Well, just was curious if there where any t-man around that happened to be performing some sort of engineering job in Sweden or Netherlands mainly (Amsterdam??). Well to sum it up I’m studying to finally get my degree in electrical and electronics engineering in 3 years or so (crosses fingers).
By doing so I’d love to try find a job in one of those countries. Mainly because of:
-Good pay
-Hot girls
-High standard of living
Il also be honest with Netherlands. It has a deffo plus for 2 reasons:
-AMSTERDAM!!!
-A girl I been talking to for some time and would love to meet.
I’m on my way to get my comp.sci masters degree (in 2,5 years from now) over here in Norway. I’ll just have to mention that compared to Sweden we’ve got better pay, equally hot girls, and better or equal standards of living.
If you’re curious about anything having to do with Norway/Sweden I’ll be happy to answer as best I can.
[quote]Bicep_craze wrote:
Well, just was curious if there where any t-man around that happened to be performing some sort of engineering job in Sweden or Netherlands mainly (Amsterdam??)
[/quote]
No engineering job, but damnit get your ass here and we’ll smoke some mary jane.
[quote]Sick Rick wrote:
Bicep_craze wrote:
Well, just was curious if there where any t-man around that happened to be performing some sort of engineering job in Sweden or Netherlands mainly (Amsterdam??)
No engineering job, but damnit get your ass here and we’ll smoke some mary jane.
Is a degree and additional qualifications enough to get a good pay over there?
Cost of living?
Night life?
What about girls? I mean most of them are conservative? Love to have fun?
[/quote]
Aye. Most jobs pay pretty well, at least they do now. I don’t know what impact the current financial situation in the western world will have, but it probably won’t change the pay over here in Norway (and I guess Sweden) too much.
Pretty manageable, unless you aim to live in the absolutely hottest places around.
Nightlife is good, if you stay to the bigger cities. Scandinavian drinking culture is a little different from what you might be used to (we have a tendency to go out and get REALLY drunk… it’s not “come, lets have a beer and chat a little”, it’s “come lets have a bottle or three of rum, a few shots, some beer, and see what pussy we can find”).
Umm… I can’t really compare them too much to American girls, as I know few Americans… I guess you could say most of them are somewhere in between. You’d have to look far to find a “no sex before marriage”-girl, but you’d have to look far to find the nearest drunk slut orgy too.
Girls wont be a problem if you work a little to get to know them.
Actually I’m kind of curious as to what is required to become licensed as an engineer in said countries as well. Here in Canada you need 4 years work experience in your field then you write an ethics exam. Is it similar over there? If one was already licensed would that make it easier at all?
I’m not a practicing engineer in Europe, but I did study engineering in college and plan on going into that field when I finish with the Army (currently stationed in Germany). I’ve traveled extensively around West and East Europe and Scandinavia.
When people here say that the pay is high…their idea of high is very different than an American’s idea. Their taxes are outrageous here and the cost of living is higher. They do not have the disposable income that your average American is used to. Housing is generally more expensive and you get less house/apartment (especially up in Scandinavia).
The girls are the same everywhere. There is that ‘grass is greener on the other side’ mentality before people come to Europe.
There are great cities and places to party and a whole lot that really suck. Stick to larger cities and some of the more exclusive resort towns and you will see all kinds of beautiful women - just like back in the States. Some are all about a one night stand and some are more conservative. Like I said, just as it is back in the states.
[quote]Optimistic Cynic wrote:
There are great cities and places to party and a whole lot that really suck. Stick to larger cities and some of the more exclusive resort towns and you will see all kinds of beautiful women - just like back in the States. Some are all about a one night stand and some are more conservative. Like I said, just as it is back in the states.
[/quote]
Precisely. Only here we have all the legal weed you can smoke, but the cost of living should be insanely high compared to the costs in the US.
I’m still a minor so I’m still living with my parents but I do know that taxes etc are far higher around here.
I’m currently living in Eindhoven, South Netherlands. There are some jobs about the place but they are hard to get. Lots of companies are laying people off (Phillips,DAF, ASML etc)
Hmm…allright. Damn guys you really made my day. Lot’s of info, thanks for the replies so far. I’d love to know ideally what qualifications should one have to get a job say…to be able to buy a small villa in say 10 years of hard working in Netherlands, Sweden or Norway. I’m what most would define as a guy obsessed in being successful in his career.
Also, would love some more information on Netherlands in general. Norway seems a very good place to live in. But seems like if you haven’t got a Masters/Phd, life is gonna be tough there to find a job as an engineer.
[quote]blaque.ops wrote:
I’m currently living in Eindhoven, South Netherlands. There are some jobs about the place but they are hard to get. Lots of companies are laying people off (Phillips,DAF, ASML etc)[/quote]
Eindhoven is in Noord-Brabant, and yeah the big companies are firing people at a staggering rate.
EDIT :
[quote]PonceDeLeon wrote:
I hear Amsterdam has started closing up some of their…cafes. You’ll need someone to confirm that.[/quote]
Correct. Some shops have closed in the past few months, and shrooms got banned (I have no clue why… shrooms are awesome)
Don’t worry though, there’s plenty of shops left to be blazed 24/7.
I don’t know about Holland and Sweeden, but I know that Norway is RE-DAMN-DICOULOUSLY expensive. I went there two years ago, went to a fast food style burger joint. Granted, I got a GIANT burger, fries and a drink, but the motherfucker was the equivalent of $20.
A beer at my hotel was the equivalent of $10.
I asked a cab driver what a “decent” engineering salary was (I am an enginner, I was there on business) over there and he said the equivalent of around $50,000. If I was over there and made the eq of 50,000 I would be in the poorhouse compared to where I am in the states.
Edit: 3 years is forever. The economic climate will likely be radically different when you actually need to think about this.
[quote]RMorrison wrote:
I don’t know about Holland and Sweeden, but I know that Norway is RE-DAMN-DICOULOUSLY expensive.[/quote]
You got that right.
But an engineering job would probably pay more than $50k if you work for it. I expect my salary my first year to be near, or over $60k as a computer scientist. In addition we usually get paid 150% for every hour of over time work, and nobody expects you to work any extra if you don’t want to, etc.
It may somewhat hinge on where you finally settle down, but the ones that warrant being called a villa I have looked at so far are in the 2-4 million euro range. And that’s a small lodge with no ski lift approach or lake/beach front.
My shitty 150 sq.meter apartment in a tiny village is going for over 300K euro.
Thanks for the replies so far mates. From what I’m reading Sweden and Norway seem to be a place where there are a lot of highly qualified individuals. Guess a degree isn’t enough to geta decent pay there. Correct me if I misinterpreted you fellas.
On another note, Amsterdam is an obvious fun place but uh, hmmm…seems like big companies are firing people also.
Guess I better have multiple degrees and/or masters at least to be a middle-higher class citizen around there!
If I were you I’d just try to start a masters now. Most engineering companies worldwide are really suffering. Esp the high tech sector. I know loads of guys with degrees getting the chop but not so many with a masters.
Eh…I chose the long way.
I attend a polytechnic institute. Already have a 4 year course diploma in industrial electronics. Now I’m doing an HND in electrical and electronics engineering. (another 2 years). After that I’ll try get a Bsc. in electronics. Would love to specialize in emmbedded system programming tough.
