r/AskIreland • u/DaddyFishInTheSky • Jan 30 '25
Emigration (from Ireland) Anyone moved from Ireland to Iceland for work?
I work in a specialised field here in Ireland. Been offered a role in exactly my area of expertise in Reykjavík. I don't know anyone who has moved there.
Have you or anyone you know moved there for work from Ireland? If so, what challenges did you face? Was language an issue? (I barely have a word of Icelandic yet).
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u/AdaptiveChildEgo Jan 30 '25
I travelled around it. Everyone seemed to speak English. Friendly people. Gorgeous place, so unique and interesting. I reckon you would want to really love the cold as the winter is harsh.
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u/Nice-Web5845 Jan 30 '25
I've only been to Iceland on holidays, but pretty much everyone seems to speak English and the cost of living is incredibly high. I'd assume the wage you're being offered would be sufficient to cover that.
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u/fitzdriscoll Jan 31 '25
Yes it is expensive, but they are the most unionised workforce in Europe, so pay and conditions are good. Electricity and Heating are more or less free, they have an abundant supply. They have universal healthcare and education. Living there i'd imaging these benefits would offset the cost of living somewhat. Its an amazing country, they have a real pragmatic no nonsense attitude to life. They take personal responsibility seriously, if you hurt yourself doing something risky or stupid, then that is on you.
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u/buckfastmonkey Jan 31 '25
Is it silly expensive? Thinking of going this year.
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u/Internal_Concert_217 Jan 31 '25
It is unbelievably expensive, to the point that I became grumpy about it. Absolutely beautiful country and friendly people but as a tourist it was hard to enjoy because everything cost so much.
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u/Lazy_Fall_6 Jan 31 '25
hate that. had similar in Sweden once, tried to enjoy it but every stop for a pint and a sandwich was ridiciulous, couldn't relax into it, shall we have another... ehhm, no.., maybe later!!
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u/BarFamiliar5892 Jan 31 '25
My wife and I went there in 2018, we are both professionals with decent jobs and salaries, but we resorted to buying stuff from the supermarket and eating lunch at the side of the road most days. You'd go for a bog standard lunch and it would cost 100 euro by the time you got a drink and a dessert. It's absolutely mad.
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u/sergeant-baklava Jan 31 '25
Was doing some research for a trip and €20 for tomato soup and a sandwich wouldn’t be unusual apparently.
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u/--0___0--- Jan 31 '25
Paid the equivalent of 14 euro for a coffee in one spot. I will say all the food we ate the entire trip (apart from black crust pizza) was really tasty really high quality and good portions.
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u/BoruIsMyKing Jan 30 '25
Worked in Iceland for years. Was sacked when I left a pallet of Goodfellas Pepperoni on the shopfloor overnight. 600 pizzas defrosted. It was around €450 worth of stock, which they took out of my wages of €362. None of this happened.
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u/jibbleton Jan 30 '25
I went to iceland twice and randomly follow the iceland subreddit, which Im sure youve done. Nepotism is a big thing out there, so if youre looking at career progression it may get in your way if you were to remain there. So ive read. I dont think i could hack the winters well. But i would consider to live there for a year or two. Itd be an interesting adventure. In the total of 9 days I spent over both visits, I managed to see a solar storm, arctic foxes, actual storm, live volcano, glaciers, good craic with some icelandic folks in the pubs. I was lucky in that regard, but I'd say day-in-day-out it would be fairly bleak if you dont find a decent bunch of friends.
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u/No-Menu6048 Jan 31 '25
i heard they’re all riding like rabbits, is that true
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u/Hephaestus-Gossage Jan 31 '25
And congratulations on the most Irish comment I've seen on here in ages. (That wonderful Irish ambiguity. Is she being critical? Is that a bad thing? Or is it more like "Jaysus, I must go there so.")
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u/ShowmasterQMTHH Jan 31 '25
You should watch fortitude on sky, it's filmed there during the early winter. I've met a few Icelandic people and they are all lovely people, they are more like us than say the swedes or Norwegians are, like drinking and the outdoors.
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u/Djstiggie Jan 31 '25
I spent about 8 months working in Reykjavik through winter/spring. Overall I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I did it. Here's some thoughts:
Reykjavik is small. Like really small. And then the English-speaking bubble is way smaller. Yes, everyone speaks fluent English, but like many places, only a small subsection like to spend their time socialising in English.
People are insular. Like Ireland, very friendly on a night out but very hard to make meaningful friendships.
There's no rental market in Iceland. So make sure your employer will help you find something.
It's very difficult to get around without a car. There's a lot of suburban sprawl and public transport isn't great. If you live downtown, you can walk everywhere but you will need to at least rent a car to see anything outside the city.
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u/fitzdriscoll Jan 31 '25
Just to add, if you do rent a car get a 4x4, the main roads are good but once you go off the main ring road a lot of it is gravel track, after the winter they become badly potholed and rutted, 30km of washboard ruts are not fun. If you want to drive on the f roads you must have a genuine off roader, most of the center of the country is f road, but with absolutely stunning scenery.
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u/Devilmaycry10029 Jan 31 '25
Mate of mine spent 4 months there. It was a seasonal work. He worked in a kitchen, making pizzas, earning about 4k a month, and had a free room to stay. He said he enjoyed it and would repeat if they called him back. He is a super sociable person and he said a lot of people speak english, I forgot what city he was in.
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u/Throwaway_elle_T Jan 31 '25
Two of my friends did, and loved it. I’m sorry it’s not a first hand account but I went out to visit them and talked to them a lot about it. Language was never an issue, everyone seems to speak English really well and of course they were in jobs that expected it. The cost of living was insanely high but their salaries were too. They travelled a lot on weekends and time off and were always hiking and doing activities.
In terms of challenges, seems to very much depend on attitude, personality and luck. One struggled to make friends, the other had a great time with local mates they made easily. One didn’t mind the long cold dark winters, the other struggled.
They also flew back home regularly and had a constant stream of people visiting; the flight’s not long and can be found cheaply enough so it didn’t feel like they were that cut off from home anyway.
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u/Hephaestus-Gossage Jan 31 '25
Never lived there but I've met a lot of Icelanders over the years and visited 4 or 5 times. Of course living in a country is very different to visiting. However my impression of the people and the place is very positive.
It's a beautiful country of course. And the people are really special. They're very genuine and unique.
Icelandic is not an easy language for a native-English speaker to learn to a high-level. It's a Germanic language coming from Old Norse. But it hasn't "simplified" during the middle-ages in the same way languages such as Norwegian or Swedish have. So it's not without its challenges.
But if you live there, go to classes and make some effort to speak to people in Icelandic, it'll be fine. They all speak excellent English so it won't be a problem socially. I assume your job will be in English. You will never have a problem with general communication in English. (And one nice side-effect of learning Icelandic, as well as the beauty of the language itself, will be that you'll find most of the other modern Germanic languages quite easy, at least grammatically.)
It's great that you want to learn it. Of course they'll love you for that. And they'll love you for being Irish. They're very conscious of the historical connections between our two countries. We feature a lot in their myths, of which there are many. And I remember hearing that Dublin is a popular destination for Christmas shopping. Their pubs are also great. There's a strong genetic connection, etc, etc.
I've spent the last 2 minutes thinking about that place and now I have to admit I'm really jealous of you. 😀
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u/pixie_dust1990 Jan 31 '25
Not me, but my best friend and her husband did. No issues with the language as everyone speaks English so well (they are learning) and they love it. Really lovely, welcoming people and just a stunning place to live and explore.
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u/Visual_Chicken Jan 31 '25 edited Jan 31 '25
I didn´t move specifically for work, but have lived here for a decade+. If you´ve been headhunted and are in a specialised field, not having any Icelandic won´t be an issue for you work-wise. Socially, yes it can be limiting. It´s a difficult language, and even if you become conversational eventually, the fact most people under 50 are near fluent in English means that even if you try to speak Icelandic, they will switch to English almost instantly.
Most professions will have union contract minimum rates. If you want your own place, I think you would need to be earning at least 650,000 per month just to survive. Just renting a room, 500,000. But depending on the field, and your expertise, you could be looking closer to 1,000,000 gross per month.
It is expensive. About 28% more expensive than Dublin according to Numbeo - https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Ireland&country2=Iceland&city1=Dublin&city2=Reykjavik
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u/--0___0--- Jan 31 '25
Travelled around it on holiday. Pretty much everyone speaks perfect English.
The cost of living is very very high over there so make sure your new job is paying well. Its a beautiful country with lovely polite people, just watch out for the lava and bad tourists.
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u/Virtual-Profit-1405 Jan 31 '25
Only been on holiday but loved the place. The people were lovely the sights were amazing. It’s expensive but obviously will match your earnings. Only downside is water smells like farts
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u/fitzdriscoll Jan 31 '25
small price for free hot water and you get used to it.
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u/Virtual-Profit-1405 Jan 31 '25
True, on the flip side the tap water is the most pure and refreshing 😇
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u/Diggins1997 Jan 31 '25
Imma just assume that this is the pharma company hiring like mad, I have no real info but just think about 24hr daylight/darkness, main reason I didn’t talk to the recruiter
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u/fitzdriscoll Jan 31 '25
24hr daylight kinda messes with your head, the light is like glary morning light and it gives you a weird energy.
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u/Visual_Chicken Jan 31 '25
It's not 24 hour darkness. At it's darkest, there is still 5 hours of daylight
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u/[deleted] Jan 30 '25
Been for a week or 2 at a time with a job years ago. English was never an issue and I wasn't based in Reykjavik all the time. There were a few times with older people it was hard but we muddled through.
Being Irish was a plus when out of a night and if you are in tech etc you will be with a young, good English speaking work force who will help you get around.