Topic awaiting preservation: Oslo ?

Is there some inmates from Norway or more precisely from Oslo ?
Nothing is done, nor sure, but I might move to Oslo within 2-3 months so I wonder about the life and its cost there. What about the public transportations, how much should I expect for a flat of ~40m², do every day people speak english, is it difficult to/where could I learn norwegian, what is roughly the salary of a web developer , etc...

I wish everything will be ok. Moving to and working in Oslo sounds like a great experience. Crossing fingers.


Thanks in advance.

The poster has demanded we remove all his contributions, less he takes legal action.
We have done so.
Now Tyberius Prime expects him to start complaining that we removed his 'free speech' since this message will replace all of his posts, past and future.
Don't follow his example - seek real life help first.

-sh*t- back to my trailing_slash_Mauro account, I was saying:

I am not from Norway, but I think english should be fine for the first times (those scandinavian languages are so particular
that most people from these countries speak fluently english in my experience).

Let me be the first to ask the question you probably expect... what the hell? How, who, when, which, how much.

And of course I wish you luck and will keep my fingers crossed for you on this one.

~well, it's a bit harder to code with fingers crossed but it'll be ok.

Not from norway, but from sweden, right next door...
I'll give you some numbers for sweden first, then you can probably add somewhere around 30% to most of those and you "should" end up in the neighbourhood.

First, Sweden is expensive, darned expensive... Norway is NOT cheaper, in most areas a LOT more expensive.

Avg salary (all occupations) in sweden is around SEK 18-20 k/month (appr 7.5 sek for $1) before taxes.
On that salary you pay about 30-35% income tax (drawn by the company before you get the salary) depending on where you live, this is a climbing scale so higher salary, higher tax %...

Salaries for webdesigners... well don't really know for sure, but for an experienced (and documented) webdeveloper (html/serverside code) you'll probably get around 20-25 sek/month if you can find work... html-only... you won't find work in sweden on that alone.

An 2 room rental apt (50-60 sqm) in a suburb to stockholm costs about 3,5-6.000 / month depending on location, size and how old it is. Note that this is IF you can find one... downtown? forget it...
Then of course you can buy an apartment if you want, that's gonna cost you from 500 k to 2+ millions (then you pay a fee each month anyway...).

Food...
1 litre milk appr 8 sek, a loaf of bread 10-20 sek, 1 litre gas 12 sek
ground beef 50 sek, cigarettes 40 sek/pack
beer 29-50 sek /40 centiliters

I think you get the picture...


Norway is a lot more expensive in most areas, food, housing, booze & smokes esp, but I think the salaries are higher and the tax lower though, it should be since it's a very rich country with all the oil.

Hope it helps somewhat
/Dan

{cell 260} {Blog}
-{Proudly running OSX, Debian, WXP, W98, well not so proudly on the last 2...}-
-{ ?There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence. - Jeremy S. Anderson" }-
-{"Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.?}-

Considering the internet reaches whatever languages you can provide your information in, you can get the same amount anywhere in the world (with a connection).

Anyways...Oslo. Why would you just up and decide to move to Oslo? Trying to get on Opera's good side?

Thank you guys.

Dms: Thank you for all these concrete informations. All in all it seems that the life in Sweden is as expensive as in France. Actually it's less expensive than in Paris. Don't worry I won't move to Oslo if I don't have a job there for sure.

_Mauro: I share the same experience with Scandinavians. But everytime I met some that was in the context of work or of a demo party.

To answer your questions, well ... reisio found out.
When Opera 8 came out in april, I saw the JavaScript position and applied just to see, and we exchanged 2-3 mails. But since Neja the things have accelerated. I've had a 1h phone interview, a small programming test and have to meet them in the next few days. As everything went fine so far, it's not unlikely that I'll join them.

I don't think you'll really have to worry about paying the bills if you get a job at Opera; and it's not like you won't still be able to freelance.

Hehe, nice, good luck with all that, poi.

---
Website

Dude...you should look up fenja if you end up going; she's gorgeous, vegetarian, into web design (with CSS, even) and music.

(Edited by reisio on 08-26-2005 14:31)

does that mean that neja might sometime work in opera?

reisio:

quote:

---

Dude...you should look up fenja if you end up going; she's gorgeous, vegetarian, into web design (with CSS, even) and music.

---

Gosh, she's good to marry!

GRUMBLE: I'd love to see Neja working in Opera ! All the more I'm sure it shouldn't be hard for them to accept ISO strings in data: URLs as it already work in http: URLs.

guess who's blushing!

DmS is right, Norway is a very expensive country to live in. A flat in Oslo is expensive! But you won't have any problems with the language. Most Norwegians speak English very well! There are also language courses available if you want to learn Norwegian. I know a guy from Chechnya who came to Norway three years ago. He took a 6 months long language course and didn't have problems learning the language.

You can see the prices for flats in Oslo here, if you want to rent: Finn.no

poi,

me, no, not norwegian but I have been there a couple of times

Lovely place, lovely people.

Personally I found it quite expensive, but I think thats been covered!

However, I seem to recall, if you like to drink its VERY expensive, with only a couple of places to even buy alcohol! and the bars/restaurants charge a lot!!

Oohh and I found the norwegians (like a lot of europeans, other than the Brits - i am british, we're very lazy!) to be very, VERY sporty / very outdoorsy - so get ALL your sports gear sorted!!

Sure that hasn't helped in the slightest, but hey had to add my 2pence worth...

kit

And now he even has two ladies to keep him warm during the cold winter nights, pointers on alcohol, etc.
p01, methinks you should get the flat in Oslo with or without the job, the concept seems to have some magnetic effect.

Seriously, though, congrats, crossing fingers for you.

fenja: Thank you.

Did I miss something or finn.no is not available in English ? According to Satistics Norway, computer activities and ICT activities are around 36,000 NOK a month. Though informatives thos stats are not precises on the various positions. If ever I move to Oslo I'll rent a flat. I can't afford to buy one. The announces on finn.no for ~45 sqm flats in Oslo are around 6,500 NOK a month. It seems quite affordable for the salary given above even with a 30-35% tax relief like in Sweden.

I've always had the impression that scandinavian languages were hard to learn. For the record I gave up German during my last year in HighSchool as I had lost interrest in it and a 2nd foreign language was not mandatory for my diploma

kitty: Yep the place looks great! Running to catch my trains/metros keeps me in good shape but I doubt that counts as a sport activity. Does it ?

_Mauro: Right now, I have a well paid ( to me ) position in Paris. In the forthcoming year I should switch from Server Side JavaScript to Java. Clearly if Opera tells me yes, I won't say no. Moving to Norway and working for a company making a standard compliant browser tops 1.000 times the routine of my BroadVision developments. However if I don't have a position in Oslo, I'll stay in France. I wont take the risk to leave my flat and family if I'm not sure to have an interesting job.

As for the ladies, one would be enough.



(Edited by poi on 08-31-2005 01:17)

As for the ladies, one would be enough. << come on, don't be shy, you never know how cold the scandinavian nights can get,
and don't despise their willingness to help, it's a matter of politeness

~ cough ~

Hey, kind of wierd being back in these halls again

I've been living in Oslo as a student for the last couple of years. Seems like most of your questions has been answered so far, but just to ensure that nothing has been overlooked I'll give my view of it as well. The price of living is more or less what has been stated so far. As long as you aren't picky you shouldn't have any problems finding a place to live for a decent price. Food in the stores are more expensive then France, but as long as one stays away for the gourmet food it ain't that bad.

I've all things about learning the language. Some people say it is very easy, some say it is hard. But if you take a language course, you shouldn't have any problems learning the language in 6 months time. Most norwegians speak some English, so you shouldn't have any problems getting around even if you don't now Norwegian.

Public transportation isn't as cheap as one would hope. Probably around 1000NOK for a one month pass for Olso and the areas around.

And now to the important toping; beer! Beer is very expensive here. In the stores you get a beer for 10NOK (for the cheap light beer) and upwards. But you can only buy beer until 8 o'clock, which sucks In the bars downtown a 0.5L beer can cost everything from 35NOK to almost 80NOK. So if you find a cheap place it ain't bad, but if you end up in one of the more expensive places you're pay check will soon be gone.

The training thing is a bit exaggerated, I know at least a couple of people who never trains

_________________________
"There are 10 kinds of people; those who know binary, those who don't and those who start counting at zero"
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*bump*


Oslo is a lovely place, and indeed, everybody speak English there.
That's a chance I'll have all the time to visit the city



(Edited by poi on 10-05-2005 13:37)