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I spent nearly a year as a contractor (for Ericsson) in Stockholm. I found it difficult to rent a flat, and I got the impression that this was fairly common. Be prepared to hunt through adverts, and respond as soon as you can after its published. If you leave it much more than a day, you'll probably get ignored. My Swedish colleagues told me that even if there's a phone number on the advert, don't ring it, email instead. And reply in Swedish - have someone translate your reply for you. But be prepared for lots of frustration when house-hunting. In general, language wasn't an issue - although I knew no Swedish, everyone spoke excellent English. Not just work colleagues, but coffee-shop waiters, supermarket clerks, bar staff, pretty much everyone I met. Financially, there were few surprises. Housing was expensive, just like any other major city. Alcohol's a little pricier (taxes), and you can only buy it in a chain of government-run shops, which have limited opening hours…you can't just pop to the supermarket for a bottle of wine. As for the rest: coffee, eating out, groceries, were all on a par with western Europe prices. Speaking of coffee, the culture of Fika is a great Swedish institution, and should be spread worldwide :-) I love extremes of weather, so a very snowy winter and a gloriously hot summer were great for me, YMMV. I ended up coming back to the UK, but some of my contracting colleagues from other parts of Europe decided to stay. They've since settled down in Stockholm, and easily found another project at the end of the contract. Ericsson's taken a fairly hefty hit this year, and are planning another round of significant layoffs, which may have a short-term impact on the tech market around Stockholm. |
Anyone here knows if it should or not in a situation like this?