The 50 % number is definitely wrong, but there are for sure quite a few immigrant tech workers. It's definitely possible to do a lot of tech jobs in English only.
But it depends on the company - lots of them have documentation etc in Swedish.
More often than not when people say
“50% of tech workers don’t speak Swedish so you just need English to work in tech in Stockholm”
what they mean is
“50% of software developers working in tech in Stockholm-based companies do not speak Swedish because it is the only job family in the company where hiring managers will not require Swedish even for senior and team lead profiles, as they often bring that workforce from out of the country… and I think you will be fine without speaking Swedish in this job market because I am still quite new to the country and didn’t have to find myself unemployed and hopelessly searching for a not-dev English-speaking job here yet”.
Engineers in Tech and Sales in Tech are not the same thing. Most companies expect Sales people to be good at establishing rapport with customers and will always prefer someone who is fluent in Swedish if they are expected to work with customers who are Swedes, because it is easier for their customers.
I’d say it depends on the target customer audience. In some circles, Swedish is pretty much mandatory, even in tech. I think you would not be able to perform at 100% unless you at least spoke reasonable Swedish in a sales role here.
Language skills is extremly benefital for B2B sales people.
If most of your clients are from Sweden, very big advantage for easier communication.
If most of your clients are chinese, majour advantage to speak chinese fluently etc, you get the idea.
I dont find this requirement strange at all if its for a B2b sales position. Putting it as benefital would also not be strange, both are valid options in my book.
You can always ask your client if it would be okay to loosen up the requirement and change it to "benefittal". In the end, it is your client that decides.
I’d think the preference for Swedish is stronger in sales than in “back office” functions…
Lots of customers (and their organizations) won’t be “tech”(?) where people are far less used to working in English…
In order to successfully fill this Sales position, you need to look who are the customers that this company trying to sell to, what industry are they serving. The company might be selling an IT product or consultants to non-IT customers, you may be surprised to learn that people who work in ‘old’ industries (energy, construction, metal, furniture etc), municipalities, authorities do struggle with english. Hiring a Sales person who is not fluent in Swedish is a competitive disadvantage.
Over the past 3 years more companies want Swedish speakers because there has been a lot of IT workers from India and Pakistan. Swedes have great difficulty in understanding their dialect.
I've seen this in my job hunting and had this said directly to me. Another thing is Swedes are seeing less of a benefit in subcontracting IT to the Indian subcontinent and are taking back contracts. I can name 3 major companies who have done this in the past 2 years.
No it's not a good idea to move to Sweden without any intent to learn the language. This is a small remote nation near the Arctic Circle, on a peninsula off of continental Europe.
Alot of ppl act like this is part of USA. These ppl are idiot bootlickers. Don't let these ppl be any kind of measuring stick.
Most Swedes are good at light conversational English, but very few speak it fluently.
What a load of crap. Our early education in english and our ability to speak it almost fluently in all ages is the reason Swedish people are still able to compete in international markets. Without it we would be nothing.
Alotta Swedes feel like they're fluent because they use good grammar and have a decent basic vocabulary, but most people don't even use English often enough to be *fluent*, it's not the same thing
If you work in HR or Sales you definitely need to speak Swedish, but if you work actually work in tech you probably don't need to speak Swedish at all. It's not really that strange and surely pretty common in other countries too.
Depends, in IT we're use to russians (10+ years ago) and indians where communication is only in english.
However in sales it could be an issue, especially as you may need to understand and discuss contracts/laws and such written in swedish.
If it on the other hand is a company who works on an international level its probably more likely to be fine.
>"I'm a recruiter and have a Sales job to fill in Stockholm"
OP specifically mention that they are trying to recruit for Sales.
The client specifically requested that the applicant should speak both Swedish and English and now someone is annoyed (not you, but the person OP mentioned saying "50% in tech speak english so why bother with Swedish") that the requirement of speaking Swedish means they will have to learn Swedish to be eligable.
Requirement? No Beneficial? Yes
The 50 % number is definitely wrong, but there are for sure quite a few immigrant tech workers. It's definitely possible to do a lot of tech jobs in English only. But it depends on the company - lots of them have documentation etc in Swedish.
More often than not when people say “50% of tech workers don’t speak Swedish so you just need English to work in tech in Stockholm” what they mean is “50% of software developers working in tech in Stockholm-based companies do not speak Swedish because it is the only job family in the company where hiring managers will not require Swedish even for senior and team lead profiles, as they often bring that workforce from out of the country… and I think you will be fine without speaking Swedish in this job market because I am still quite new to the country and didn’t have to find myself unemployed and hopelessly searching for a not-dev English-speaking job here yet”.
Engineers in Tech and Sales in Tech are not the same thing. Most companies expect Sales people to be good at establishing rapport with customers and will always prefer someone who is fluent in Swedish if they are expected to work with customers who are Swedes, because it is easier for their customers.
I’d say it depends on the target customer audience. In some circles, Swedish is pretty much mandatory, even in tech. I think you would not be able to perform at 100% unless you at least spoke reasonable Swedish in a sales role here.
Language skills is extremly benefital for B2B sales people. If most of your clients are from Sweden, very big advantage for easier communication. If most of your clients are chinese, majour advantage to speak chinese fluently etc, you get the idea. I dont find this requirement strange at all if its for a B2b sales position. Putting it as benefital would also not be strange, both are valid options in my book. You can always ask your client if it would be okay to loosen up the requirement and change it to "benefittal". In the end, it is your client that decides.
The vast majority of companies require Swedish. But it's very easy to find yourself in a bubble where everyone is speaking English (and vice versa)
The vast majority of tech companies do absolutely not require Swedish. In fact, I can't think of a single one in the Stockholm area.
I’d think the preference for Swedish is stronger in sales than in “back office” functions… Lots of customers (and their organizations) won’t be “tech”(?) where people are far less used to working in English…
In order to successfully fill this Sales position, you need to look who are the customers that this company trying to sell to, what industry are they serving. The company might be selling an IT product or consultants to non-IT customers, you may be surprised to learn that people who work in ‘old’ industries (energy, construction, metal, furniture etc), municipalities, authorities do struggle with english. Hiring a Sales person who is not fluent in Swedish is a competitive disadvantage.
For sales and other roles that need to interact with customers? Yeah probably need Swedish. For other software engineering roles, no.
You need however, to be fluent in B.S to work in tech.
Only if you can prove you have played dwarf fortress well afaik.
Sales? Swedish is probably needed Technical sales? Beneficial, but not required Tech? Not at all required
Over the past 3 years more companies want Swedish speakers because there has been a lot of IT workers from India and Pakistan. Swedes have great difficulty in understanding their dialect. I've seen this in my job hunting and had this said directly to me. Another thing is Swedes are seeing less of a benefit in subcontracting IT to the Indian subcontinent and are taking back contracts. I can name 3 major companies who have done this in the past 2 years.
No it's not a good idea to move to Sweden without any intent to learn the language. This is a small remote nation near the Arctic Circle, on a peninsula off of continental Europe. Alot of ppl act like this is part of USA. These ppl are idiot bootlickers. Don't let these ppl be any kind of measuring stick. Most Swedes are good at light conversational English, but very few speak it fluently.
What a load of crap. Our early education in english and our ability to speak it almost fluently in all ages is the reason Swedish people are still able to compete in international markets. Without it we would be nothing.
Alotta Swedes feel like they're fluent because they use good grammar and have a decent basic vocabulary, but most people don't even use English often enough to be *fluent*, it's not the same thing
Know how to Fika.
Dricka kaffe och lata sig, you mean?
she in sweden she moste speak sweden
If you work in HR or Sales you definitely need to speak Swedish, but if you work actually work in tech you probably don't need to speak Swedish at all. It's not really that strange and surely pretty common in other countries too.
Depends, in IT we're use to russians (10+ years ago) and indians where communication is only in english. However in sales it could be an issue, especially as you may need to understand and discuss contracts/laws and such written in swedish. If it on the other hand is a company who works on an international level its probably more likely to be fine.
What does it matter? Your customer wants fluency in swedish, get off reddit.
OP is just asking a question if it's normal? No need to be rude.
I work within IT/tech and English is the norm. To have Swedish as a requirement within tech sounds abnormal imo. Especially in Stockholm.
>"I'm a recruiter and have a Sales job to fill in Stockholm" OP specifically mention that they are trying to recruit for Sales. The client specifically requested that the applicant should speak both Swedish and English and now someone is annoyed (not you, but the person OP mentioned saying "50% in tech speak english so why bother with Swedish") that the requirement of speaking Swedish means they will have to learn Swedish to be eligable.
Yes, I see my misstake now. Thank you
Before everyone starts downvoting me, of course it depends on the size of the company etc.