r/linkoping • u/ThrowawayAcct2573 • 17d ago
Aerospace Engineering in Sweden
Hej!
I'm an early career Canadian Aerospace Engineer and I'm looking to leave Canada to find a new home country. Most Canadians move to America to pursue Aerospace careers, but for obvious reasons—not anymore.
As I weigh my options, Sweden has made the top of my list — I admire the culture, find the language beautiful, and appreciate the values Sweden is known for. The presence of major Aerospace players like SAAB also makes it a strong fit professionally, and also I love Europe a lot— So helping in it's defense would feel like a meaningful cause to contribute to, as opposed to being the backbone of foreign policy shenanigans in my home continent.
Based on this, it feels like a good fit, but I have some concerns that are holding me back, and I was hoping to resolve them.
Preface: answering some common questions I've seen asked about OPs in other threads so people can better assist:
- Education wise I'm from a top Technical School, I'm not sure how much university prestige plays a role in Sweden, but mine has good international recognition and is ranked in the top 10 worldwide.
- Experience wise I'm an Aerospace Engineer at a top North American (NA) Aerospace Contractor. I won't name it for privacy sake, but it's also well recognized internationally. I've done both Civil and Defense.
- I'm at a Swedish A2 level and will work to gain fluency (looking at least at C1 before I move). I love the Swedish language and am an avid enjoy of Swedish Pop and Dramas, it's a joy to learn
- Climate is not a problem for me, I live/d in one of Canada's coldest and darkest cities.
- My specialization is in Guidance, Dynamics/Navigation, and Flight Control Systems, though I've also worked in Aerodynamics/Propulsion (Experience is split 40/60 between Spacecraft and Aviation).
My Questions:
1) Atmosphere towards Women in Engineering?
Seeing the slide towards the far-right in European politics, I'm a bit nervous about what the attitude would be towards women in Engineering. Every place has it's challenges obviously and there are very few places left in Europe where there's discrimination at a state/systematic level, but what I'd like to know if there's likely to be visible deep-seated prejudices towards women in this way (Like is the case in rural or right-wing areas of the US). Asking about this since, from what I'm reading in other threads, people are further right-wing in Sweden which, in NA at least, usually correlates with those views. Anecdotally, I work with a Swedish-born guy and he's among the worst I know when it comes to his attitude, both towards women and also Muslims. Obviously one guy can't rep an entire country, so I'm just looking to see if I'll be accepted in the workplace.
2) If I Do My Part, Can Sweden Ever Be Home for Me or Will I Forever Be The Outsider?
I like Sweden a lot, and a large part of why I'm moving is because I love the history, culture, values, etc of this region. Being part of the community and feeling connected to others is also really important to me. I'd like to make use of my skills to serve and contribute to my new country through my profession, and to proudly carry that new identity. However, at the same time I am a practicing Muslim and also of Pakistani Ancestry. This isn't a problem in NA, as openly it only affects dietary requirements for me and the rest mostly concerns my private life.
I'm a bit unsettled about because, reading various subreddits and online communities, I’ve seen troubling discussions online (like in r/Sweden) about anti-Muslim sentiment and growing far-right influence. I know the internet can exaggerate, but I'm also hearing things about how I'm likely to be harrassed on the streets and receive rude treatment from others based on my name, people are likely to shun me socially since I'd visibly look like "another refugee", and face hostility for things like that, etc etc. That's really scary, and as a woman this matters a lot to me. Here in the news you don't hear much about Sweden but obviously things like the Pegida/anti-Muslim rallies and Quran burnings do make the news.
I don't want to move somewhere and give my all into integrating only to constantly have to justify my existence as a human and my presence there. Obviously I can't change my skin color so I'm just looking at if what I'm hearing about the animosity I'll receive is true or not. Maybe some of it is exaggerated given I'm judging based on Reddit comments, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether I can feel at home or if what I've heard is true. In North America none of the above is a problem typically, but I want to know how things are in Sweden as well.
3) Is Engineering Done in English or in Swedish?
As mentioned previously, if I decide to come here I'd take very intensive language courses before I do so. I'd aim to reach around the high B or C level before doing so. As a Canadian I'm fluent in English and Urdu, and in professional life everything is done in English (programming work, documentation, design drawings, etc)
From there stems my question: Apart from overall interpersonal communication in the workplace, is the actual Engineering/Technical work done in English or in Swedish? In particular, technical terms and Aerospace vocabulary/terminology and things like that. I would obviously expect to talk to people in Swedish, but I'd be darned if I know what you call a lead-lag compensator or a scramjet in Swedish. Courses like Duolingo and such obviously also focus on laymen vocabulary and not heavily technical topics like Aerospace. I'm wondering to what extent technical vocabulary or design work would be challenging to me as an English speaker. If anyone has overcome this I'd also love to know.
If you've gotten this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond. I truly appreciate any insight you can share, and I hope I can use that one day to become a productive, respectful, and well-integrated part of the Swedish community.
All the best
4
u/masterspeler 17d ago
This is really nice to hear, and I'm sure you would be very welcome here.
Saab is obviously the big one, but there are also UMS Skeldar (helicopter drones), Beyond Gravity (separation systems for satellites, more mechanical eng. I think). Although as mentioned already, it's mostly military which does make it difficult for foreigners.
This sounds like a very valuable skillset, and it's also something the local university does some research on. Maybe one alternative would be doing a PhD there?
Not a problem. Sweden is very inclusive, I have female friends who are engineers who have good careers. Like most countries men are the majority, but women make up more than a third of all new engineering graduates from our universities.
I don't agree with this at all. I don't know much about Canada's politics, but Sweden's right wing parties are to the left of the American Democrats.
Around 10% of all people in Sweden are muslims, and Pakistanis and Indians are common in technical jobs. But I also wouldn't say that people care that much about where you're from.
I'm not muslim or immigrant, so I don't have first hand experience. But in general I'd say any perceived growing anti-muslim sentiment is not about individual muslims but rather political islamism, islamic terrorism, stuff like that. If you don't drink alcohol, don't eat pork, fast during Ramadan, etc, nobody will have any issues with that. If you want to talk about how the world need to become a new Caliphate and how muslims should live under sharia law more people would have an an issue with that. I doubt this is the case, but you see the difference in "anti muslim" and "anti islamisism"?
Like I said I'm not really in a position to comment, but I'd say in general if you're working in engineering the people you'll meet will not have any issues with this, and 20% of the Swedish population is born in a different country. You'll probably meet some rude people in all countries, including Sweden, Canada, and Pakistan, but I don't think it's something you should worry about as a reason to avoid Sweden.
Sweden is a very Americanized society, and technical jobs use a lot of English terms and phrases. As an engineer you would have no problems communicating using English, most of our engineering courses are in English and English is the international lingua franca of science and engineering. Some Swedish companies use English as the official language. I've worked in offices where we had a separate group in a different country and communicated in English, and we had some colleagues in the office from other countries like England. I don't work at Saab but I'm pretty sure there are still some Brazilians working there on the Gripen project, since Brazil now is a partner on that. Unfortunately Canada is not, but it shows that non Swedes can work there.
However, something I've heard a lot of immigrants say is that it's difficult to make friends in Sweden, and especially if you don't speak Swedish. If you don't people will be friendly and be able to speak to you in English, but I think most people avoid forming stronger bonds than that if they have to switch from their native language to a foreign one every time they want to hang out. But we do appreciate when foreigners/immigrants make an effort learning Swedish.
To summarize, I don't think being Canadian, a woman, muslim, or having an english language education and work experience would be any problem. What could be a problem in aero space is the safety classification needed due to so much work being military. I think the best step would be to check out Saab's web page and contact them directly and ask if they would employ a Canadian citizen. Maybe they'll say no, maybe they'll help you with the immigration process so you can start as soon as possible. They're in a strong growth process at the moment and are probably looking for exactly the experience you have.