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Queen-of-meme t1_j13odv6 wrote

I'm from Sweden and here the living standard is work yourself all sressed and exhausted until you afford a vacation to Greece for a week. Then back to hell and repeat.

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dirtyrango t1_j13prjo wrote

Ha, I'm actually interviewing with a Swedish company. I thought y'all were all progressive and had great companies. Lol

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Queen-of-meme t1_j141olz wrote

They probably are great, because people work their ass off, there's a high work moral here. But it's not healthy long term imo. To literally have to escape your life twice a year to be able continuing the same stressful miserable life. But that's Swede's.

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dirtyrango t1_j145jvw wrote

The company is Swedish but the position is in the US so hopefully if I get the job they don't work me into the dirt. Lol

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Queen-of-meme t1_j14jjlx wrote

Yeah hopefully you actually enjoy it.

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dirtyrango t1_j14jptb wrote

I think I would it's a small company only about 85 employees with 5-6 based in the US.

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Andyd953 t1_j15aadc wrote

My wife just started working for a company based in Sweden that has about 5-10 employees based in the US… they’ve just started forming the US sales team recently... too many coincidences. You’re obviously about to become coworkers with her.

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dirtyrango t1_j15dq64 wrote

Haha, does she work for a small bioanalytical laboratory?

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Andyd953 t1_j15xz2s wrote

Ahhh nope. In education. So far she’s not experienced any issues about being overworked. What’s she’s found is, due to the time difference, she will wake up to a lot of emails but by noon EST, things are really quiet coming from Sweden.

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dirtyrango t1_j169st8 wrote

That wouldn't be too bad. This company is building out a US branch so we'll still work with Sweden on some things but have our own shit here.

The US president of operations actually lives like 30 min away from me oddly enough.

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Karagoth t1_j16awjw wrote

Hope you get to enjoy some of the flatter hierarchy. If the boss or lead is wrong, then you let them know, it's expected. Unless you end up with a shitty one who can't take criticism, but those exist everywhere.

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dirtyrango t1_j16po0f wrote

I usually just keep my head down and do what I'm told. Lol

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VincitT t1_j16lk6x wrote

Ugh I'm sorry to hear that. My wife and I were dreaming of getting away from where we live and saw the quality of life was so high in Sweden that we started wondering what it would be like to actually go. Sounds like those charts don't tell you everything....

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Queen-of-meme t1_j174nhq wrote

I mean it's tons better than US still so if you're from there, it will be a big upgrade if you move to Sweden. We have a lot of benefits that US don't.

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VincitT t1_j1767xx wrote

Haha good to hear! I'm Canadian and even we see things getting pretty rough south of us O.o

My province is in rough shape, but I'm really hoping for a rally with the next election. Still nothing compared to the US for now though, but my wife threatens to want to leave if the election doesn't go the right way lol

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Queen-of-meme t1_j17kyhv wrote

I hope the right leader wins and change things around for the better for you. If not. Welcome to Sweden. Prepare for cold 😂 and fika.

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VincitT t1_j18ofdc wrote

Lol it's been -30°C (daytime high) here for the last few days so I think I have the cold covered 😂

Fika on the other hand sounds delightful

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Queen-of-meme t1_j18x8sh wrote

Alrighty then your nose is ready 😂👃

>Fika on the other hand sounds delightful

While yes 😊😊

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HaydenTheCrow t1_j176mqk wrote

Really? I went there, as a Canadian, and found they take way too many breaks and didn't let us focus on work.

We worked 9-7pm because all they would want to do is fika fika fika. The Swedes left at 4pm and we could finally do work when they left.

I've never seen a more relaxed working culture in my life.

Veoneer is the company I speak of. I was an engineer working amongst engineers.

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Queen-of-meme t1_j17ktfe wrote

>We worked 9-7pm because all they would want to do is fika fika fika.

Oh yes the car industry in the worker class are a lot about fika. Some can be very relaxed and take their time. But the worker class isn't the once who afford vacations to sunny countries. That's the first class who have high status careers, and always working.

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xtremeschemes t1_j15vn29 wrote

> Ha, I’m actually interviewing with a Swedish company.

It’s ikea isn’t it?

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dirtyrango t1_j168yv8 wrote

I wish, it's a small bioanalytical laboratory that supports clinical trials and drug development.

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VincitT t1_j16rdgp wrote

That sounds sooo boring. I bet you wish you sold disassembled bookshelves instead

/s lol

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dirtyrango t1_j16toc3 wrote

My wife loves that place tho. I don't understand the appeal honestly.

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LuxCrawford t1_j15z0l9 wrote

I think you’re thinking of their prison system.

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Canilickyourfeet t1_j14eg2q wrote

This is really weird to read. Here in America there is a huge interest in Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand...As major retirement/tourist/vacation destinations. Myself included, I've always wanted to "vacation" there and perhaps live there indefinitely.

But it seems no matter where you go, life can still suck.

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Queen-of-meme t1_j14j9po wrote

Oh don't read me wrong. It is extremely beautiful here during summers! Most Swedes take off to hot summer vacation countries during winter to get away from darkness and cold. But then there's also this "Wanna get away" feeling no matter where you are if you aren't that happy. Kinda the grass is greener on the other side mentality.

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Pubelication t1_j16ji15 wrote

  1. Don't believe the romanticization of certain countries on reddit, they never mention any cons.

  2. You're unlikely to learn Swedish or one of the Swiss dialects.

  3. You're very unlikely to get long-term residency in any of these countries, much less citizenship.

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TheloniusDump t1_j14md52 wrote

Those three countries have some pretty critical distinctions.

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Sisyfos1234 t1_j165jql wrote

Isn't it worse in the U.S though? In sweden we work 40 hours a week, have almost free childcare, free education, free healthcare, atleast 4 weeks vacation etc? ...

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RenaissanceOps t1_j16bkw7 wrote

Yeah, in the US, they try to work you to death without any guaranteed time off for vacations (some full-time positions that give benefits might give you 2 weeks if you're lucky). They depend on the fact that the US doesn't have dependable social safety nets, so even if you burn out, you're motivated by not wanting to be homeless/not starving.

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MadeWithPat t1_j16qcyd wrote

What field are you in?

As a software engineer, I started at my current gig with 3 weeks of PTO + 9 paid holidays - and we’re on the lower side of what I’ve seen in the industry.

Don’t get me wrong, burnout is still an issue (though more complex than the “employer is demanding” straw man). But “2 weeks if your lucky” is definitely not an accurate representation of the software industry from what I’ve seen.

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RenaissanceOps t1_j18w9ik wrote

Majority of Americans don't make as much or have the same benefits as software engineers in the US.

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Queen-of-meme t1_j16o5ht wrote

US is definitely not better. But I was specifically talking about the Swedish standard relating to this quote since that's what I experience here.

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Queen-of-meme t1_j16ocpp wrote

It's better but that wasn't the point relating to this quote. I still relate it to the Swedish career lifestyle.

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coogee_de t1_j14sp2e wrote

Also the German way of life.

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Queen-of-meme t1_j152bss wrote

Maybe it's an European thing?

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neinherz t1_j154gef wrote

It’s definitely a European thing… that they have paid vacations. Americans and Asians just largely don’t have labor rights as robust as Europeans and paid vacations are usually fewer.

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JebbeK t1_j15jr0l wrote

Finnish here, I get about 7-10 weeks of paid vacation a year.

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A_terrible_musician t1_j15kguy wrote

American here. I get 3 weeks PTO (for either vacation or being sick) and I'm considered very lucky. 2 seems to be the standard

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coogee_de t1_j17vf29 wrote

Germans get min. 20 days (by law), but the average is 30 days.

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sovietmcdavid t1_j165ihk wrote

Northern European...

in Greece, italy, Portugal and spain, there's a lot more play time... and 2-4 hour lunch/siesta break during the day... very different attitude toward work and leisure time

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Queen-of-meme t1_j16ohsc wrote

Wow! And yet you aren't top best country? As in, most healthy citizens.

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shrinkshrunk t1_j15m6x2 wrote

Jesus, I had no idea, but that makes sense. Nowhere is perfect and the "nicest" places on earth stay that way because people work so hard to maintain them. I'm thinking of Japan and the Netherlands.

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Queen-of-meme t1_j16sggz wrote

I assumed Japan is crazy stressful career wise but The Netherlands? Maybe it's because I'm imagining high people chilling with their legal weed and everything is just Snoop Dog vibes 😂

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Doktor_Vem t1_j15kdqx wrote

Vad jobbar du med? Är du snabbmatskock eller något?

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