I think it's all relative... I have two colleagues who moved from our offices on the Riviera to our offices in Stockholm, and they gained about 15% take-home salary each, with cheaper rents and public transport. I really don't think anyone's life in Sweden is garbage, as long as you can stand the winters
Minor clarification: I did say relative QoL for a tech worker, meaning less difference between how a low-skilled worker and a tech worker would be remunerated in Sweden vs another country like Poland.
If you're a low-skilled worker, QoL is likely going to be better in Sweden. If you're a tech worker, QoL is almost certainly going to be better in Poland.
My anecdata says otherwise. I still work for a Swedish company and visit frequently. I still know many tech workers who's lives are miserable, quite frankly.
If you go to live and work in Sweden, where will you actually stay? You can't rent an apartment — the waiting list is around 16 years for a decent apartment in the city. It's even several years wait to rent an apartment in the ghetto.
How did your colleagues find apartments? If they didn't buy places or have apartments provided through their employer, I'm guessing they're sub-letting through Blocket.
Work deals with finding apartments, but only by contacting estate agents, the lease is signed and paid by the employee. They're both next to "Skytteholm", apparently it's quite nice and not too far from either city center or airport?
Everyone has a different idea of a reasonable commute distance, but I'd say Skytteholm is pretty far — it's an hour by car to the city. Not sure what the public transport situation is like there.
For reference, Stockholm's suburbia is places like Hägersten.
