more capitalistic than the U.S., you can look it up. It has a bottom safety net with socialized healthcare, but it is a capitalistic market with less regulation than the U.S.
One thing I noticed while working with Americans (US), is that they identify them self by their work and or work title. Seldom an American identifies them self by who they are. And they also quickly askes, it might even be the only question they ask; "What do you do for a living".
The Swedish job market has a long tradition of *trade unions* which goes all the way back to the 18th century. These unions are powerful, and they regulate many essential parts of the Swedish work market. Around 70 percent of the Swedish population are members of a trade union. *Kollektivavtal* applies to all employees, even if you are not a union member. These agreements are settled between the employer and the employees. They cover essential aspects like pensions, insurance, fair wages and annual leave days - more than what is covered by the Swedish labour law. *Labour law* benefits when having a permanent employment in Sweden: ✓ At least 25 days of paid vacation. ✓ Paid sick leave after the first day (karensavdrag). ✓ Normally economic compensation when working nights or weekends (obekväm arbetstid). ✓ 480 days of paid parental leave. ✓ Strongly regulated *discrimination law.* For example; an employer cannot discriminate against a job candidate because she is pregrant. The employer is not even allowed to ask about “pregency plans”. Even that is considered discriminating. ✓ After six months as permanently employed, you can apply to have time off to study. The studies normally have to be related, or bring some kind of value, to your current job position.
The biggest mistake I made as an American who lived and worked in Sweden was not joining a union. I would have gotten unemployment compensation when I got laid off. Instead, I only had to settle for the 4 months of severance pay my employer gave me.
How did you learn full stack development? You mentioned in another video that you're self taught. Would be interesting to know since knowing how to get started is usually the biggest hurdle among my friends //Fellow stockholm developer :)
Hi Vanessa, Thanks for the video! I'm a software engineer with 27+ years of experience, and I have a couple of questions. 1. If someone's interested in finding software engineering jobs in Sweden, where would you recommend they look? I'm also curious about your own experience with the application and interview process - how did the back-and-forth go? What were the interviews like? 2. Around 3:59, you mentioned your manager sits in on retrospectives. That's quite different from my experience in the U.S. where we typically exclude "pigs" (managers/stakeholders) from retros to encourage more open feedback from the "chickens" (devs). I'm curious to hear more about your experience with this - does having a manager present impact how freely people speak up?
All I know is that my job is often looking for software engineer, quite a few who only speak english here, google "Svenskaspel career" :- ) maybe see you soon
11 днів тому+1
With exeprience from maybe 10 different companies, the entire Scrum process is done a bit differently in every place, so it's not like it's related to "Sweden" per se,.but rather the company.
@sandos Thanks for your comment. I know Scrum can be different at different companies. I wasn't saying all Scrums are the same, or that "Sweden" does anything special. I was just curious about Vanessa's take on managers being in retros (point #2), since they're supposed to be a safe space. She thinks it builds trust (03:59), but it seems like a conflict of interest if the retro is about the manager. Is my question valid? I'm really curious to hear your take, especially since you've worked with Scrum in different places. What about you-would you be okay with managers in retros? I think it can sometimes make it harder to have open conversations. Cheers,
10 днів тому+1
@@TonyTheAntonio Honestly, most managers I have worked with I would have had no issue with them being present in retros. But I might have been lucky with 1) good managers 2) working in places where there "are no problems" in a way.
It’s hard as a senior software engineer in Sweden to make over 65k USD per year which honestly doesn’t get you very far given the cost of living and the high taxes. Also the housing market in Stockholm is very difficult. The main advantages are probably the long vacation (six weeks) and parental leave.
You can get above 1,000,000SEK per year (~ 90,000 USD) but it takes time, and only a few companies pay at that level. For the most part, you're right. Which yeah, compared to US salaries, where people get more than that right out of university in many states, is very little money. With these salaries, you can only afford to live in a small apartment in Stockholm, or a medium-level house far in the suburbs (like I do). But you can easily afford your "normal" living costs (nothing too fancy but also no need to buy budget stuff) an overseas trip or two per year etc. which to some people, is more than enough to feel like you're living a good life. If you want money, definitely try to go to the US, you will get 2 or 3 times more and you can come back later with a bag full of money, which gives you so much freedom to decide what you wanna do.
Well working in USA is becoming like a lottery as Us companies generally prefer hiring Indians on h1-b visas or offshoring to India. Only exceptional talent from other countries are considered otherwise. Doctors in USA also earn stupendously Good salaries compared to other nations. But then not everyone in the world can be a doctor in USA.
Can't have it both ways really. When she said, successful companies in Sweden, nope, they will not be as successful if they manufacture all it in Sweden. Take for example, Spotify, how many employees in Sweden vs US, not even half in Sweden.
Great video and interesting, thank you for liking our country! Maybe it's different in the IT industry, but the idea is to work 40 hours a week. The working hours are a little different depending on the industry and the tasks you have. Now you've started working like three days at the workplace and two days at home. However, I am thinking about testing the other way. But after hearing many stories from people who have gone to US and then come back, I am a little worried about trying to go over there. Just as you mention, it seems that you get very little or non compensation for sick days, vacation or parental leave. It seems like the Employer doesn't understand, care, or help an employee if they are sick, have problem or have to be away for a day or so. Of course, even if we pay a lot of taxes here in Sweden, we have a large safety net and good benefits, which unfortunately seems to be missing in the US.
Sounds too perfect but I really hope the experience is a lasting one. :) Not everyone has the same experience and not every company, employer, boss or colleague acts the same. Wish you well on your way. 💜
As a senior employee (more than 15 years of work experience) here in Finland, I get 38 paid vacation days per year. I personally feel that's excessive but I guess that's better in long run.
On the first day of sickness you are not paid? And the additional days you are paid 80% of your salary? This is very strange because in many other countries in Europe you are paid 100% on your first day and any additional days of sickness. After 3 days of sickness you are required to provide a medical certificate. But this is usually easy to provide if you are genuinely sick. However, the most important thing to remember is you are paid 100% of your salary.
She's correct. Sweden used to have 100% pay from first day like many other European countries, but the "first day zero - rest 80%"-thing ("karensavdrag") was introduced in 1993 as a temporary measure to tackle the financial crisis we had back then. In my opinion it should have been removed years ago, but somehow it's still around.
During Covid they removed the "karensday" (i.e not getting paid first sick day) but its reintroduced yeah. Thing is in sweden, a lot of people are "sick" when they arent really sick, maybe just have a slight headache or cold and they feel like staying home they do. So due to the more relaxed culture and around missing work, not being paid the first day balances it out.
My experiences are pretty much exactly equal, except for that I do find it difficult sometimes to get my opinion taken seriously, especially with some people who have been in the same company and team for 20+ years. I came to my job with experience from doing the same type of job in another company and country, where the level of knowledge and procedures in some cases is a lot more better, and could and still can sense some frustration with this "not invented here" syndrome. Ofcourse this counts for this team in this company, so i won't make any conclusions about Sweden in general. I like Sweden as a country a lot and can not see myself going back.
How did you get into software engineering coming from psychology? Also, how are UX design jobs looking like in Stockholm? Do they do some front end coding? Great video btw
If you want your vacation as money, that is ok, but actually frowned upon since management want people to go on vacation and come back refreshed. You can normally only save 5 days out of the 25, but that is decided by the company and you can save vacation for 5 years for a maximum of 25 days.
First swedish men rid themself from hard labor, then women did the same with unpaid housework. In the spring of 1972, a group of swedish politicians gathers to create a new vision for Sweden's future. It is decided to try to create a society of independent individuals with the help of a number of new institutions. Fifty years later, here we are!
In terms of sick, different companies has different rules, sick days are more or less always paid for by Försäkringskassan, so it is important to not only notify your employer, but also försäkringskassan. The first 20% of a normal workweek is not paid (in practice the first day).
You can find a job without learning Swedish, but there are a lot of drawbacks. There will be companies that won't hire you, or won't consider you for every role and position but only a selection. A lot of information will be translated either by someone who is less fluent in English or by someone who doesn't know what the information is about, you will have issues working with government both for private things and work-related stuff, etc. If you don't want to learn Swedish you need to understand that you will essentially be worse off in every area of your life compared to an immigrant who learns the language. Consider the fact that you can function in society while only speaking English as something that gives you more time to learn Swedish, but you won't replace Swedish with English and fully integrate yourself.
Is there seriously any country that thinks its beneficial, when you cant speak their native language. It is what it is
6 днів тому
Of the 15 or so jobs and positions Ive had as an SWE in sweden, not speaking Swedish has been a possible problem in maybe 50% of the cases (government jobs, and _especially_ mil jobs ofc, since you also need to be a swedish citizen) Otoh we do have international companies and there Swedish is often barely used. ABB/Hitachi is what I have expereince from and at some points in time, you could barely hear Swedish being spoken in the offices.
Yet, even if work is not 100% you identity, when meeting other people the first question often is "what do you work with". I describe the way of working and cooperating in Sweden pragmatical and constructive, with a sentiment that we all are grown up people, with each our own capabilities, and no focus on the weaknesses. I am not Swedish, live and work here. While I love the work culture a lot, I feel not really absorbed in the culture beyond it.
By far the hardest thing to adapt to was the weather. It does not snow where I come from so seeing heavy snowfall for the first time was amazing, but living in the darkness and overall bad weather from October to April is still very hard to adjust to.
@VanessaWingårdhHow does daily life continue in winter? Are people still expected to go to work on time even though the conditions outside might make it very difficult? What's the impact on social life and on night life like bars, clubs and restaurants?
VAB: V-Vård (care), A-Av (of), B-Barn (child). In Sweden you are also allowed to take care of relative. If you have a spurs or a parent that are sick and you need to been with them at doctors visit, hospital care or help at home short term you can do it. Long term help at home has to follow rules and regulations from the government.
As a Swede my experiance are the reverse 😅 If you have an opinion outside of the groupthink its dangerous to state an oposite wieve point. Especially if its politically incorrect... so for me that "unity" can be very sufficating... also, we are tipically very specialisted and my experiance are the opposite when it comes having studied anything and then not working within that feild. So very interesting hearing your perspective 😅 Nice video!
Hej Vanessa! Thank you for making this video. I'm a soft dev living in Sweden with experience from abroad (America) and also different back ground (Initial BSC in Nursing/Art and now finishing my BSC in CS). I'm also multicultural, born in South America, lived in the US, and now in Sweden. I'm having such a hard time finding a job that's outside of the big cities or is happy with remote work. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
The only thing that sucks is that we make less money and everything is still super expensive compared to what we have left after taxes. In Sweden $110k is top 1%.
Salaries suck in Sweden and people should stop saying that we get a lot from our taxes. Healthcare and education are FAR from top notch!!! Forget housing. It is amazing that single household make ends meet.
That's not wrong but as a software dev living in Austria I have a comfortable life and I can afford all the things I want. Worker protections are good, Salary is good and the QoL here is amazing in my opinion.
If you are considering to exchange every item she mentions in this video for a higher wage , every single item, then your place is the US. I don’t think you’d adapt here. I’ve seen colleagues coming and would eventually end up complaining about those benefits and blaming these and everyone around about slowness or even laziness. Those with this mindset don’t stay more than a year. I have an average salary in my department. My brother , American and living in Miami with a salary almost 50% higher than mine after taxes can only afford to rent a room in his friend’s house.
@@aab-aab all those things she mentions encourage freeloading and discourage ambition. Also most salaries in erster I Europe don’t allow you to buy a house/>1 bedroom apartment. To defend this system is either misinformation or being a freeloader who doesn’t like working hard..
@@aab-aab you have an extremely obvious bias. I’m just stating the obvious - worker protections are good but you can’t enforce them selectively. Thus a lot of freeloaders take advantage of them and abuse them. People you work with. It is discouraging at best. Also knowing you will never get much more than them due to “wage equality”, even though you have the drive. Progressive taxes on top of that if you do get a promotion. No way up. Rich stay rich, poor and middle class stay poor and middle class.
Haha, Sweden isn't a socialist country. I know those terms are used more liberally in the US, but having a social welfare system only makes you a government for the people and not a socialist state.
As a Swede I want to do a important statement; The Nordic countries are NOT socialists in the way Americans think about socialism!!!!!! NOT a east European socialism! I would like you to clarify that to the people watching, because it's a very big difference! That's why we in the Nordic countries are the best and happiest in the world and we should be proud of this!🖖✊🖖✊ Slava Ukraine, democracy, freedom and equality from me 🖖🇸🇪✊🇺🇦
Really good to hear your experience, I'm a Software Engineer Brazilian guy who planning migrate to another country on future, but firstly I want to do some master's or PhD college course. How do you see the expectation of Sweden companies for these high degree levels? BTW u could show us your kitties, I'd love to see them 😊❤
Having a PhD in Sweden is a waste, I'm doing mine in Machine Learning now and I will definitely leave after I'm done. 4-5 years of a PhD in Sweden is seen as "experience" of 4-5 years. I've heard that from other PhDs and companies. I had a couple of PhD friends that started working in Sweden after thair phd with a staring salary of 4-6k usd /month. So the answer is no, there's no value of having a PhD in Swedish industry
There is young people in Sweden that has got everything free from the government. Health care, education, freedom, political stability, high social standard. And cannot understand that that is what their parents has played with tax money. Therefore they hate the system that has given them a first class start. Hope they sometime will understand.
Instämmer 100% , but they will hopefully learn about it. Just look at Trump, Putin, their Enablers and Oligarchs like Elon Musk. We in the Nordic countries should be proud of ourselves and teach other countries about it. Slava Ukraine, democracy, freedom and equality 🖖🇸🇪✊🇺🇦
Hej Hej Venessa-love Sweden ! How would say lifestyle differs in America and Sverige tech hubs where engineering jobs cluster (göteborg, Stockholm as far as I know) how would scheduling, social culture and taxes play a role in this?
Medicin has a high-cost coverage from 2850 SEK after that then ALL medicin is free undera 12 month period . If you need to go to the doctor or nurse often , you also have high-cost coverage of 1400 SEK after that ALL visits to the doctor or a nurse is free for 12 month period . So what that means is that you don't have to more then 2850 SEK for your medicin or visit a doctor up to 1400 SEK per year . If you have diabetes in the US and need insulin every day the cost is up to 285 USD for 10 ml ampoule in Sweden it is FREE . So you know 2850 SEK is 259 USD that is your MAX cost per year for your medicin in Sweden . To visit a doctor is the MAX cost 1400 SEK or 127 USD per year . If you go to government funded dentist ( you can go to a private one but if they cost more then the government funded one you have to pay the cost above the official price table) . The MAX cost per year for a dentist is 3000 SEK or 273 USD but it is FREE until you are 23 yr. old . That's just a small part of what we get for our tax .
Good video! Glad you like it here. One point though: Having a public health care system, ie a public insurance system is not ”socialist”. It is the norm in the EU regardless of the color of the government. It is basically a sound public policy, not a issue of politics per se.
You can get ok salary in Sweden as a freelancer, or employed at a consultant company with percentage shared of the hourly rate. Salary for systemtester or developer, 75 - 100k SEK per month.
Interesting to see the Swedish work culture from an outside perspective! I just have to point out that Sweden is NOT a socialist country. In socialist countries, the state owns "the means of production", which is clearly not the case here. In the mid 20th century there were strong political powers that wanted to take Sweden in that direction, but the steps they took had such poor outcomes that the course was reversed.
@@stenadpackadfullochhog622 In socialist states? No, the collective ownership is a central part. If everybody owns their own farm and that's it, it would be something different.
@@beardmonster8051 Workers own the means of production. That's what socialism is. And that is collective ownership. That COULD be through a government, but doesn't have to be.
@@latjolajban81 I don't think many people would count a society with a sole worker owning everything and working with handing out instructions to all the AGI machines that do everything else as a "socialist country", but that would indeed be included in the "workers own the means of production" definition. So no, I have to disagree on that one. But we all seem to be in agreement that Sweden is in fact not a socialist country either way, which is what I came here to say.
@@beardmonster8051You are talking about being selfemployed. If you are talking about a society where no one has to work because everything is done by machines, then everyone could still own the AGI machines collectively. It doesn't have to be a government. EDIT: True we agree on Sweden not being a socialist country.
Personally i'm amazed at how often these people have sick kids, for years on end.... I don't remember my generation being this sick as kids. Basically everyone but me have kids in my team and it's so rare that we are the entire team present at the same time. Meanwhile I'm always there, I think a lot of people are exploiting it.
In companies that allow you to roll over unused vacation, you are required to take 4 weeks per year. If you are on a work permit/visa, you can lose this if you don’t use 4 weeks vacation. Managers ask about if your workload is manageable, as the will get in trouble if you end up having burnout.
I would think moving here is perfect if you have built up some wealth already. My plan is to go work in USA for 2-3 years when I become senior and my children move out so that I can secure a comfortable pension.
Thanks Vanessa, good information, You added where and at what time the topics in video are in description section. However, since the time part is not at beginning of the sentence, subject parts do not appear in video progress bar. It might be better that way. just a suggestion :)
As a former Klarna software engineer in stockholm, I unfortunately had a Terrible working experience. Terrible managers, horrible hierarchy system and micro-management, 7 days a moth 24/7 on-call rotations, and super low salary compared to everything I was doing (around 55k SEK a month Gross) I ended up quiting after my managers laid off 50% of my colleagues from one day to the other and tried forcing us to do 200x more work without new hires.
Yes, this was a strong 'hallelujah' speech, but looking at it from the most negative IT perspective, it's probably that knowledge isn't valued. Everyone is heard, and it's incredibly sensitive to say that someone is wrong.
1. If you come from a culture where people are warm with each other, interact socially at a deep/significant level, and actually help each other out when needed (and maybe even think about each other's well being in advance), you'll miss that very much. Here in Sweden what matters is doing everything by yourself, not asking other people too much questions or for help, and know your legal rights to the letter. If you can't defend yourself based on the law, you'll get trampled over very easily and often. 2. Because there's a lot of (too much?) job safety, there is a legion of freeloaders whose main job is just "be in meetings and nod; then make one or two meaningless comments to pretend you're involved". If you're engaged in actually trying to do meaningful work, you'll have to carry these people on your back, and there's not much you can do. As long as they are half-assing it correctly and doing a minimally good job at pretending to work, they'll never be fired. Management has no choice but to pick those who are actually working--usually, you---and throw double or triple as much work on your back so that the organization can go on functioning. It's *extremely* frustrating. 3. There's virtually no meritocracy; the variance in salaries is low, which is great if you're mediocre, but horrible if you're actually trying to excel. Due to that, and also again because of job safety and comfort, most people gravitate towards administrative jobs instead of creative/demanding ones. So everything you want to do has to be shared/discussed/assessed in a 2-hour meeting with 5 different admin people whose job is just to be in that meeting, but if you're an engineer or developer, for example, you have to be in the meeting AND THEN start working afterwards (while the others will wrap up their work at 3pm and go to the gym or whatever). 4. People do not speak their true mind in front of you. You might have a colleague who appears to you as the nicest person in the world, but in your back they might be backstabbing you if it means they can get less work and/or climb up in the administrative ladder (since the only way to grow is via administration/bureaucracy). It's not hard for them to do this because they're used to not connecting deeply with the people around them.
@@rmmartins133 Long story short, there is no "free" lunch. Swedes are paying for their special rights and benefits in many ways. Thanks for showing the other side of the story.
@rmmartins133 thank you so much for nicely explaining and answering my question. As you mentioned, income variation is very less, and there's nothing much you can save due to high cost of living (got to know from other comments), so do you know about any other European country which has a good work life balance and at the same time, a good salary in IT field?
@@rmmartins133bro, just man up and say no. If you are a dev say no to meetings because you have work to do. If it's how you say, the freeloader will be happy because they have even less work to do.
@@rajrish Bulgaria. Net salary rivals Germany, but CoL is much lower (IT field specifically). Also insurances, rent and other likely expenses are almost two if not three times lower.
Well Executed and good topics you covered, I've done a little of the opposite journey and stared at 2000 as software consultant in Stockholm til 2012 when I moved to Oslo within the same field, and for the last 2 years have I lived and worked from Manhattan, but my work have been over 90% remote since Covid, both in Norway and now in US. I am a friend of one of the Spotify Founders and they have their NYC office just 200 meters from my apartment and although they are based here in US they stand behind all the point in this Video, I can imagine that the same goes for the Klarna office here but I have never visit them.
Klarna had a very bad reputation for how they treated tech employees during the pandemic and up until 2023. I heard stories of entire teams resigning. Them and Epidemic Sound, both but it seems like Epidemic rebounded.
It is something who I've heard from a friend of mine where he currently live there, the only problem who he has faced was related with rent. As a Brazilian currently living in Portugal, I have fear to move there in reason of the weather itself and the culture integration, once it is really different.
@@trap7369 I went to UK on a work travel, it was really cold and drizzly. Although I've seen some people running on that weather I admire a lot but seriously is not for me
@@trap7369 Sweden is much warmer than people imagine. It is a very long country, and only the northern tip (where no one lives) is in the arctic. Down south, we hardly get any snow in winter, at most a thin layer around Jan-Feb. And when it gets into the negative temperatures, the air gets dry so you don't feel it as much. But for many people coming here, it is the DARKNESS that gets to you.
One addition that i didnt know of when i worked in a company (now i'm doing a startup) is that if one get sick on the vacation one should report it and one get sick pay and get the vacation back.
Also, worth mentioning, is that many of the benefits we now have, vacation days for example, is because of the traditionally strong worker unions. Without the worker movement, Sweden would not be what it is today.
The things you mention in the first part are all a part of the Work Environment Law and within the provisions. The employer must do these things as a bare minimum to follow the law.
When you have a good project team in Sweden you probably have the most efficient development team in the world. Everyone goes outside their box to help their colleague and no one is afraid to speak their mind if they think the project is running off the rails. A CEO in Sweden speaks with all levels in the hierarchy and they will hear the unfiltered version from the old-timers and skilled people on the floor. If you have a bad project team and a weak management in Sweden you will have "fika" (coffey and cinnamon buns), chit-chat, no one taking responsibility and zero productivity.
Whn u said sweden social i got confused after 17 yrs n someone who even takes first step to say hi bt then u said most pple u work with are from other countries i understood
@@JohnVKaravitis Numbers isn’t everything considering that a huge portion of the US workforce aren’t paid living wages the prosperity only reaches a few
America is unfortunately considered a 3 world country these days, and now it´s going down completely this year, so you need to resist your brainwash and educate yourself a little on life.
Sadly, not all work places are like this. Some things are the same everywhere, like basic rights. But not all bosses are good and not even in public workplaces there are a flat organization although it should be like that. 🇸🇪
11 днів тому+1
Sweden is considered very cheap in terms of engineer salaries, among the cheapest in Europe sadly. Although most of that might be due to how low the SEK is valued.
Nice video, but it sounds like you’re describing an international company with an office in Stockholm and an international hiring policy. Chances are, the office isn’t even managed by a Swede. To give a more balanced view, I’ve noticed some negatives compared to other countries: laziness, lack of initiative or attention to detail, a big sense of entitlement, endless meetings with no clear agenda or outcomes, lots of gossip, passive-aggressiveness, avoiding conflict, cultural insensitivity (based on their own values), low friendliness or approachability, high taxes, and low salaries-without top-notch public services to justify those taxes. On top of that, loneliness and individualism seem pretty widespread. Also, cities like Stockholm are overflowing with engineers and programmers from outside Europe who end up doing odd jobs or unpaid work for startups, becoming “cofounders” because Swedish companies refuse to hire them or only offer unpaid internships for a few months that go on and on for years. The majority of them spend their time in coworking spaces, delivering packages, cleaning or driving for Uber instead of working in their field. So sad.
As a Sweed for me it sounded like the very typical Swedish company or sny otjer Swedish employee! (Says me, a Swedish lawyer with emphasis on data law).
your analysis is perfect. america has a herd mentality with endless deadlines. smaller countries treat their employees better. they cannot compete in quantity but they can compete with quality
As a Brit in her 30's who was a staff engineer at one of the "Big 5" tech companies on the West Coast, I took a more than 60% compensation cut ($350k -> $100k) to join a company here in Sweden because I wanted to experience the work-life balance and culture. Almost a year on, I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever. Since arriving here, my WLB has been completely transformed - no more expectations of availability after 5pm without pay, no more hunger games inspired performance review process hanging over my head and conversations around protecting diversity and mental health are standard and not in the slightest bit contentious.
I'm healthier, happier and have more freedom to enjoy life without strings attached than I ever experienced in either the UK or US. On paper I'm less wealthy now, sure, but the standards maintained in the basic provisions for the Swedish population such as housing (you can rent even the cheapest apartment here and it will have a good standard of maintenance and allow you to keep pets, for example), health (by far the most hassle-free access to care I've ever experienced) and standards that apply being an EU state to things like food and environment give me for free what I had to buy elsewhere (if I even could).
Yeah, working at Amazon wasn't "fun". 😉 Things changed and they are better now from what I heard.
Why sweden? Even if you wanna work life balance and want to live in Europe there are better countries with better salaries and maybe even better conditions or at least the same.. like Denmark, Norway, Switzerland🇨🇭.. or countries with lower wages but better weather and you don’t have to worry much about working hard maybe.. 😅😂 like Spain, Portugal ..
@@walid7415 Denmark???? Denmark with a very very hierarchy style in most of their companys.
@@walid7415 I think the Swedish hierachy style is the most flat in Europe getting "worse" the further south you get and many appreciate that
Wrong thinking. The money you gave up would have allowed you to retire much much earlier. For all of its positives, even in Sweden, you have to get up in the morining, out your pants on one leg at a time, and go to work. So sad.
I’m an American scientist who moved to Sweden 8 years ago for work. It was the best decision I ever made! I don’t know if I could go back to working in the US.
gl
I'm just happy we seem to have gained such a level headed and toughtful engineer into our country. I don't know for how long you've been here, but welcome!! 🇺🇸🇸🇪
I'm Danish, living in Sweden near Malmö and drive back and forth each day. Taxes are paid in Denmark, since I work there, and then I don't have to pay in Sweden. Apparently Denmark sends money to Sweden each year due to the many Danes living in southern Sweden. This is to balance out the benefits you get when paying taxes in another country, as you get access to schools, healthcare etc.
I like the nordic countries and what is provided to us. I know people always talk about taxes, but the freedom you get from not having to worry about your current life situation (good or bad) really pays off. As you say you don't have to worry about vacation, health, leave or any other situation that might take a hit on your work.
Yeah Malmö is a very poor area when it comes to taxes comming in do to the high amount of illegal immigrants that doesnt work or pay taxes and then leach of the system
@@zpokie123 In 2024 Malmö is way over income taxes average in Sweden per capita. About the Danes moving to and living in Malmö,
we don't get compensated enough (as always when dealing with Danes) and would be better if they moved back to Denmark.
Denmark compensates Sweden as per an EU law that exists to balance out the loss in taxes and other expenses a country gets when people are living in one country and work in another.
You pay taxes thru the Øresundsaftale..
What was supposed to happen is that your app. 10% "kommuneskat" should go to your home "commune" i.e. Malmö.
What happened was that SKAT accumulated all tax from workers living in SE taxing in DK and did one transfer to Swedish "Skatteverket" every year.
Apparantly like almost every Swedish company they have "saete" (mainoffice) in Stockholm which meant that the taxes ended up feeding the Swedish state and not the "communes" in Southern Sweden where they were supposed to go.
Former mayor of Malmö Ilmar Reepaly actually accused Danes living in Malmö that they were " parasiting" Swedish taxpayers..
@@zpokie123 They are not illegal immigrants, but they are immigrants with refugee status. Don't confuse the two things. But sadly many of them still living on welfare. But... "immigrants" by definition are not the same as living on welfare. I am an immigrant but always paid a very high tax here because I always worked. So is also ChristianBlueChimp since he says that he is Danish... Malmö has always had a very high number of people living on welfare, even before 2015, and long before mass migration started. Read the real history of Malmö.
Sweden isn't socialist, it's simply civilized (said the Norwegian...)
Capitalist with many social programs i'd say. You can't really have own company in socialist country, everything is owned by a state.
I agree, Sweden is not a Socialist country but a Social Democratic country.
It’s often hard for Americans to know the difference. They are taught to think the same way as Karl-Bertil Jonsson’s father in the animated Christmas story; anyone who ever gives anything to someone for free is a communist. 😉
Haha...what are you talking about? it's the worst socialist country in the world
There are socialist policies (that contributes to Sweden being civilized).
I thing that if there was one thing that really personifies Swedish culture, its the emphasis on personal responsibility and respect.
As long as you do your part, no one will judge you or disrespect your way of life.
Well put sister! 💯
A small correction from a fellow Swede and developer: Healthcare isn't free, it is subsidized. You pay 15-40$ depending on what type of visit it is, but comparing to the US it might as well be free.
NOT FREE, factor in the BRUTAL taxes
Yes. The "freeness" of 60% marginal taxes.
Nothing is free, our discourse is polluted with falsehoods.
@@paddleed6176No one pays 60% marginal tax, a median income Swede pays around 25% tax after deductions
@-xziaz-7839 The tax is not that different from any other European country with healthcare and education paid by taxes. For an example of actual cost of living in practice, try video titled "LIFE AT MINIMUM WAGE: USA vs. Germany | Housing, Utilities, Food & More!"
I changed from a Swedish to a German company and I really miss the flat hierarchy
Sadly its starting to getting more less . There is a distinction before covid and now.
Massive difference between Stockholm startup culture and Berlin (very hierarchical).
Maul halten!
It depends on the company. I'm from Germany and work at a German company and almost everything said in the video about swedish work culture could also be said about the company I work at.
Thank you, Vanessa, for another insightful video! As a female junior back-end engineer in my late 30s, I really appreciate your perspective and advice. I’ve noticed some similarities with working in tech in the UK, though Sweden definitely seems to have more green ticks when it comes to promoting work-life balance and career support. Your content is so motivating-looking forward to more! 😊
Thank you so much for your kind words! It's really interesting to hear about your experience in the UK tech scene. I'm glad you enjoyed the video - it is super fun to be able to connect with other engineers (:
Thank you. We are truly grateful.
Social democracy* not “socialist”, two very very different things, re: Eastern Europe
VERY different! A social democracy is still capitalist. It just has a generous welfare state.
@@WilsonSilva90 Not really. You have state socialism where the means of productions are owned by the state, there is no private company except taylor trade or plumbing as the only private entities. They you have the real socialism where the means of productions are owned mostly by the employees working in those businesses. This is where the majority of countries in EU are. Just so you know Sweden has twice as more billionaires per million population than US has.
@@car9167
You are talking nonsense. You are clueless about the EU and about socialism in general. Rather than writing nonsense on the Internet, you'd better go back to high-school and learn the fundamentals of reading, critical thinking, geography, economy, politics and many other things.
Traveling abroad will always help you getting smarter, too.
Until you make bigger changes in your life, you could at least open the window and get some fresh air. Maybe your mind will become less foggy. It's obvious you stay indoors too much.
@@car9167 What are you talking about?
Or what planet are you from???
You have NO knowledge of Sweden or Europe!
All nations in Europe are capitalist but some countrys may have social democratic rule but that changes often with democratic elections!
There are NO socialistic countrys in Europe!
Social democracy is a reformist branch of socialism. Contemporary social democracy, like the one in Sweden, is a significantly watered down version of that.
Building wealth involves developing good habits like regularly putting money away in intervals for solid investments. Financial management is a crucial topic that most tend to shy away from, and ends up haunting them in the near future.., I pray that anyone who reads this will be successful in life!!
Starting early is simply the best way of getting ahead to build wealth , investing remains a priority . I learnt from my last year's experience , I am able to build a suitable life beause I invested early ahead this time .
We must consider safer investments with promising returns in order to plan for the future. If you approach investing with a five-year perspective and simply DCA whenever you receive a check. Under the direction of my investment advisor, Jason Lunvo Rodriguez whose expertise in portfolio diversification is unsurpassed and client-focused, my portfolio has gained almost $643k since January 2024.
please I want to invest but I don't know any financial Advisor that can help me, can you leave behind the info of the person you just mentioned?
search his full name
Jason Lunvo Rodriguez.
12:30 Here in Finland, if you're on vacation and you get sick, you get your vacation days back because you're sick and couldn't use those. However, first three days of the holiday are called "omavastuu" which means that you won't get those back because it is considered to be on your own risk but if you are on longer holiday (e.g. 4 weeks during the summer) and you get sick for a week or two, you only lose 3 days worth of your holiday. To receive this benefit, you have to contact your employer immediately when you get sick on your vacation and get doctor's note for the sickness.
Of course if you're sick during vacation in Sweden you use sick days instead of vacation days.
Roughly the same in Norway.
Don't know if we have the "omavastuu" in Sweden but otherwise it's the same. If you're sick during your vacation you don't use up those days as long as you contact them right away and have a doctor's note ready if they ask for it.
Tack för en verklig bra video!
Here in Germany we also don't have a concept of "sick days".When I was in Canada I was really shocked that people were like "I only have 10 sick days" and I was like "and what if you're sick more often".."then you go to work or take vacation days". Who comes up with such an idea? If you're sick, you're sick, you can't work to your full potential and even maybe a endanger others to get sick too and thus you're a liability for the whole company.
In contrast to Sweden here in Germany you're always paid in full and depending on the company you work for, you have to go to the doctors after 2-4 days (most common is on 3rd day I think). If you're sick longer than 6 weeks, your insurance company will pay, but no longer 100% it'll be up to 90% of your netto salary. And the 6 weeks count for a year and add up if you get thick several times for the same reason, but it resets every year.
And when you get sick on vacation you get your vacation days back (if you inform your employer), because vacation is meant to be used for relaxation and recovery and you can't recover if you're sick obviously.
There is no concept of "sick leave" in Japan too, but in a different way. If you're sick those days will be deducted from your annual leave which is also laughable in European standards. You get 10 vacation days once you complete an year at work. Until then, you go no-pay.
so what happens if your employer have a small business (with 2-3 employees), if you are sick a lot he or she is going to bleed a lot of money. Does the employer have to pay full wages for 6 weeks? that sounds crazy.
@s4bc I see where you are coming from, but this is not a problem of the employees aka you. Your personal health is more important and a business owner, no matter if large a small, needs to take precaution measures. Of course if an employee is sick for a very long time and or has a chronical illness that is a total liability for the whole business, they could be fired. But several companies also can compensate that and try to give people a chance. Of course if you only have 3 employees and you rely an the workforce of all of them and you’re not able to support one of them being sick for extended periods, you have almost no other chance. But otherwise it should be part of your business strategy.
Making people work although they are sicks and even a danger for others, this is the madness!
Of course you could argue, that someone with just a cold could work. But even a cold can be a risk for others and for yourself due to longtime effects e.g. on your heart when you work and not rest and so on. You live for you and your family and so on, not for your job or your CEO.
It is also the responsibility of the employee by law. As an employee you have the duty to maintain health. And working while being sick is not maintaining health. This law in particular is in place to ensure the existing workforce for the employer!
In general of course all this just doesn’t mean you stay home and don’t work, just because you have a very minor issue. In the end it’s about giving and taking. Employers trust their employees not to take sickbays just for one or two days of extra and employees try to do their best and so on. But a system that penalises people for getting sick is a system of misstrust and basically just unhealthy. Btw an employer can check up on how an employee is handling his sickness, but this is rarely done. Tesla did this in some cases and it was directly in the press, because of course a US company and especially Musk tried to bust every union, wants to control everything and people are supposed just to work no matter what…really great to work for such a company…;)
oh and btw: for companies with less than 30 employees, insurance company’s pay the salary partially up to 80% (80 is default but in some cases can be lowered down to 40%) So as a company you have special insurances just to compensate for that an to support smaller businesses.
Hi Vanessa!
I heard that you don't know much about what it's like for parents who have children and what applies in Sweden.
You have a total of up to 480 days of parental leave from the day the child is born, when the mother and child come home from the hospital. Then the father has 10 days of paid paternity leave to be at home with his wife/partner and their newborn child. Then of the 480 days of maternity leave, 90 days of these are for the father to be on paternity leave with the child, otherwise it's up to the parents to agree on who should be on parental leave with the child.
Then when it comes to WAB for a sick child, you can take it up until the child turns 12. EXCEPTION is if you have a child who has a mental disability and cannot be at home alone.
Pregnancy: It is free to visit the midwife every month, to follow up on how the pregnancy is going. Then giving birth is also free and it costs nothing.
After you get home, it is natural to visit the children's clinic to see how the child develops as he/she grows and these visits are also free.
When the mother/father's leave is over, the child should be placed either in a daycare or a daycare center, it is up to the parents to choose which. The cost for this is a certain percentage of the parents' salary but there is a maximum limit for what this can cost.
It is free for children up to 18 years to go to the dentist. School is free and the children get real food at school and also those who go to kindergarten.
I live in Sweden and pay the maximum amount for preschool for my daughter and for me it's currently about $100 per month.
@@dementati7326 If you pay the maximum amount, it depends on your income being that high BUT it's not much anyway.
I heard from a German who moved from London to Sweden with her husband and she said that kindergarten in London cost 12000 kronor / 1200 dollars (if the dollar is 10 kronor).
We are happy to have you here!
"Sweden is a socialist country" 😂😂😂 It's a country that takes care of its citizens so you won't have to live in fear of the medical bills ruining you financially, or ending up on the street if you lose your ability to work for health reasons. It helps people to reach their full potential, as they have a sense of security in their lives.
yeah that is socialism, does that trigger you or what?
Everything that isn´t American right wing seems to be socialism in America.
@@s4bc In America you seem to think that. Fact is that Sweden is not socialistic. It's a mixed economy, heavily capitalistic but with a generous welfare and social security. That's not specifically socialism. In America everything that isn´t far right seems to be socialism. There's nothing bad to actually get rewarded for working, compared to America where 30% of American households are living paycheck to paycheck according to Bank of America's internal data - despite they are working really hard. It's way easier to go bankrupt in the USA. It's a system without responsibility to their inhabitants. Like, what do they even get out of their taxes there? You seem to pay taxes for nothing. In my opinion America seems so far behind in the western world, not doing what the rest already has taken for granted as important.
@@Mickemackendon't tell them, when they realise the truth they will come here!
@@s4bcNo, socialism is an economic system. We do have socialistic ideas, like our social security system, but our market is free, even more "free" than the US.. So no, we're really not socialists, we're capitalists, with a high focus on social security and benefits.
Great and rather true video. If the company you are working for is Scania then you are probably working for one of the best companies in Sweden for this subject. They have been very very good for a long time and are really producing really good results because of it.Congrats and hope your happy here :)
The socialist part is a bit uneducated. Sweden is NOT socialist. It is a free market economy with everybody (including large companies) expected to contribute to the social well being of our society. HUUUGH different.
I don't know how I stumbled upon this video but sometimes I look at videos how other people reacts to for instance to swedish candy or visiting Swedan as tourist. It was interesting to see what a foreign worker thinks of Sweden and how it is working here. Perhaps a little bit to often, as a swedish sitizen you tend to take all those thing for granted, nice to have another perspective and get the feeling that we actually have it pretty good here, take care 🙂
Living and working in Sweden myself I agree to most of your points. Though I was very surprised that you didn't look it up before you said "Sweden is a socialist country!". That was a really weird statement especially coming from not an American, but someone who lives in Sweden! Google is your friend.
Really good and detailed breakdown!
Worth a follow :)
I wish Vanessa was correct in her statement that most employers are remote first in Sweden, but it's not correct. I have insight into a lot of Swedish tech work places, both in Stockholm and smaller cities, and while hybrid for sure remains, the majority of work places (especially outside of Stockholm) have switched to one or two days a week WFH. Some offer three days, but it's becoming rarer. It's correct that Spotify and Klarna offers close to or full remote work, but most government employers do not, as well as many in the private sector. 2-3 days WFH is the norm, but leaning more towards two days. In practice, most developers simply don't care and the employer's don't enforce their less remote friendly policies afraid of losing their staff. This applies to developers especially, in other fields outside of tech I've seen a shift to even less remote friendly work.
Her own employer forced a lot of developers probably in a different department from her to be at the office 5 days a week earlier this year.
Maybe the pull to return to the office is not as strong as in other countries, but it is definetely there like you say
So many things she got wrong but hey, she's american.
@@matzofAt same time they also reduced office size during cor. So when they forcing back people it's no space to work from and some that get used or even hired with the promise to do 100% remote.
@@mickearrow8035 can confirm, especially there might be desks, but not enough meeting rooms, so people were just having meetings projecting on TVs in the open space.
I think it more or less implied that she refers to tech industry. Traditional Swedish companies may vary a lot depending on culture of the individual company as well as your position.
Your take on PTO makes me wonder if you directly experienced it in the US. I know from experience with Netflix and Dropbox that PTO is not questioned as long as your tasks are being met. It is not uncommon for people to take a cumulative 2+ months off at various times in the year. That is on top of being paid much higher than Swedish salaries.
You can typially roll _one_ week vaction to the next year, and you can typically save days for 5 years, so maximum 25 days saved vacation
You mentioned you have a BA in Economics and a Masters in Psy, so... Honest question: what was your education roadmap to become a full stack dev?
Good question, which I also would like to know. She claims all this high education yet she looks so young... Three different university degrees in three totally different fields, not compatible in any parts, so it would take what... 5 years each, that 15 years of University... she must have very rich parents. Not very easy without rich parents even in Sweden because CSN ends after 6 years of full time study, so parents or a full time job must finance 9 years. Not easy, that's for sure.
@@AdaptingCamera
BA takes 3-4 years, a Master's ~2 years, so approx 6 years if full time at university. Economics and psychology have an interdisciplinary approach called "behavioral ecomics" as there is a lot of overlap. Getting into a full stack position doesn't require going back to university. I know some people that went from Bio or Chem to DBA/DE roles, not as big jump as FS but they got their roles while working and not doing university study for the subject.
I’m curious how many companies here you’ve worked for? I feel as though your first few points are very specific to a certain company culture that you’re working at. I’ve worked for large corporations and smaller companies also in engineering field and have had quite mixed experiences regarding employer appreciation and support personal development. And true there is little incentive in Sweden to go above and beyond for a job due to the lack of pay increases and general “lagom” culture.
2:30 I wish many more young people would share your viewpoint that understanding how the hardware works makes you a better developer! I think that even if you only code in C# or Java which implement automatic garbage collection ("managed language") you should still understand what happens under the hood and which operations are fast and which are slow because of the underlying runtime system and hardware. Way too many fresh software developers have zero understanding how computers actually work on hardware level.
The important thing is that the work gets done. Then what times you work, you can decide a bit yourself as long as the job gets done.
Sounds great.... I'm in the US, and its not always doom and gloom. I check in regularly on the teams workload and unless its chronic don't ask my team to use sick days and they are fully paid either way. My team is currently remote and we only come in once a quarter or if we need to for project reasons. The team can come and go as they please and the expectation is just that they meet their commitments to their customers. All depends on where you work and who your manager is in the US I guess.
Hey, hope you're enjoying Sweden. Regarding vacation days & "sick days", if you become sick during your vacation you can also use sick days so that your don't lose your vacation time. Example: you have 2 weeks of vacation but you go down with the flu for a week. Instead of that vacation time being spent, you can take regular "sick days" (80% pay) for the week you were sick instead if you prefer. This has happened to me (severely food poisoned while abroad, out for 5 days) and i did decided to call in sick and use those vacation days at another date.
On a bit of a side note: Sweden has traditionally always been a very trusting society with low crime for many years and it has worked well, but recently with globalization & the influx of different cultures this has started to shift and people are starting to abuse the welfare system. I would not be surprised if things became more strict in the future in terms of healthcare, time off, sick days etc.
80% pay for sick days? Seriously? That kinda sucks.
@@-_James_- really? i think its nice you can choose.
@@khuiification I mean the fact you only get 80% pay for sick days. Everywhere else I've worked in Europe (UK, Italy, and Norway) you get paid 100%. (Norway lets you recover vacation days too.)
@@-_James_- Actually, you don't even get 80% in Sweden, because it depends on your salary. It is pretty easy to reach maximum sick leave benefit, so you can lose a lot if you have good salary. The maximum sick benefit today is about 23k SEK / month and the average salary is about 35-40k SEK so a person who gets 80% when on sick leave has a pretty low salary. Of course, you can have different agreement between you and the company, or between the Union and the company, but generally speaking, if you are sick you do lose a lot of money, but you get back your holiday days when on sick leave. BTW, sick leave compensation was higher even here a long time ago, but it was abused by people who claimed to be sick and then worked somewhere else, or were on holidays in a foreign country and through that they could keep their ordinary yearly holiday days to be used at another time.
Nice job summarizing many of the really super positives with working life in Sweden. Perhaps you can do another video where you talk about the challenges that also exist.
Sweden is not a ’socialist’ country. Where did you got that from? It is a completely normal country.
Yes, it is.
@@abrrrakadabrrra It isn't, it is more capitalistic than the U.S., you can look it up. It has a bottom safety net with socialized healthcare, but it is a capitalistic market with less regulation than the U.S.
@@abrrrakadabrrra It's a social democracy, NOT Socialism
@@abrrrakadabrrra It is not. Your lack of education is showing
correction: It's a completely Islamic country.
One thing I noticed while working with Americans (US), is that they identify them self by their work and or work title.
Seldom an American identifies them self by who they are.
And they also quickly askes, it might even be the only question they ask; "What do you do for a living".
Hum it’s like in Europe not the case 😅😂😂🤦♂️
The Swedish job market has a long tradition of *trade unions* which goes all the way back to the 18th century. These unions are powerful, and they regulate many essential parts of the Swedish work market. Around 70 percent of the Swedish population are members of a trade union.
*Kollektivavtal* applies to all employees, even if you are not a union member. These agreements are settled between the employer and the employees. They cover essential aspects like pensions, insurance, fair wages and annual leave days - more than what is covered by the Swedish labour law.
*Labour law* benefits when having a permanent employment in Sweden:
✓ At least 25 days of paid vacation.
✓ Paid sick leave after the first day (karensavdrag).
✓ Normally economic compensation when working nights or weekends (obekväm arbetstid).
✓ 480 days of paid parental leave.
✓ Strongly regulated *discrimination law.* For example; an employer cannot discriminate against a job candidate because she is pregrant. The employer is not even allowed to ask about “pregency plans”. Even that is considered discriminating.
✓ After six months as permanently employed, you can apply to have time off to study. The studies normally have to be related, or bring some kind of value, to your current job position.
The biggest mistake I made as an American who lived and worked in Sweden was not joining a union. I would have gotten unemployment compensation when I got laid off. Instead, I only had to settle for the 4 months of severance pay my employer gave me.
How did you learn full stack development? You mentioned in another video that you're self taught. Would be interesting to know since knowing how to get started is usually the biggest hurdle among my friends //Fellow stockholm developer :)
Hi Vanessa, Thanks for the video! I'm a software engineer with 27+ years of experience, and I have a couple of questions.
1. If someone's interested in finding software engineering jobs in Sweden, where would you recommend they look? I'm also curious about your own experience with the application and interview process - how did the back-and-forth go? What were the interviews like?
2. Around 3:59, you mentioned your manager sits in on retrospectives. That's quite different from my experience in the U.S. where we typically exclude "pigs" (managers/stakeholders) from retros to encourage more open feedback from the "chickens" (devs). I'm curious to hear more about your experience with this - does having a manager present impact how freely people speak up?
All I know is that my job is often looking for software engineer, quite a few who only speak english here, google "Svenskaspel career" :- ) maybe see you soon
With exeprience from maybe 10 different companies, the entire Scrum process is done a bit differently in every place, so it's not like it's related to "Sweden" per se,.but rather the company.
@sandos Thanks for your comment. I know Scrum can be different at different companies. I wasn't saying all Scrums are the same, or that "Sweden" does anything special. I was just curious about Vanessa's take on managers being in retros (point #2), since they're supposed to be a safe space. She thinks it builds trust (03:59), but it seems like a conflict of interest if the retro is about the manager. Is my question valid? I'm really curious to hear your take, especially since you've worked with Scrum in different places. What about you-would you be okay with managers in retros? I think it can sometimes make it harder to have open conversations. Cheers,
@@TonyTheAntonio Honestly, most managers I have worked with I would have had no issue with them being present in retros. But I might have been lucky with 1) good managers 2) working in places where there "are no problems" in a way.
@sandos Thank you!
It’s hard as a senior software engineer in Sweden to make over 65k USD per year which honestly doesn’t get you very far given the cost of living and the high taxes. Also the housing market in Stockholm is very difficult. The main advantages are probably the long vacation (six weeks) and parental leave.
You can get above 1,000,000SEK per year (~ 90,000 USD) but it takes time, and only a few companies pay at that level. For the most part, you're right. Which yeah, compared to US salaries, where people get more than that right out of university in many states, is very little money. With these salaries, you can only afford to live in a small apartment in Stockholm, or a medium-level house far in the suburbs (like I do). But you can easily afford your "normal" living costs (nothing too fancy but also no need to buy budget stuff) an overseas trip or two per year etc. which to some people, is more than enough to feel like you're living a good life. If you want money, definitely try to go to the US, you will get 2 or 3 times more and you can come back later with a bag full of money, which gives you so much freedom to decide what you wanna do.
Well working in USA is becoming like a lottery as Us companies generally prefer hiring Indians on h1-b visas or offshoring to India. Only exceptional talent from other countries are considered otherwise. Doctors in USA also earn stupendously Good salaries compared to other nations. But then not everyone in the world can be a doctor in USA.
how about having a kid too ?
The property market is excellent for those looking to buy. A purchase can be closed in a matter of hours. For those looking at renting, not so.
Can't have it both ways really. When she said, successful companies in Sweden, nope, they will not be as successful if they manufacture all it in Sweden. Take for example, Spotify, how many employees in Sweden vs US, not even half in Sweden.
Great video and interesting, thank you for liking our country!
Maybe it's different in the IT industry, but the idea is to work 40 hours a week.
The working hours are a little different depending on the industry and the tasks you have. Now you've started working like three days at the workplace and two days at home.
However, I am thinking about testing the other way.
But after hearing many stories from people who have gone to US and then come back, I am a little worried about trying to go over there.
Just as you mention, it seems that you get very little or non compensation for sick days, vacation or parental leave.
It seems like the Employer doesn't understand, care, or help an employee if they are sick, have problem or have to be away for a day or so.
Of course, even if we pay a lot of taxes here in Sweden, we have a large safety net and good benefits, which unfortunately seems to be missing in the US.
Sounds too perfect but I really hope the experience is a lasting one. :) Not everyone has the same experience and not every company, employer, boss or colleague acts the same. Wish you well on your way. 💜
Did you work as a SWE in the states? If you did, how are you liking the massive pay cut in Sweden?
she obviously didn't. Swedish salaries are straight poverty compared to US or even Norway. Shithole country.
she probably loves it because she is not on the brink of poverty anymore🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@schimbeschi5297she would make 4-5x what she makes in Sweden in the US with half the taxes with the same amount of benefits and vacation.
@@wsollers1 No the benifits are much higher in Sweden
@tbgelectr0 No. Work for a top tech company and your benefits are higher.
As a senior employee (more than 15 years of work experience) here in Finland, I get 38 paid vacation days per year. I personally feel that's excessive but I guess that's better in long run.
On the first day of sickness you are not paid?
And the additional days you are paid 80% of your salary?
This is very strange because in many other countries in Europe you are paid 100% on your first day and any additional days of sickness. After 3 days of sickness you are required to provide a medical certificate. But this is usually easy to provide if you are genuinely sick.
However, the most important thing to remember is you are paid 100% of your salary.
She's correct. Sweden used to have 100% pay from first day like many other European countries, but the "first day zero - rest 80%"-thing ("karensavdrag") was introduced in 1993 as a temporary measure to tackle the financial crisis we had back then. In my opinion it should have been removed years ago, but somehow it's still around.
@@carlkolthoff5402 nice to know. When I moved here they told me about it as the most natural thing ever and I was so confused.
@@carlkolthoff5402
It was, funnily enough, removed during Covid. But then reinstated....
@@carlkolthoff5402 It is a GREAT tool to get rid of people abusing the system to get one day free from work...
During Covid they removed the "karensday" (i.e not getting paid first sick day) but its reintroduced yeah. Thing is in sweden, a lot of people are "sick" when they arent really sick, maybe just have a slight headache or cold and they feel like staying home they do. So due to the more relaxed culture and around missing work, not being paid the first day balances it out.
My experiences are pretty much exactly equal, except for that I do find it difficult sometimes to get my opinion taken seriously, especially with some people who have been in the same company and team for 20+ years. I came to my job with experience from doing the same type of job in another company and country, where the level of knowledge and procedures in some cases is a lot more better, and could and still can sense some frustration with this "not invented here" syndrome. Ofcourse this counts for this team in this company, so i won't make any conclusions about Sweden in general. I like Sweden as a country a lot and can not see myself going back.
How did you get into software engineering coming from psychology? Also, how are UX design jobs looking like in Stockholm? Do they do some front end coding? Great video btw
this is enough in sweden 🤣
If you want your vacation as money, that is ok, but actually frowned upon since management want people to go on vacation and come back refreshed. You can normally only save 5 days out of the 25, but that is decided by the company and you can save vacation for 5 years for a maximum of 25 days.
First swedish men rid themself from hard labor, then women did the same with unpaid housework. In the spring of 1972, a group of swedish politicians gathers to create a new vision for Sweden's future. It is decided to try to create a society of independent individuals with the help of a number of new institutions. Fifty years later, here we are!
In terms of sick, different companies has different rules, sick days are more or less always paid for by Försäkringskassan, so it is important to not only notify your employer, but also försäkringskassan.
The first 20% of a normal workweek is not paid (in practice the first day).
You can find a job without learning Swedish, but there are a lot of drawbacks. There will be companies that won't hire you, or won't consider you for every role and position but only a selection. A lot of information will be translated either by someone who is less fluent in English or by someone who doesn't know what the information is about, you will have issues working with government both for private things and work-related stuff, etc. If you don't want to learn Swedish you need to understand that you will essentially be worse off in every area of your life compared to an immigrant who learns the language. Consider the fact that you can function in society while only speaking English as something that gives you more time to learn Swedish, but you won't replace Swedish with English and fully integrate yourself.
Is there seriously any country that thinks its beneficial, when you cant speak their native language. It is what it is
Of the 15 or so jobs and positions Ive had as an SWE in sweden, not speaking Swedish has been a possible problem in maybe 50% of the cases (government jobs, and _especially_ mil jobs ofc, since you also need to be a swedish citizen)
Otoh we do have international companies and there Swedish is often barely used. ABB/Hitachi is what I have expereince from and at some points in time, you could barely hear Swedish being spoken in the offices.
This feels like the exact opposite experience than the one Ive had in East Asia big tech companies!
Yet, even if work is not 100% you identity, when meeting other people the first question often is "what do you work with".
I describe the way of working and cooperating in Sweden pragmatical and constructive, with a sentiment that we all are grown up people, with each our own capabilities, and no focus on the weaknesses. I am not Swedish, live and work here. While I love the work culture a lot, I feel not really absorbed in the culture beyond it.
Cool thing :)
Love the idea of flat organisation.
How was your adaptation when you move to Sweden?
By far the hardest thing to adapt to was the weather. It does not snow where I come from so seeing heavy snowfall for the first time was amazing, but living in the darkness and overall bad weather from October to April is still very hard to adjust to.
@VanessaWingårdhHow does daily life continue in winter? Are people still expected to go to work on time even though the conditions outside might make it very difficult? What's the impact on social life and on night life like bars, clubs and restaurants?
@@jinngapling6349 This is a well known Swedish saying that might explain the expectation: "There is no bad weather, only bad clothes."
VAB: V-Vård (care), A-Av (of), B-Barn (child).
In Sweden you are also allowed to take care of relative. If you have a spurs or a parent that are sick and you need to been with them at doctors visit, hospital care or help at home short term you can do it. Long term help at home has to follow rules and regulations from the government.
As a Swede my experiance are the reverse 😅 If you have an opinion outside of the groupthink its dangerous to state an oposite wieve point. Especially if its politically incorrect... so for me that "unity" can be very sufficating... also, we are tipically very specialisted and my experiance are the opposite when it comes having studied anything and then not working within that feild. So very interesting hearing your perspective 😅
Nice video!
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hej Vanessa! Thank you for making this video. I'm a soft dev living in Sweden with experience from abroad (America) and also different back ground (Initial BSC in Nursing/Art and now finishing my BSC in CS). I'm also multicultural, born in South America, lived in the US, and now in Sweden. I'm having such a hard time finding a job that's outside of the big cities or is happy with remote work. Any suggestions? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
The only thing that sucks is that we make less money and everything is still super expensive compared to what we have left after taxes. In Sweden $110k is top 1%.
Salaries suck in Sweden and people should stop saying that we get a lot from our taxes. Healthcare and education are FAR from top notch!!! Forget housing. It is amazing that single household make ends meet.
7:51 "Sweden is a socialist country" No No No.
I wish lol
I don't blame her for saying that, because Americans are brainwashed from the day they are born with crap like that.
Wages are much much smaller in swedish companies though
That's not wrong but as a software dev living in Austria I have a comfortable life and I can afford all the things I want. Worker protections are good, Salary is good and the QoL here is amazing in my opinion.
@@niklas7816can you afford to own an apartment or a house?
If you are considering to exchange every item she mentions in this video for a higher wage , every single item, then your place is the US. I don’t think you’d adapt here. I’ve seen colleagues coming and would eventually end up complaining about those benefits and blaming these and everyone around about slowness or even laziness. Those with this mindset don’t stay more than a year.
I have an average salary in my department. My brother , American and living in Miami with a salary almost 50% higher than mine after taxes can only afford to rent a room in his friend’s house.
@@aab-aab all those things she mentions encourage freeloading and discourage ambition. Also most salaries in erster I Europe don’t allow you to buy a house/>1 bedroom apartment. To defend this system is either misinformation or being a freeloader who doesn’t like working hard..
@@aab-aab you have an extremely obvious bias. I’m just stating the obvious - worker protections are good but you can’t enforce them selectively. Thus a lot of freeloaders take advantage of them and abuse them. People you work with. It is discouraging at best. Also knowing you will never get much more than them due to “wage equality”, even though you have the drive. Progressive taxes on top of that if you do get a promotion. No way up. Rich stay rich, poor and middle class stay poor and middle class.
Haha, Sweden isn't a socialist country. I know those terms are used more liberally in the US, but having a social welfare system only makes you a government for the people and not a socialist state.
The Swedish government basically controls all your life, what to think, when to eat, when to do this and when to do that.
@sirusThu 🤣 and to hate the Danish 🤣
@@sirusThu B.S.
@@sirusThuno it doesn't.
Yes, it is. Not communist yet, but socialist.
Great insights. thanks for sharing. did the company required you to learn swedish language, sevenska. or you are learn by your self
As a Swede I want to do a important statement; The Nordic countries are NOT socialists in the way Americans think about socialism!!!!!!
NOT a east European socialism!
I would like you to clarify that to the people watching, because it's a very big difference!
That's why we in the Nordic countries are the best and happiest in the world and we should be proud of this!🖖✊🖖✊
Slava Ukraine, democracy, freedom and equality from me 🖖🇸🇪✊🇺🇦
Really good to hear your experience, I'm a Software Engineer Brazilian guy who planning migrate to another country on future, but firstly I want to do some master's or PhD college course. How do you see the expectation of Sweden companies for these high degree levels? BTW u could show us your kitties, I'd love to see them 😊❤
Having a PhD in Sweden is a waste, I'm doing mine in Machine Learning now and I will definitely leave after I'm done. 4-5 years of a PhD in Sweden is seen as "experience" of 4-5 years. I've heard that from other PhDs and companies. I had a couple of PhD friends that started working in Sweden after thair phd with a staring salary of 4-6k usd /month. So the answer is no, there's no value of having a PhD in Swedish industry
There is young people in Sweden that has got everything free from the government. Health care, education, freedom, political stability, high social standard. And cannot understand that that is what their parents has played with tax money.
Therefore they hate the system that has given them a first class start. Hope they sometime will understand.
Instämmer 100% , but they will hopefully learn about it.
Just look at Trump, Putin, their Enablers and Oligarchs like Elon Musk.
We in the Nordic countries should be proud of ourselves and teach other countries about it.
Slava Ukraine, democracy, freedom and equality 🖖🇸🇪✊🇺🇦
Hej Hej Venessa-love Sweden ! How would say lifestyle differs in America and Sverige tech hubs where engineering jobs cluster (göteborg, Stockholm as far as I know) how would scheduling, social culture and taxes play a role in this?
Medicin has a high-cost coverage from 2850 SEK after that then ALL medicin is free undera 12 month period .
If you need to go to the doctor or nurse often , you also have high-cost coverage of 1400 SEK after that ALL visits to the doctor or a nurse is free for 12 month period .
So what that means is that you don't have to more then 2850 SEK for your medicin or visit a doctor up to 1400 SEK per year .
If you have diabetes in the US and need insulin every day the cost is up to 285 USD for 10 ml ampoule in Sweden it is FREE .
So you know 2850 SEK is 259 USD that is your MAX cost per year for your medicin in Sweden .
To visit a doctor is the MAX cost 1400 SEK or 127 USD per year .
If you go to government funded dentist ( you can go to a private one but if they cost more then the government funded one you have to pay the cost above the official price table) .
The MAX cost per year for a dentist is 3000 SEK or 273 USD but it is FREE until you are 23 yr. old .
That's just a small part of what we get for our tax .
Good video! Glad you like it here. One point though: Having a public health care system, ie a public insurance system is not ”socialist”. It is the norm in the EU regardless of the color of the government. It is basically a sound public policy, not a issue of politics per se.
You can get ok salary in Sweden as a freelancer, or employed at a consultant company with percentage shared of the hourly rate. Salary for systemtester or developer, 75 - 100k SEK per month.
Interesting to see the Swedish work culture from an outside perspective! I just have to point out that Sweden is NOT a socialist country. In socialist countries, the state owns "the means of production", which is clearly not the case here. In the mid 20th century there were strong political powers that wanted to take Sweden in that direction, but the steps they took had such poor outcomes that the course was reversed.
No, the workers own the means of production.
@@stenadpackadfullochhog622 In socialist states? No, the collective ownership is a central part. If everybody owns their own farm and that's it, it would be something different.
@@beardmonster8051 Workers own the means of production. That's what socialism is. And that is collective ownership. That COULD be through a government, but doesn't have to be.
@@latjolajban81 I don't think many people would count a society with a sole worker owning everything and working with handing out instructions to all the AGI machines that do everything else as a "socialist country", but that would indeed be included in the "workers own the means of production" definition. So no, I have to disagree on that one. But we all seem to be in agreement that Sweden is in fact not a socialist country either way, which is what I came here to say.
@@beardmonster8051You are talking about being selfemployed. If you are talking about a society where no one has to work because everything is done by machines, then everyone could still own the AGI machines collectively. It doesn't have to be a government.
EDIT: True we agree on Sweden not being a socialist country.
Conversely, do you feel like singles are overloaded with work as parents or other teammates take leave or have caretaking duties?
Everything is designed with that in mind, so there is more (healthy) redundancy in systems. Same thing is someone gets sick.
Personally i'm amazed at how often these people have sick kids, for years on end.... I don't remember my generation being this sick as kids. Basically everyone but me have kids in my team and it's so rare that we are the entire team present at the same time. Meanwhile I'm always there, I think a lot of people are exploiting it.
In companies that allow you to roll over unused vacation, you are required to take 4 weeks per year. If you are on a work permit/visa, you can lose this if you don’t use 4 weeks vacation. Managers ask about if your workload is manageable, as the will get in trouble if you end up having burnout.
I would think moving here is perfect if you have built up some wealth already. My plan is to go work in USA for 2-3 years when I become senior and my children move out so that I can secure a comfortable pension.
Thanks Vanessa, good information,
You added where and at what time the topics in video are in description section. However, since the time part is not at beginning of the sentence, subject parts do not appear in video progress bar. It might be better that way. just a suggestion :)
amazing video, can't wait for the down sides of living in Sweden
You had it already, its a Socialistic country! Its programmed in all yanks. Thats the reason USA is failing and colapsing atm , single mindeded!
As a former Klarna software engineer in stockholm, I unfortunately had a Terrible working experience. Terrible managers, horrible hierarchy system and micro-management, 7 days a moth 24/7 on-call rotations, and super low salary compared to everything I was doing (around 55k SEK a month Gross)
I ended up quiting after my managers laid off 50% of my colleagues from one day to the other and tried forcing us to do 200x more work without new hires.
You can't realy rollout your vacation you need to use 20 days (i think?)
Waiting for the second part of this video related to downside
Yes, this was a strong 'hallelujah' speech, but looking at it from the most negative IT perspective, it's probably that knowledge isn't valued. Everyone is heard, and it's incredibly sensitive to say that someone is wrong.
Waiting for a video on downsides of Sweden and work culture there.
1. If you come from a culture where people are warm with each other, interact socially at a deep/significant level, and actually help each other out when needed (and maybe even think about each other's well being in advance), you'll miss that very much. Here in Sweden what matters is doing everything by yourself, not asking other people too much questions or for help, and know your legal rights to the letter. If you can't defend yourself based on the law, you'll get trampled over very easily and often. 2. Because there's a lot of (too much?) job safety, there is a legion of freeloaders whose main job is just "be in meetings and nod; then make one or two meaningless comments to pretend you're involved". If you're engaged in actually trying to do meaningful work, you'll have to carry these people on your back, and there's not much you can do. As long as they are half-assing it correctly and doing a minimally good job at pretending to work, they'll never be fired. Management has no choice but to pick those who are actually working--usually, you---and throw double or triple as much work on your back so that the organization can go on functioning. It's *extremely* frustrating. 3. There's virtually no meritocracy; the variance in salaries is low, which is great if you're mediocre, but horrible if you're actually trying to excel. Due to that, and also again because of job safety and comfort, most people gravitate towards administrative jobs instead of creative/demanding ones. So everything you want to do has to be shared/discussed/assessed in a 2-hour meeting with 5 different admin people whose job is just to be in that meeting, but if you're an engineer or developer, for example, you have to be in the meeting AND THEN start working afterwards (while the others will wrap up their work at 3pm and go to the gym or whatever). 4. People do not speak their true mind in front of you. You might have a colleague who appears to you as the nicest person in the world, but in your back they might be backstabbing you if it means they can get less work and/or climb up in the administrative ladder (since the only way to grow is via administration/bureaucracy). It's not hard for them to do this because they're used to not connecting deeply with the people around them.
@@rmmartins133 Long story short, there is no "free" lunch. Swedes are paying for their special rights and benefits in many ways. Thanks for showing the other side of the story.
@rmmartins133 thank you so much for nicely explaining and answering my question.
As you mentioned, income variation is very less, and there's nothing much you can save due to high cost of living (got to know from other comments), so do you know about any other European country which has a good work life balance and at the same time, a good salary in IT field?
@@rmmartins133bro, just man up and say no. If you are a dev say no to meetings because you have work to do. If it's how you say, the freeloader will be happy because they have even less work to do.
@@rajrish Bulgaria. Net salary rivals Germany, but CoL is much lower (IT field specifically). Also insurances, rent and other likely expenses are almost two if not three times lower.
Well Executed and good topics you covered, I've done a little of the opposite journey and stared at 2000 as software consultant in Stockholm til 2012 when I moved to Oslo within the same field, and for the last 2 years have I lived and worked from Manhattan, but my work have been over 90% remote since Covid, both in Norway and now in US. I am a friend of one of the Spotify Founders and they have their NYC office just 200 meters from my apartment and although they are based here in US they stand behind all the point in this Video, I can imagine that the same goes for the Klarna office here but I have never visit them.
Klarna had a very bad reputation for how they treated tech employees during the pandemic and up until 2023. I heard stories of entire teams resigning. Them and Epidemic Sound, both but it seems like Epidemic rebounded.
this content is good. now I want to work at Sweden companies haha
It is something who I've heard from a friend of mine where he currently live there, the only problem who he has faced was related with rent. As a Brazilian currently living in Portugal, I have fear to move there in reason of the weather itself and the culture integration, once it is really different.
As a Brazilian guy, I know we aren't used to a lot of snow, 60°F is already cold, imagine seeing snow every day while walking to work 😂😂
@@trap7369 maybe its not for you then.
@@trap7369 I went to UK on a work travel, it was really cold and drizzly. Although I've seen some people running on that weather I admire a lot but seriously is not for me
@@trap7369 Sweden is much warmer than people imagine. It is a very long country, and only the northern tip (where no one lives) is in the arctic.
Down south, we hardly get any snow in winter, at most a thin layer around Jan-Feb. And when it gets into the negative temperatures, the air gets dry so you don't feel it as much.
But for many people coming here, it is the DARKNESS that gets to you.
Why do you have a swedish name if you are from America?
I guess married to a Swede. 😍 Else I'd guess Swedish-American (Swedish ancestors). 🤩
What is cost of living like compared to income? I'm a game dev in my 30s from NZ on a higher than avg income, but cost of living is crippling
The third-biggest game dev hub in Sweden is in tiny Skövde, so the cost of living varies greatly depending on where you go.
One addition that i didnt know of when i worked in a company (now i'm doing a startup) is that if one get sick on the vacation one should report it and one get sick pay and get the vacation back.
How did you get hired in Sweden from America?
Also, worth mentioning, is that many of the benefits we now have, vacation days for example, is because of the traditionally strong worker unions. Without the worker movement, Sweden would not be what it is today.
The things you mention in the first part are all a part of the Work Environment Law and within the provisions.
The employer must do these things as a bare minimum to follow the law.
When you have a good project team in Sweden you probably have the most efficient development team in the world. Everyone goes outside their box to help their colleague and no one is afraid to speak their mind if they think the project is running off the rails. A CEO in Sweden speaks with all levels in the hierarchy and they will hear the unfiltered version from the old-timers and skilled people on the floor.
If you have a bad project team and a weak management in Sweden you will have "fika" (coffey and cinnamon buns), chit-chat, no one taking responsibility and zero productivity.
I do think most of this is common for companies in Sweden, but not all. And it is important to know that this do verry between companies.
Whn u said sweden social i got confused after 17 yrs n someone who even takes first step to say hi bt then u said most pple u work with are from other countries i understood
Now we understand why America is the most prosperous country in the history of Mankind. Thank you.
@@JohnVKaravitis Numbers isn’t everything considering that a huge portion of the US workforce aren’t paid living wages the prosperity only reaches a few
America is unfortunately considered a 3 world country these days, and now it´s going down completely this year, so you need to resist your brainwash and educate yourself a little on life.
Sadly, not all work places are like this. Some things are the same everywhere, like basic rights. But not all bosses are good and not even in public workplaces there are a flat organization although it should be like that. 🇸🇪
Sweden is considered very cheap in terms of engineer salaries, among the cheapest in Europe sadly. Although most of that might be due to how low the SEK is valued.
Wages are getting lower and lower each year. Additionally there are frequent layoffs
Nice video, but it sounds like you’re describing an international company with an office in Stockholm and an international hiring policy. Chances are, the office isn’t even managed by a Swede. To give a more balanced view, I’ve noticed some negatives compared to other countries: laziness, lack of initiative or attention to detail, a big sense of entitlement, endless meetings with no clear agenda or outcomes, lots of gossip, passive-aggressiveness, avoiding conflict, cultural insensitivity (based on their own values), low friendliness or approachability, high taxes, and low salaries-without top-notch public services to justify those taxes. On top of that, loneliness and individualism seem pretty widespread.
Also, cities like Stockholm are overflowing with engineers and programmers from outside Europe who end up doing odd jobs or unpaid work for startups, becoming “cofounders” because Swedish companies refuse to hire them or only offer unpaid internships for a few months that go on and on for years. The majority of them spend their time in coworking spaces, delivering packages, cleaning or driving for Uber instead of working in their field. So sad.
As a Sweed for me it sounded like the very typical Swedish company or sny otjer Swedish employee! (Says me, a Swedish lawyer with emphasis on data law).
Do you have Nordic heritage, bcz you could pass for a Swede.
On the topic of sick leave; if you get sick during your vacation, those days are now sick days too. 👍
Heyy , i would love to hear about your journey in to tech ,Thanks
your analysis is perfect. america has a herd mentality with endless deadlines. smaller countries treat their employees better. they cannot compete in quantity but they can compete with quality
If you think america has a herd mentality you really don't understand Sweden.
If one truly must live in Scandinavia then I would recommend Denmark, especially Copenhagen. Avoid Sweden, Norway etc.