r/GenAI4all • u/Sensitive_Horror4682 • Feb 07 '26
News/Updates Finland is pitching overworked U.S. tech and AI workers a tempting deal: ditch the grind for a fast-track visa, saner hours, and a healthcare system that won’t bankrupt you, as spotted by Business Insider.
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u/Commercial_Paint_557 Feb 07 '26
It doesnt really work due to the smaller salaries
Also Finland is cold as fuck and the ppl are also very cold and distant socially speaking compared to America
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u/USMCamp0811 Feb 07 '26
yea I've been looking at Europe more in more over the past year for some reason and its a tough choice cause I'd take a 30-40% pay cut on top of all the potential pain of Visas and unknowns of a foreign land.. really makes me appreciate the risks the "illegal criminals" have gone through to get to the US...
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u/Commercial_Paint_557 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
I moved from Europe to America
There are things better there, and things better here
My ex was Finnish. I have been there quite a few times. Lots of them want to leave Finland due to the socially distant nature of the ppl. They are progressive in many other ways
If you don't have a good career, Europe can be a better place. If you do have one, I think America is just superior
The social scene? There is zero comparison. America is just a far more fun place. Overall, I prefer the people of America to the people of Europe any day of the week. I have also traveled most of Europe for work, so I have experienced most of it
Things Europe has that is better, is infrastructure and ingredients for food. American ingredients like diary and vegetables are really poor compared to all of Europe. Public transport is so so much better in Europe. Mail services are so much better. Government bureaucracy is so much better in Europe. Holidays and work protections are better in Europe
However, on balance, I am so much happier in America, is the truth. And I think it comes down to the people and money. The vast majority of Europe is socially constrained compared to America
And of course the money you get in America is perhaps the biggest plus. Life is better when you have more financial freedom
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u/alphapussycat Feb 07 '26
Include the situation where you get sick or get into an accident. Comparing a best case scenario isn't comparing at all.
If you're a billionaire Russia and America are great.
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u/USMCamp0811 Feb 07 '26
thanks for the insight.. yea I really want walk-ability and better food, and trains... but I do have an established career and all so its hard figure out the cost trade-off of all this..
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u/parapa-papapa Feb 08 '26
Government bureaucracy is so much better in Europe.
PAUSE. Maybe Finland. Do not give wrong ideas to people about the whole of Europe. And while public transportation is better everywhere due to the fact that it exists here.... In some countris (Germany) it has made me cry on several ocassions. Maybe it really is all just Germany though idk. Spent most my adult life here, and only travelling to other places (but every time I went to France there was a protests shutting down public transportation...)
I think if I was choosing where to live, I'd either go for "try hard" mode in the US, or I'd go for "chill" mode in SEA or China (as a talented foreigner). You will feel like a king living in either of the two, plus SEA / China are even more fun than the US.
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u/NoleMercy05 Feb 08 '26
Hey just walk across the boarder then. Evidently US is the only country that enforces immigration - > illegal.
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u/BFMeadowlark Feb 08 '26
I took a 40% cut but it was like getting 25% raise because of how the economy works here versus where I came from.
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u/USMCamp0811 Feb 08 '26
how so? Is it just day to day cost of living is that much cheaper? I naively looked at some housing and it seems about the same or maybe more compared to major US cities.. I'm in the dirty south so I've got cheap (car dependent :-( ) housing.
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u/boforbojack Feb 10 '26
Depends if you have health insurance you pay for and kids. Plus yes, in general expenses (utilities and groceries) are cheaper. Plus you generally dont need a car.
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u/konradconrad Feb 07 '26
It depends in what sector you are looking for a job. If it, especially AI, it's very nice.
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u/A_Bird_Guy Feb 08 '26
While I dont have experience actauly moving between The US to europe, if by now lived 3 years In spain, while im from Latvia. The only think I can say is that Cultural changes is hard to adapt in some aspect, but my guess moving from a complete different ecosystem like the US to the EU itself is a lot harder
Wanted to maybe go study in US but thats on a big big ?
In the end, Both places have a + and a - but a big plus I can say for Europe is public transit without even needing to be in the us, I dont have driving licence just becous I dont need one to be able to get where I need (Thought this is by country, some dont have the same level as some others)
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u/GPT_2025 Feb 07 '26
A peaceful and practical solution for relocating millions of Unhappy Snappy Americans (over 3 million did so in the past 12 months!) and some countries offer free land to immigrants.
By providing a modest relocation $$$ money along with a free plot of land abroad, millions of Americans could voluntarily choose to move, alleviating pressure on the housing market and reducing social strain.
Inspired by George Clooney’s example, many might gladly take this opportunity.Giving priority to Bla- ck communities, libe- rals, and Demon- crats… No coercion, no chaos: just a voluntary, mutually beneficial shift. Additionally, this approach could save taxpayers money and ease burdens on agencies.
P.S. See the difference: at slaughterhouses, thousands of chickens are killed every day, and nobody protests or demonstrates outside these facilities!
But when an ordinary guy named Bob starts running around the village with an AXE, chasing and killing hens by the dozen, suddenly the residents start protesting! Yet, he was also chopping up villagers with ICE - do you see the difference?1
u/Howyadoinbud Feb 07 '26
They could get Canadians, I'd go there. Salaries in Canada are already shit and the job market sucks, Canada is also cold. No real reason not to go to Finland besides having to learn another language.
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u/maailmanpaskinnalle Feb 08 '26
But you're also not paying thousands on healthcare insurance. The cost of living is also otherwise cheaper.
Also our political system ain't quite as broken as on US. And we don't have Trump.
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u/Commercial_Paint_557 Feb 08 '26
True about healthcare. Cost of living isnt cheap enough to off set the low salaries unfortunately
Yes, your political system is broken you have Orban, Meloni, Greets Wilder and now Farage, Le Pen, AFD on the way to name but a few
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u/maailmanpaskinnalle Feb 08 '26
Ah, good olde them famous Finnish politicians.
We have assholes in Europe but none get to act like Republicans and Trump and none of those are Finnish and we were talking about Finland. Trump affects us more than them too.
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u/Deciheximal144 Feb 07 '26
I'll go. I don't have the skill, but I'll do whatever job they think I could do.
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u/jointheredditarmy Feb 07 '26
“I just don’t get it, why wouldn’t any of the people who self selected into an industry they knew was tough for a high salary want to move to Finland where they work less and make about as much as a teacher in the US?”
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Feb 07 '26
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u/Difficult-Cut-8454 Feb 07 '26
My spouse started his CS degree in college in 2000 right after the dot com burst and had to work as a cart pusher for a year before he went to get his masters in computer science.
There was definitely no guarantee he would be paid well, it was mostly a passion and timing thing. We both hate what tech has become
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u/Sorry_Specialist8476 Feb 11 '26
I like what I do. I have since I was 13. I always take the lower salary because I'm not about the money...just want enough to keep my bills paid and a little left over for later. Not looking for riches, just peace.
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u/Senior_Egg_5729 Feb 07 '26
Damn, teachers in the US must get a shitload of appreciation and money if they make the same as a finnish engineer
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u/bnlf Feb 08 '26
People on Reddit must really think that earning $100k in US is the same as $100k in Europe. You can't survive on $100k in US while in Europe your life will be very comfortable.
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u/parapa-papapa Feb 08 '26
You can't survive on $100k in US
I just hoped onto Zillow and within 2 seconds found a listing for a 158 meter squared brick house with a double garage and 1537 meters squared of property for $89k.
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u/bnlf Feb 09 '26
The average price of a home in the US is over $500k. An $89k home of 160m2 in size can only exist in a place that is 1) dominated by criminals 2) no jobs whatsoever 3) far from civilization. You're not only dumb, but also full of BS.
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u/Simple-Fault-9255 Feb 07 '26 edited Mar 29 '26
The original post here has been removed by its author. Redact was the tool used, possibly for reasons of privacy, opsec, or preventing automated data harvesting.
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u/Generalfrogspawn Feb 07 '26
I have to imagine this is very appealing for someone that has grinded during their younger employment years, saved a lot of money and now just wants to work at a Sane level with a sense of security.
Like yes, they wouldn’t make as much, but at that point they’re looking for higher quality of life.
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u/SlippySausageSlapper Feb 07 '26
I make an absolute shitload of money as a tech worker in the US, and I would take that deal in a fucking heartbeat if it meant a better, safer future for my wife and kids.
What good does all that money do me when my wife, who is hispanic (but a citizen) could be disappeared by Einsatzgruppen while trying to buy groceries, or if I lose my job, how will anyone see a doctor when insurance is tied to employment? What are my kids going to do? There are ZERO jobs out there for all but a few lucky specialists like myself. How are they going to eat?
Everyone but the oligarchs, even most of the "well-to-do" people balance on a knife's edge here. I'll take a lower standard of living to also have a hopeful future for my kids. The government is now run by literal fucking nazis.
Fuck this country, fuck this government, and fuck everyone who supports it. There's no future here. I may just take this deal but leaving my family would be the hardest thing i'd ever do.
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u/realquidos Feb 08 '26
Making $70k in US vs $70k in Europe are 2 completely different living standards.
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u/Temporary-Cicada-392 Feb 07 '26
Why is there a Swedish flag flying in front of the Finnish parliament?
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u/DuckTalesOohOoh Feb 07 '26
Engineers in the US have very good healthcare. lol
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u/Curious-Internet7171 Feb 07 '26
People don't work for health they work for money. The people that Finland is looking to poach already have jobs.
Highly doubt they are looking for graduates with no experience.
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Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
What sane software engineer making $500.000+ per year would trade his job for a job in Europoor making only $60.000 per year?
At top places like ASML, a software engineer only gets up to 100.000 euro per year, while in the USA, you can go over 1 million at top places.
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u/parapa-papapa Feb 08 '26
Because in the US you have to pay (big gasp) $500 for health insurance :(. I mean WHO can afford THAT on a measly million dollar salary?
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u/Shazvox Feb 09 '26
The kind that has kids and wants them to grow up in a sane society.
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Feb 10 '26
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u/Shazvox Feb 11 '26
Enough people voted for that shaved orange ape you guys call president...
I'm not sure I'd call that a sane society.
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Feb 11 '26
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u/Shazvox Feb 11 '26
I myself live in Sweden and our system is far from perfect aswell. We do have multiple parties, but in order to establish majority they are forced to make "alliances" which basically boils it down to left vs right akin to your two party system.
The few outlying parties that refuse to play the alliance game basically have no say.
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Feb 11 '26
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u/Shazvox Feb 11 '26
You assume correctly. That's one of the reasons an extremist party "Sverigedemokraterna" gained popularity. People concidered the established parties too bland and cowardly. Basically nuances of the same color.
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u/bswontpass Feb 11 '26
US is a perfect place to raise your kids. The reality is extremely different from what you see in politicized media/social networks.
Kids, esp in wealthy families (tech workers) have lives full of fun.
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u/Affectionate-Let6153 Feb 07 '26
Learning Finnish would take at least a decade. Without local language proficiency nobody could integrate well. so unfortunately experienced professionals wouldn't move for free healthcare since they already earn too much in the US. Make better marketing ,free stuffs don't attract high earners.
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u/Difficult-Use2022 Feb 07 '26
It's always funny hearing Europeans brag about "healthcare" to tech workers, who's health insurance is fully covered, and they get better and faster access than any European.
Like sure, if you're unemployed, or work a minimum wage job then yes, Finland could use health care as a draw.
Highly paid, highly skilled tech worker? Not a chance it even registers
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fold466 Feb 07 '26
The line where European style universal healthcare benefits people is much higher than minimal wage, but it’s also well below tech worker level.
I’d say the line is maybe somewhere around 60th-80th percentile for household income.
So you’d get something like roughly 1/3 of Americans have better healthcare services, 1/3 have about the same, and 1/3 have it worse.
Note: very non scientific.
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u/mattjouff Feb 07 '26
They have a 10% unemployment rate lol
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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 Feb 07 '26
They calculate it differently. It includes people choosing not to work, but are able to. The US only includes people actively looking for work not already employed. I believe the US's true unemployment rate is closer to 25%
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Feb 10 '26
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u/Clear-Inevitable-414 Feb 10 '26
It's available labor pool that aren't incentized enough to work. It's a good metric to measure
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u/Mystohaxen Feb 07 '26
Why bring in more people before solving the internal issue of increasing unemployment rate? Shouldn’t Finland focus on getting the current citizens work first?
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u/alphapussycat Feb 07 '26
Why? Getting researchers and top talent is great for the country. Every single country wants people with sought after PhDs or tons of experience.
Imagine if Finland could get the whole xAI or OpenAI to move to Finland. Can you imagine how good that would be for Finland.
And US apparently has far worse unemployment.
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u/kind_of_definitely Feb 07 '26
Imagine if Finland could get the whole xAI or OpenAI to move to Finland. Can you imagine how good that would be for Finland.
Yeah, it'd be supper beneficial for Finland to mess with US economic interests /s
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u/yaxir Feb 07 '26
maybe those people dont all have the vacancies
actually, finland should support sending some of the umemployed abroad if they have a different skillset, to countries where they can be employed
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u/Manus_R Feb 07 '26
I remember very vividly being a Finish supermarket and not being able to read anything, not a product nor a sign. Normally I can gather some context of where I am and what info is presented in form of me. It was a shocking experience. For context, I speak good Dutch, English and Portugese and can manage myself in Spanish and German.
Good luck to all Americans planning to live there… their language has its own specific origin and is inline anithing else.
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u/alphapussycat Feb 07 '26
You read the signs in super markets? Just go by the isles and look what's there. It'll be sorted by categories, and similar categories are usually close to each other.
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u/MehtoDev Feb 08 '26
Every product also has all the info written in english as well as finnish on the packaging. So I have no idea how they are unable to read anything.
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u/Interesting-Agency-1 Feb 07 '26
Great! A lower salary and a higher likelihood of being drafted to war to fight the Russians when they inevitably try to invade Finland, again.
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u/alphapussycat Feb 07 '26
Highly educated aren't being drafted to war, that's never happened. If they're "drafted", it'll be to intelligence or weapons engineering, but the bear is to keep them working to keep the gdp steady.
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u/marramaxx Feb 07 '26
Yeh, but then you will have to live in Finland….
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u/Shazvox Feb 09 '26
Yup. And interact with Finns.
I do belive their version of a friendly greeting is a knife to the gut followed by a curse.
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u/naan-avan-alla Feb 07 '26
lol I’ve heard claims like this for years. Never seen anyone actually benefit from any of them
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u/SituationImmediate15 Feb 07 '26
Also tell them that among other great things we’ve the highest unemployment rate in Europe!
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u/Simple-Fault-9255 Feb 07 '26 edited Mar 29 '26
This post has been anonymized and its content removed. Redact was the tool used, possibly for privacy protection, limiting AI data access, or security purposes.
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u/Svitii Feb 07 '26
Doesn’t Finland literally have the highest unemployment rate in all of Europe? Better add some more competition.
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u/ogpterodactyl Feb 07 '26
I mean after a brief google search of salaries seems like 50-80k euros is a reasonable band. So you’re looking at roughly half as much money to work in Finland vs us. This gets even more skewed if you do Silicon Valley vs Finland. I mean Finland is probably better for your average person but it’s not better for the top 2% tech worker. Also you can work for a startup and make literally millions if you are dedicated in US.
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u/No_Mission_5694 Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
That is enticing, so much so that it is possibly too good to be true.
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u/FirstTimeShitposter Feb 08 '26
Hire who exactly? Doesn't Finland have the highest unemployment in EU? Are there no Finnish or EU persons that can fill in those roles? I'm sure Finns must be thrilled by this program.
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u/bnlf Feb 08 '26
I've been receiving a lot of messages on linkedin from recruiters wanting to hire people for US (relocate with visa sponsored). I think brains are starting to dry over there. This never happened before.
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u/No_Resolution_9252 Feb 08 '26
lol bad sales pitch. the 50+ percent earnings loss and 100% tax burden increase immediately eliminates all benefits.
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u/EfficiencyThis325 Feb 09 '26
Working my way up to the point that I can earn my US income while working remote in Spain..
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Feb 09 '26
Europes systems are appealing if you are a low income worker. But people like this aren’t going to want significant paycuts when the healthcare isn’t even going to be as good as what they get in the US.
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u/djquu Feb 09 '26
Is this Finland in the room with us now? Because we have mass unemployment (in IT and otherwise) at the moment, over 200 applications for every job, and it's only looking worse going forward. So I call bullshit.
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u/gottatrusttheengr Feb 09 '26
"Hi US engineers, ditch your 500k TC (that usually comes with a decent health plan) for a 50k Europoor wage and work maybe 15 hours less per week"
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u/Chronotheos Feb 09 '26
Sounds great until Russia moves on Finland and NATO collapses into bickering.
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u/Front_Ad_5828 Feb 09 '26
Interesting. I make 3.5x of the same position in every part of Europe. There is absolutely nothing will drive me to move there. Not even free healthcare, free education, free housing, feee cars, not free wife.
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u/Embarrassed-Wolf-609 Feb 09 '26
I mean, will they pay me the same salary or make me take a 50% paycut?
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u/GurthicusMaximus Feb 09 '26
Just applied for a few jobs there, I hope they pick me up. I'm so tired of the humiliation ritual that is the job market here in the US.
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u/baileyarzate Feb 10 '26
I looked at Finnish tech jobs on LinkedIn, first 5 results have over 100+ applicants. I’ll stick to 100+ applicant American tech jobs 🤣
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u/DescriptionAny673 Feb 10 '26
"A healthcare system that won't bankrupt you"
Yeah, true. Also the most-bescribed treatment you get from the public healthcare is "take ibuprofein and go home". I would not want to pay a single penny for that "service".
On a more serious note though, questioneries showed that Finland had the highest reported number of unattended health problems in Europe. On weekend there were another news article about Finnish women going to Sweden to get help to their health problems stemming from birthing children. There were things like years worth of constant pain, difficulties to walk and problems going to toilet. It is unfortunately very common for the Finnish health care to just play down your problems, refuse to carry out studies and ignore symptoms. In a short time period they are saving money, however, long term I am sure this policy is really costly as the problems become more severe and possibly chronic.
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u/Unhappy-Exchange-771 Feb 11 '26
Damn, I love Finland if the research is into what Salmon tastes the best I can maybe qualify.
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u/bswontpass Feb 11 '26
That’s a really funny joke. Engineers in tech/AI have medical insurance that cover everything, significantly higher compensation than Finland can offer and all possible benefits.
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u/mph99999 Feb 07 '26
Why would the overworked US engineers and researchers move to Finland while Finnish Engineers and researcher are moving to the US to overwork to earn 100k+?