“After School” Life

Adult-talk time…

Congratulations to everyone that received Master’s study acceptance!

I don’t remember where I got this spreadsheet, but here it is anyways.

(ie. once you graduated, found a job, and started a life in Sweden)

§1. Career

Job market in Göteborg is generally positive. Despite never ending talk about “Sweden’s negative interest rates”, the country is doing well. The engineering scene in Göteborg is hungry for young talents. (yes, you still have to work hard and fight to find a job… but it is much better than being an Oil & Gas engineer in Stavanger, Norway)

Look at how much “freebies” I got at the CHARM career fair @ Chalmers this February!!!

Cao from Msc. Automotive Engineering rocking the Volvo excavator simulator. Talent Spotted!

§2. Is Göteborg a good place to stay after your studies?

I think yes!

§2.1 Housing

[update! I got an apartment with 70 sq m, 2 bedrooms + living room + kitchen for 12,000 SEK. Since I am splitting it with my girlfriend, extra beer money allocated!]

[update #2: if you wish to purchase a house, loan instalment + interest + apartment maintenance fee ~= 10,000 – 12,000 SEK]

Figure: a very nice neighbourhood in Göteborg

Okay, Stockholm might be a bit more expensive. Housing is a bit more tough to find… (But I think it beats living in Vancouver… where your $1M apartment is 1.5 hours away from downtown by car…)

Göteborg is better than Stockholm, but not by much. If people are not complaining about the weather, they are usually singing the sad song of apartment hunting…

Queueing!

Renting an apartment in Göteborg, you need to queue up. To get a decent apartment (in terms of neighbourhood, proximity to city centre, etc.) you need at least 3 years of queue time on https://nya.boplats.se

To get an “okay” apartment (e.g. you are not sharing anything, you have your own bathroom and kitchen), you should expect to pay 6000-10,000 SEK/month for a one-room pad. Scary!

Buying?

Thanks to the negative interest rate in Sweden, the housing market is forming a bubble.

Nevertheless, speculating from a long term perspective home-buyers shouldn’t be too stressed (compared to buying in cities like London and Milan at least).

1-bedroom apartment costs somewhere around 2-3M SEK. Then there is an additional monthly “maintenance” fee of 3000-4000 SEK…

§2.2 Food

Yea, your student life will continue for another few years. Eating out at a fancy restaurant once in a while is permitted.

§2.3 Beer Money

Here is my favourite section! If you are good at math, you probably would have figured out already the salary of a new graduate – somewhere between 27,000 to 32,000 SEK/month.

Everyone pays tax in Sweden. EVERYONE. So take away 31% of your income.

You paid your rent and brought your groceries, you are left with 8,000 – 10,000 SEK of disposable income!

Spent it wisely. Save up!

§3. Final Thoughts

New grads start with 5 week vacation in the first year. Did you hear that, American companies over there?

löv,

gimmygöteborg