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Native Swede here. Stockholm is quite dynamic in terms of its start up culture. There are a number of ways to network within the industry, most prevalent way t

Native Swede here. Stockholm is quite dynamic in terms of its start up culture. There are a number of ways to network within the industry, most prevalent way to do so is Sthlm Tech Meetup. Salaries are relatively low for engineering jobs (compared to ex Germany), but should be ok in the software space. Ok in this case would be ~4000-4500k€/month for a relatively experienced software engineer. Do note that tax levels are rather high once you reach higher levels of income (50%-55% marginal tax rate). The tax is a pain until you have kids and you pay almost nothing for daycare and schools. The main thing to be aware of is that the housing market in Stockholm is completely crazy. It is very difficult to find somewhere to live. If you manage to get relocation support this should not become an issue for a while. Be ready to pay ridiculous money for second hand rentals (compared to salary)

bogomipz 10y ago
I am curious. Sweden is a very practical and policy driven place, is the local government addressing those housing issues in some form? I know this has been an issue for some time now. I'd be interested to hear what the local discourse is on that.
- dilemma 10y ago
  The housing shortage situation is same as that of the Bay Area if you switch loose VC capital inflating prices to loose, close to zero interest rate mortgages. As for discourse, there is none. Absolutely nothing.
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    Doesn't the housing shortage pre-date the low interest rates though? I understand it would certainly exacerbate it though. I near zero is most of the EU at the moment no?
    - dilemma 10y ago
      Yes and no. Stockholm grows by a relatively large percentage per year, and would grow even more if people could find housing there, but almost nothing is built. Whatever housing is available is condos, not rentals, so the low interest rates work to increase prices because with no rentals there's no other choice than to buy.
- TotallyHuman 10y ago
  No, they're completely sweeping them under the rug and are determined to worsen them even more by importing as many economical "refugees" as possible. The country is doomed.
  - kpil 10y ago
    Why is this downvoted? There is a predicted shortage of up to 1,000,000 residences In a market of 4,500,000 or so, and a population of 10 million, recent refugees not included (yet). The last 'fix' to the problem in 1960-1970 was building brutalist suburbs that turned into high-crime areas, and eventually into 'no-go' zones, fuelled by the virtually unlimited immigration. This is now not limited to the (three) larger cities as there are about 150 areas around the country where gang (mostly immigrant or descendant) criminality is a significant problem. In some areas, like Södertälje and Alby- clan structures are starting to corrupt parts of the local government, giving political power to family heads while welfare systems are abused with the help of relatives working in the social services. Grenades are thrown into apartments in gang wars, recently killing an 8 year old boy visiting from UK, and just yesterday one grenade exploded on someone's balcony just because he happened to live next to a gang member. Meanwhile, nicer neighbourhoods have some of the highest prices in the world, except Monaco and other outliers. 1000000 USD is not much for a house in my area which is close to Stockholm but not special in any way and is within shooting range from one of those no-go zones. This is fuelled by unlimited length mortgages with the extreme rate of around 1-2%. The previously strong industrial economy is crumbling slowly.The largest companies listed at the Stockholm stock exchange are banks, not industrial export as for 15 years ago. High tech jobs, like software development, are moved to neighbour countries like Estonua or Lithuania were the salary is 50%. Lower skilled jobs like call centres and backoffice jobs are going there too at a higher rate. Is the government concerned? There are plans for an extra employment tax on banks, which will only make offshoring more attractive. The unemployment rate is going down right now, but because there are 100,000 less young adults entering the job market than 5 years ago, unfortunately not because there are more jobs. Meanwhile, the majority of the 1,000,000 immigrants (from the last few years) that could fill the vacancies will never find a job when they eventually enter the job market as many have almost no education, and are not skilled nearly enough for one of the most demanding job market in the world. There are no plans whatsoever to address any of these problems as far as i can tell, except the emergency stop in the refugee policy, much too late. Even discussing a few of them is considered racist, and instead both the government and media is doing a fair deal of spinning, like highlighting the 100 or so doctors and dentists from Syria that might get a certification within 10 years, which is as close to irrelevant to the problems as anything can be. The central bank is balancing and trying to help the exports and the slow industry without blowing up the house market even more. The head of the central bank, Ingves, looks more and more like an angry gnome trying to highligh the risks, but no one listens. So the downvoter is either a Swedish hipster in denial, or a troll.
- uola 10y ago
  To some extent, but personally I think it has just gone to far in the current direction that it doesn't really matter what you do. When people think of Sweden as a "practical and policy driven place" it's a legacy of a couple of decades ago when the social democrats, for better or worse, were dominant in Swedish politics. Not necessarily because everything they did was good, but because they could trade reforms tit for tat with other parties so things got done. Today we have a situation more like in the US where there's two coalitions. With this political situation there isn't much that can be done without risking losing votes and giving the other coalition free reign to do whatever they want. So nothing gets done. Of course like in other cities everyone has their pet theory of what to do, but I have yet to see one that is currently practical and politically viable. There is one slight upside though. Stockholm isn't necessarily that different from an international perspective. You can still get short term contracts at international rates or better, especially with a commute of 15-30 minutes. It's mostly a relative issue based on culture, size and how things used to be.
  - bogomipz 10y ago
    Thanks. So this "housing issue" is really just about central Stockholm then is that correct? 15 to 30 is not much of burden in terms of commuting times.
    - bjourne 10y ago
      15-30 mins in commuting distance is very optimistic unless you are able to pay through your nose. Think of it like this, if you earn an average salary then you can spend this much (pre-tax income) for living this close in commuting time from the city center. 75% of it for living < 5 mins away 50% of it for living < 10 mins away 30% of it for living < 15 mins away 25% of it for living < 30 mins away 20% of it for living < 60 mins away 15% for > 60 mins away Adjust percentages upwards if you are desperate and downwards if you have enough funds to purchase an apartment.
uola 10y ago
"Do note that tax levels are rather high once you reach higher levels of income (50%-55% marginal tax rate)" Also note that this is a potentially good time of year for someone to start working in Sweden. Since the tax rate is progressive and calculated on a yearly basis if you start working mid year you will this year pay the same rate as someone earning half your salary. At least in theory.
d4rkph1b3r 10y ago
>Ok in this case would be ~4000-4500k€/month for a relatively experienced software engineer Wow that's insane. Experienced, talented Americans are making 4x or more than experienced Swedish SEs. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bay Area, NY, or LA was a bit more expensive but none the less that salary difference!

bogomipz 10y ago

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

dilemma 10y ago
The housing shortage situation is same as that of the Bay Area if you switch loose VC capital inflating prices to loose, close to zero interest rate mortgages. As for discourse, there is none. Absolutely nothing.
- bogomipz 10y ago
  Doesn't the housing shortage pre-date the low interest rates though? I understand it would certainly exacerbate it though. I near zero is most of the EU at the moment no?
  - dilemma 10y ago
    Yes and no. Stockholm grows by a relatively large percentage per year, and would grow even more if people could find housing there, but almost nothing is built. Whatever housing is available is condos, not rentals, so the low interest rates work to increase prices because with no rentals there's no other choice than to buy.
TotallyHuman 10y ago
No, they're completely sweeping them under the rug and are determined to worsen them even more by importing as many economical "refugees" as possible. The country is doomed.
- kpil 10y ago
  Why is this downvoted? There is a predicted shortage of up to 1,000,000 residences In a market of 4,500,000 or so, and a population of 10 million, recent refugees not included (yet). The last 'fix' to the problem in 1960-1970 was building brutalist suburbs that turned into high-crime areas, and eventually into 'no-go' zones, fuelled by the virtually unlimited immigration. This is now not limited to the (three) larger cities as there are about 150 areas around the country where gang (mostly immigrant or descendant) criminality is a significant problem. In some areas, like Södertälje and Alby- clan structures are starting to corrupt parts of the local government, giving political power to family heads while welfare systems are abused with the help of relatives working in the social services. Grenades are thrown into apartments in gang wars, recently killing an 8 year old boy visiting from UK, and just yesterday one grenade exploded on someone's balcony just because he happened to live next to a gang member. Meanwhile, nicer neighbourhoods have some of the highest prices in the world, except Monaco and other outliers. 1000000 USD is not much for a house in my area which is close to Stockholm but not special in any way and is within shooting range from one of those no-go zones. This is fuelled by unlimited length mortgages with the extreme rate of around 1-2%. The previously strong industrial economy is crumbling slowly.The largest companies listed at the Stockholm stock exchange are banks, not industrial export as for 15 years ago. High tech jobs, like software development, are moved to neighbour countries like Estonua or Lithuania were the salary is 50%. Lower skilled jobs like call centres and backoffice jobs are going there too at a higher rate. Is the government concerned? There are plans for an extra employment tax on banks, which will only make offshoring more attractive. The unemployment rate is going down right now, but because there are 100,000 less young adults entering the job market than 5 years ago, unfortunately not because there are more jobs. Meanwhile, the majority of the 1,000,000 immigrants (from the last few years) that could fill the vacancies will never find a job when they eventually enter the job market as many have almost no education, and are not skilled nearly enough for one of the most demanding job market in the world. There are no plans whatsoever to address any of these problems as far as i can tell, except the emergency stop in the refugee policy, much too late. Even discussing a few of them is considered racist, and instead both the government and media is doing a fair deal of spinning, like highlighting the 100 or so doctors and dentists from Syria that might get a certification within 10 years, which is as close to irrelevant to the problems as anything can be. The central bank is balancing and trying to help the exports and the slow industry without blowing up the house market even more. The head of the central bank, Ingves, looks more and more like an angry gnome trying to highligh the risks, but no one listens. So the downvoter is either a Swedish hipster in denial, or a troll.
uola 10y ago
To some extent, but personally I think it has just gone to far in the current direction that it doesn't really matter what you do. When people think of Sweden as a "practical and policy driven place" it's a legacy of a couple of decades ago when the social democrats, for better or worse, were dominant in Swedish politics. Not necessarily because everything they did was good, but because they could trade reforms tit for tat with other parties so things got done. Today we have a situation more like in the US where there's two coalitions. With this political situation there isn't much that can be done without risking losing votes and giving the other coalition free reign to do whatever they want. So nothing gets done. Of course like in other cities everyone has their pet theory of what to do, but I have yet to see one that is currently practical and politically viable. There is one slight upside though. Stockholm isn't necessarily that different from an international perspective. You can still get short term contracts at international rates or better, especially with a commute of 15-30 minutes. It's mostly a relative issue based on culture, size and how things used to be.
- bogomipz 10y ago
  Thanks. So this "housing issue" is really just about central Stockholm then is that correct? 15 to 30 is not much of burden in terms of commuting times.
  - bjourne 10y ago
    15-30 mins in commuting distance is very optimistic unless you are able to pay through your nose. Think of it like this, if you earn an average salary then you can spend this much (pre-tax income) for living this close in commuting time from the city center. 75% of it for living < 5 mins away 50% of it for living < 10 mins away 30% of it for living < 15 mins away 25% of it for living < 30 mins away 20% of it for living < 60 mins away 15% for > 60 mins away Adjust percentages upwards if you are desperate and downwards if you have enough funds to purchase an apartment.

uola 10y ago

"Do note that tax levels are rather high once you reach higher levels of income (50%-55% marginal tax rate)" Also note that this is a potentially good time of year for someone to start working in Sweden. Since the tax rate is progressive and calculated on a yearly basis if you start working mid year you will this year pay the same rate as someone earning half your salary. At least in theory.

d4rkph1b3r 10y ago

>Ok in this case would be ~4000-4500k€/month for a relatively experienced software engineer Wow that's insane. Experienced, talented Americans are making 4x or more than experienced Swedish SEs. I wouldn't be surprised if the Bay Area, NY, or LA was a bit more expensive but none the less that salary difference!