The Life of a Software Developer in Finland
By random chance, I have ended up living in Finland, which is a great place to live in. Nowadays software development is on the rise in this country. There are many job openings that require software skills and English as the main used language. If your job is related to the world of computer programming, it will be beneficial for you to know why Finland is great as a country to develop yourself and live a balanced life. In this article, I will specify why it is cool to work here as a specialist in the IT field.
Work-life Balance
Here in Finland, there is almost no chance that somebody will force or push you to work harder and longer as it is expected in your contract. Your boss could ask you to work a little bit more but you will be awarded extra day-off or even additional pay. But I want to stress, that it is not obligatory to have a promotion or show your skills of a hard-worker. People are mainly coming to work at 8–9 am and leave the place at 4–5 pm. There is a strict border between your work and private life which is respected by others.
Flexible Hours
Almost all IT companies support flexible hours which means that the employer trusts you in how are you managing your work time. All of us have some household issues, dentists and trips to other cities. In Finland, everyone understands you are a human being. Managers will be interested in bugs you fixed and the features you made. Your work will show everything by itself.
Low Hierarchy
In many companies in Finland, there will be a very simple hierarchy with almost no bureaucracy. People are trusting each other by default, so there is no need for extra middlemen between you and the responsible person. If you need to buy equipment or go to a conference, this will save a lot of time negotiating and meeting.
Inclusive Environment
It means that here in Finland all people are welcome no matter their native language, race, sexual orientation, or gender. Most of the jobs for software professionals are posted with English as the main language which makes it very attractive for those who are not speaking the local languages. In reality, it is working also because the younger the company the more it is interested in new specialists and for them, the communication will happen in the international language without any problems.
Nature
Around 65 percent of the total area of Finland is covered by forests. There are 40 national parks to choose from. The closest one is situated in a 1-hour drive from the Helsinki city center which is accessible by public transportation. All the parks are marked with various trails with the difficulties from easy to hard ones. Although, a lot of forests and green parks can be found so close to the cities. One foreign student once said to me after traveling for 2 hours by train that he had never seen so many forests, fields, and nature around.
Other cool perks of working in Finland include but not limited to: a great ecosystem with meetups, startup accelerators, local conferences, and hackathons, where people all around the world will come to tell something cutting-edge and important. The IT community in Finland is very international and tolerant of like-minded geeks.
Contact me, I will be happy to tell more about working in Finland and the job searching process here.
This is my article on software development. Please, clap, if you like the article and follow my account to read other stories about motivation and tech. In another one, I am telling my story about becoming a software developer.
