How I got a job as web developer in Norway

Norway is a beautiful country in northern Europe. Imagine tall mountains, long coastlines with fjords (like long bays cutting into the land), and even islands way up north in the Arctic! Many Norwegians love the outdoors, and it’s a great place to see the Northern Lights.

However, I didn’t come to Norway to see the fjords, although they are beautiful. I came here for family reasons.

In Norway, family time is highly valued. For those who like spending quality time with loved ones and pursuing hobbies and personal interests, Norway offers an ideal environment.

Landing in Norway as a young man, I transitioned straight into adulthood as a freshly graduated IT technician. Unfortunately, the language barrier and lack of connections made finding IT work a challenge. So, for several years, I took on jobs in various industries, from construction to warehouse work. I felt that my live went in wrong way, so I decided to get my dream job as web developer!

To see which technologies were most in demand, I conducted a market survey. Interestingly, most job postings for developers seemed to focus on the Java and C# tech stacks. This was entirely unexpected for me, as I had learned PHP as backend language in school.

I decided to refresh my knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript. As expected, it was absolutely fantastic to jump back into programming! I’ve been dedicating every free minute, evening, and weekend to learning.

I knew that it is important to have a portfolio and/or Github account with hobby projects. This is especially valuable for aspiring developers seeking their first job, as it demonstrates your skillset to potential employers.

Since I live in a small city, Molde, I expected that my family and I might need to relocate to a larger city with more job opportunities, such as Oslo or Kristiansand. I sent a few CV to companies in Oslo, without any anwser.

However, after a few months, I discovered a suitable job opening in Molde itself. I sent my CV, and the recruitment process began. After some e-mail conversations, they asked me about my certifications and hobby projects.

I was nervous to show my Github repository, but fortunately it was good enough to land me an initial interview that was intended to check my skills in Norwegian, I’m not fluent in Norwegian, but fortunately good enough to go to the next step.

They invited me to visit their agency. I got a few small tasks in SASS/CSS and JavaScript, and I fixed all of them. At the end of the day, I spoke with the leader, and she said they would give me an answer in a few weeks.

It was looooong weeks for me, but I got a positive answer!

Now, in 2024 it looks like marked is not as good as earlier. There are much more developers than few year ago. In my opinion there is a few things to remember:

Norwegian language — yes, it’s is very important. You can’t expect to speak English on meetings with clients. It’s is not professional in my opinion. Howewer I know some people who got a job without knowing Norwegian

Work in office — event if it’s normall to work remote these days, I think it is important to start the job in the office with other developers, especialy for begginers

Want to learn — personally, I think this is the most important. IT field is very dynamically and if you want be good, you need to learn all the time

There is few websites you can start explore for find a job:
Finn.no
LinkedIn
Indeed.com

That is my story how I got my developer job in Norway. I hope you enjoyed this post, thanks for reading.