How IT pros work in Norway

I would like to start with a story about myself and with what “luggage” I came to Norway. I am a network engineer by vocation, service engineer by position, I work in a Norwegian company, I love my job, I live 3 years in Norway, I speak English and Norwegian (which I learned on arrival in Oslo), an Odessite and, yes, I am 25.

It just so happened that 3 years ago I was lucky enough to move with my family to Oslo.
* Details about the move, I will write in one of the following articles. But briefly, I can say that you will need a contract from the employer and a bachelor. No language examinations are required.

So, at 22, I moved to live in Oslo without a language, without a diploma (because I left the university after the 2nd year, although in vain, now I regret, the crust would be useful for me to get a visa more easily), with one year of study IT courses at the STEP Academy, with wobbly English and no Norwegian. Since I had the opportunity not to work for the first six months, I spent them on learning the language and preparing for CCNA. I was firmly convinced that this certificate would help me find a job, especially without work experience and a bachelor's degree. Six months later, I did get a CCNA and started looking for work in English. I began to actively send out resumes, which gave its results quite quickly and I was invited to several interviews, but since I practically did not speak English and it was even worse with the Norwegian, I was dismissed. By the way, after putting CCNA in, I immediately created a profile on Linkedin and that was the right decision at that time. A month after the profile was posted, the recruiter wrote to me with reference to the position. The position was called “Network Engineer” and included a huge number of job duties, skills, and transfer of a large number of cisco equipment. So that you understand, at that moment I had no idea how the iron looks in life and what kind of wiring to stick on. Of course, this position scared me, I thanked the recruiter for inviting me to the interview and replied that, unfortunately, I do not have so much experience in IT (I did not say that I don’t have it at all), and actually I still junior. To which the recruiter replied, "and you try it!" And for that I am very grateful to him.
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So, I decided to go for an interview. A week before the interview I received a letter, where it was said that I would be interviewed by CCIE. I didn’t like it very much, because at that moment it seemed that the CCIE was not people, they were “monsters”. I began to imagine how this CCIE would “load” me. Also there it was written that I would have one hour of technical interview with the lab, and an interview with the manager.

Interview day

I came to the interview a little earlier than the appointed hour, a little worried, but trying not to give it out. All week I spent on viewing ssna vidyushek, updated knowledge, so to speak. I had the first interview with the manager, only about ten minutes, he asked me about my previous experience, knowledge of the Norwegian language, why I chose the network profession, but I don’t remember any more questions. I answered him sooooo clumsy English.

I had the next interview in another room with two network engineers, one of whom, as I said earlier, was CCIE (who turned out to be human). They offered tea, coffee, and water before the interview, but I refused. When we started the interview and one of them began to draw the script on the board, I nevertheless asked for a glass. This was followed by a large number of questions and scenarios about STP, OSPF, EIGRP, subnet, and possibly something else; I do not remember. The whole thing took an hour, after which we went to the EIGRP lab. The script, as it seemed to me, was quite easy, it was necessary to configure all the devices from scratch. By the way, at the interview I also learned that they did not even look at my resume, since it was not the resume that was important to them, but knowledge (but this is still the exception rather than the rule).

I left the interview very inspired, and yes, two days later I was contacted by the same recruiter and we had already agreed on a salary. A week later, I already worked in a large international company.

That helped me, I was initiative, answered a large number of technical questions, could set up a lab and the fact that the interview was technical. Why technical, but for one simple reason: my English was poor, but technical, nothing like that (the teaching materials were in English after all).

Job

At work, torment began for me from day one. Apart from the technical side and the lack of work experience in offices in general, I still didn’t understand that they were purring there, and very often I had to talk to customers, vendors and providers by phone, and this is much harder. Every day, coming from work, I spent hours sitting and translating those emails that I received during the day, taught how the ticket system worked, taught “work” at work, taught English (at that time I scored in Norwegian), in general , all the time was at work.

I adapted about three months later, began to speak English more or less, to understand in general what I was doing there at work, because what I taught in technical books was quite different from real life (purely my personal understanding of work).

According to colleagues, with whom I discussed my behavior afterwards, no one guessed that it was hard / scary for me, since among them I behaved quite confidently.

In this company, I was lucky to get experience with networks, the ticket system, work in technical support from the 1st to the 3rd level, take part in a huge project with a large number of engineers, to whom I explained the network basics and taught them the proprietary ticketing system, to pull up English, learn Norwegian, gain experience in Norway and, of course, make friends.

View from my first job on Oslo (Aker Brygge):



After two years, I changed jobs and now I work as a service engineer in a Scandinavian company with headquarters in Oslo. And I changed my job because I wanted something more, I wanted to work in Norwegian, I wanted to learn something else besides Ciskov switches, routers, controllers.

This time I had interviews in companies in Norwegian and everything was much easier. But the first months of work, again, were dark, because The level here is higher and working as a network engineer here I should be able to do everything. In the literal sense of the word. After a month of work, I already had Alcatel certification for ipd products, and in the first months of work I had to deal with a huge amount of equipment and projects related to such products and vendors as Alcatel Omni and IPD line, Aruba hardware, Fortigate firewalls, Huawei, PacketFront hardware and software (BECS), servers and stuff. In the first month I was sent to FortiGate weekly courses, received trainings from my colleagues, although it was again hard (all the same, a new technical level in addition to the Norwegian one), got access to our data centers and began to carry out servy and install / configure equipment at customers.

Pros at work

Food

Regardless of whether the company has a dining room or not, the small kitchen will still be present with a coffee machine, kettle, soda, daily fruit, oven or microwave.

I was also very lucky with the canteen, perhaps the best in Oslo, for only 20 kroner (my company pays the remaining 60 kroons) a day I get a huge choice of food, we get a hot menu at the beginning of the week by email. Food is different every day: soup, side dishes, a wide variety of vegetables, sauces, cold salads, slices, red fish, a rich selection of cheeses, meats, about fifteen types of buns, bread, crackers, cookies, and of course, sweet on Fridays.

Summer dining:



Also in my building there is a small cafe, which, after three o'clock in the afternoon, exposes for the building staff a variety of buns and sandwiches, so to speak, leftovers from the working day.
* I do not deny, for someone a large amount of free / cheap food may seem like a minus ...

Working day

Most often, the employee in the contract are fixed hours when he must be present in the office (usually it is from 09:00 to 15:00). That is, the working day is 8 hours (30 minutes for lunch), but the employee must be present at the office for only 6 hours. For example, I like to come to work early and it is very convenient for me that I can finish my working day at 15:00. For the summer, I agreed with my timlid that I could come even earlier, at about six, in this case I leave the office at two in the afternoon. Also, after the first year of work, an employee gets the opportunity, if necessary, to work from home. Suppose many of my colleagues worked one / two weeks for Christmas and Easter from home.

"Buns"

In any Norwegian company, an employee is given a phone and is not just given out, but asked what phone he wants. So, on the current job, I purchased the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. The phone becomes yours automatically after two years; every two years, the employee also has the right to change the phone. All telephone costs are also paid, 3 or 4G Internet, home Internet (thus the employer insures that in case of anything, employees have the opportunity to work from home). I pay for the Internet 100Mb / 10Mb 369kron ($ 45).

For employees who have problems with their backs / knees, special tables are issued, which can be raised if you are tired of sitting (only those who have problems with their backs get such a table in most other Norwegian companies) all).
I'm not talking about the number of events / courses / vendor meetings in other countries that an employee can attend.

Lift table and office kitchen:

Respect at work

I am extremely pleased that equality rules here. At work, along with the male sex, I drag / twist the iron, when meeting with partners / clients, I shake hands with all those present, they trust me with huge projects, in general, they perceive me as an engineer, and not as a woman. There is no hypocrisy, discussion behind your back, rudeness, only smiles and conversations in short coffee breaks.

Calm

This is one of the important and incomprehensible points for me. Highlights because I do not like pressure. Even they treat the biggest problems and problems very calmly, but they are incomprehensible, because it works. Work is underway, projects are being carried out, everyone is happy and peaceful.

Security at work

After a trial period (most often it is 6 months) it is very difficult to dismiss an employee. If the employer decided to dismiss all the same, then before his dismissal he is obliged to send three e-mails for some lengthy period. Vorning (warning) email includes information that does not suit your employer in you and that you need to change. If there are no changes for the better, you get a second letter, etc., and if you correct it, then the works will be reset. Also, the employer and the employee can mutually agree on dismissal, in this case, the employee may receive compensation in the amount of three to six salaries.

Cons at work

Integration

A feeling of discomfort at work, which I had at the beginning, and which passed only with time. After all, after all, the mentality is different, the humor is different, poor command of the language. Someone it passes, someone remains. I have some acquaintances / colleagues (this applies not only to Russian speakers) who have not adapted themselves, who behave quite lonely / wildly at work, always try to avoid talking to ings; pretend to be busy and therefore cannot attend any event; try to go to lunch after all the Norwegian colleagues have finished their lunch; and in the end “cling”, if there is such an opportunity, to other foreigners. There are some Russian-speaking friends who continue to hang out in their small Russian-speaking society. Also, sometimes I hear from many immigrants that the Norgs are not very “open” to foreigners. But my opinion is not that the Norwegians are “closed”, they are just polite and do not want to embarrass a foreigner by talking to him in Norwegian.

Depression vacation

Perhaps for some it may be a plus, but it seems to me, to say the least, strange. I don’t understand how an IT person can suffer from depression, which he has because of sitting in front of a computer for a long time, or the dude doesn’t like his boss and therefore he works only one day a week, or he divorced his wife and now he whole year can not work. In general, this is quite strange for me.
* Examples taken from my previous company.

ZP

The average salary in the IT sector for the year is 500 thousand kroons ($ 60,818) before taxes, a tax on this amount will be approximately 30%. Taxes are deducted automatically every month. If you paid more taxes than required, the state returns this difference to you in May. Also, for the first three years, ten percent of taxes is returned to foreigners. This salary is quite enough for a family without children or with children but an apartment. Although it is possible that you can rent an apartment for this amount in the country (30-60 minutes away) and feed the family.

Holiday and vacation

Holidays in Norway is at least 25 days, and if you are over 60, then you automatically receive one week extra. Also, each year, the employee is entitled to 12 sick days (system: three days four times a year). This means that within 3 days the employee may not appear at work due to illness, but if the number of days passes in 3 days, then the employee is obliged to consult a doctor and get a sick leave. Parents receive an additional 10 days per year per child (for a total of 20 days per year per child); 1-2 days per year for relocation; and also some companies give 3-4 days of religious leave (if the Great holidays of your religion do not coincide with the Norwegian ones).

A rather interesting moment in Norway is holiday pay (they are paid in June, but you have a vacation in any month). So, the system is such that instead of the salary for June, the employee receives 12% of his annual salary. Thus, it turns out that in the first year of work in Norway, an employee is left without pay in June. But the company does not abandon it, but sends a letter stating that in case of material difficulties this month they can help you.
* In the first year of work at a new place, you do not receive vacation pay, but you can still take unpaid leave.

A little bit about life and its prices.

Housing

For 50 sq.m. in Oslo, you can pay about 12 thousand crowns ($ 1457) per month. Therefore, in the end, when you collect 15% of the cost of housing (so much is required for a housing loan), you would prefer to buy your own apartment or house. Since the interest rate is low here, it will be more profitable to pay a loan for your own housing each month, and not to pay the same amount to some uncle in your pocket.

Food

Food in Norway is quite expensive and the choice is rather poor, so many Norgi go to Sweden for food - and I am not an exception. If you want to save on food in Norway, this is also possible, but the products will not always be of high quality (at first, I tried to save on food, but my stomach rebelled). Approximate prices: potatoes - 24kron / kg ($ 3.9); cheese - 85kron / kg ($ 9.4); canned fish - 17kron ($ 2); liver pate - 12kron ($ 1.5); stuffing - 50kr / 400gr ($ 6); ice cream on a stick - 22krony ($ 2.7); milk - 17kron ($ 2); bread - 26kron (3.2 $). In addition, in the Norwegian supermarkets you will find all types of vegetables and fruits at about the same price all year round.

Directions

For one ticket in transport, it does not matter if it is even one stop, you pay 30krone ($ 3.6). A travel ticket for Oslo per month will cost you 680kron ($ 83.6). If you decide to drive "hare" and you are caught, then you will receive a penalty of 1150kron ($ 139.7).

Restaurants and cafes

The average bill in any restaurant will be 500kron ($ 60.7) for two, not including alcohol. One cocktail or shot will cost about 100kron ($ 12). Drinking coffee, tea or juice will cost you about 50kron ($ 6), for a sandwich you will give 65kron ($ 7.9), and for a cake 45 kronor (5.5 $). The menu at McDonalds will cost you ± 83 crowns ($ 10).

Photos from one restaurant in Oslo and one-time grill in nature:

The medicine

Treatment or consultation in private medical institutions is quite expensive. But if you turn to your therapist, who assigns you an appointment to other doctors, then it will be much cheaper, only 2 thousand crowns ($ 243) per year. But it must be very hard to get an appointment to the specialist you need from a therapist. In Norway, therapists believe that everything is treated by going to the lake and staying in the fresh air. So, when I had a fever over 39 and I cornered the hospital with terrible headache and ear pain, snot and cough, they also asked me if I wanted to take a hospital one. Dentistry here is also very expensive, for example, you will give about 1.5 thousand crowns ($ 182) for a seal, 15 thousand crowns ($ 1185) for a bridge, and 5 thousand crowns ($ 608) for removing nerves from a tooth.

My personal opinion and impression of Norway is good, their climate suits me, I love the Norwegian language, the local people, their food and work style.

In conclusion, I want to say one thing: each person is given the opportunity to change his life, someone uses it, and someone does not.