Denmark...thoughts?

barakus

Hi all,

Thinking of moving from Ireland to mainland Europe as the Girlfriend who is originally from Poland cannot find work here. She is a qualified environmental engineer and also has several years experience as a lab technician here before being made redundant. I am a chef from Ireland and we have a young baby.

We were looking into the possibility of moving to any European country that could offer good opportunities. What are peoples thoughts on Denmark? is it hard to get along without the language at first? Are there any jobs there?

Would appreciate any thoughts people had or any other recommendations on other countrys that would be a good prospect for us. Wages would have to be reasonably good so moving back to Poland with the GF isnt an option at the moment.

Jim2007

I've done some consulting work up there several times, but I've only stayed over for a few weeks at a time. One thing that did hit me hard was how short the days are in winter. Otherwise I enjoyed my visits.

Here is a link that might be useful: Living And Working in Denmark

Jim.

barakus

Thanks Jim. Interesting reading. I will have to go over and check the place out I think. Sounds like they have a well run country in terms of social policies at least. The long winter nights could be a tough one but I think the summers are better than Ireland though.
Whats Switzerland like as a place to live by the way?

Jim2007

Yes I can highly recommend Switzerland. Great work-life balance and plenty of job opportunities, but you need to speak the local language...

Jim.

jimbob4

Hey how is it going,

I am living here in Copenhagen now for the last year. There seems to work for engineers here once you have a good grasp of English. I don't know much about the work situation for chef's. If you have a child you will need Danish in the long run to interact with the social system esp. if your child is attending børnehave and with the child growning up for some part at least in Denmark.

Danish is hard to learn takes a lot of effort esp. as so many Danes English is excellent so they done like to wait around for someone destroying their language

Stuff works over here public transport health care social services but you pay for it. Thats what happens when people turn up on time as my Danish colleagues say.

The Danes are nice people but many people find it hard to break into their company and more so if you have no external connection to the place eg Danish partner. They can be a bit reserved but it's out of respect for your privacy more than anything else.

barakus wrote: »

Hi all,

Thinking of moving from Ireland to mainland Europe as the Girlfriend who is originally from Poland cannot find work here. She is a qualified environmental engineer and also has several years experience as a lab technician here before being made redundant. I am a chef from Ireland and we have a young baby.

We were looking into the possibility of moving to any European country that could offer good opportunities. What are peoples thoughts on Denmark? is it hard to get along without the language at first? Are there any jobs there?

Would appreciate any thoughts people had or any other recommendations on other countrys that would be a good prospect for us. Wages would have to be reasonably good so moving back to Poland with the GF isnt an option at the moment.

deman

Jim2007 wrote: »

One thing that did hit me hard was how short the days are in winter.

There's hardly a difference. Denmark is only very slightly further north than Ireland. It's not exactly something that would hit you hard. Not unless you're from Cork and you moved to Aalborg. I'm in south Finland and I wouldn't say the length of the day in winter hit me hard, just the length of the winter.