What can a geographer do in Finland ?

Auroth · Post by **Auroth** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 6:58 pm

Hi everyone !
I'm a geography student (not geography education) and I have 3 months to finish my second semester (1st year) Finland was always my favorite country and it still is. I want to move Finland in the future but I have some problems about job.

As I said, I'm a geography student. We have also GIS (geographical information system) courses in our department and I'm going to take these as well. In my 4th year, I'm planning to do a short Erasmus trip to Finland and before leaving, I hope I can arrange somethings about my master's degree. But I can complete it in Finland or my own country, I haven't decided it yet. So, I will have bachelor + master's degree in geography also I will take GIS courses + certificates. In this conditions, where or in which professions can I work in Finland ? Is there a website to search or look for it ? GIS jobs are less important for me now because I don't know anything about it yet.

My English level is pre-intermediate/intermediate, it's not good but I'm going to take some courses in next year. Also, I will have plenty of time (2-3 years) to learn Finnish too (actually I have some basic Finnish already, I want to go Finland after learning Finnish) so language will not be a problem.

Thanks.

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caster · Post by **caster** » Thu Mar 19, 2015 10:24 pm

Where you coming from, Have you tried to read the language threads here - its not a joke as it takes yearS to master. Geo business is very common here and so the Geo students - means its a tough market and load of competition - not at all easy to find job as a geographer or in GIS field.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri Mar 20, 2015 8:24 am

roger_roger wrote:One of my friend studied Costal Management and Engineering for 5 years Master's Degree, now he successfully delivers newspapers during the night when most peole are sleeping.

And in statistics he counts as a former foreign student that got employed after graduating = success story.

Auroth · Post by **Auroth** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 12:48 am

Woah, not a good start ..

caster wrote:Where you coming from, Have you tried to read the language threads here - its not a joke as it takes yearS to master. Geo business is very common here and so the Geo students - means its a tough market and load of competition - not at all easy to find job as a geographer or in GIS field.

I'm from Turkey. Since our languages slightly relative, I thought Finnish won't be a problem for me

Even though if it's become a hard language for me, I will try to go through it and do my best. I'm worried about job opportunities more than language or culture.

caster · Post by **caster** » Sat Mar 21, 2015 1:42 pm

Auroth wrote:Woah, not a good start ..

caster wrote:Where you coming from, Have you tried to read the language threads here - its not a joke as it takes yearS to master. Geo business is very common here and so the Geo students - means its a tough market and load of competition - not at all easy to find job as a geographer or in GIS field.
I'm from Turkey. Since our languages slightly relative, I thought Finnish won't be a problem for me Even though if it's become a hard language for me, I will try to go through it and do my best. I'm worried about job opportunities more than language or culture.

Jobs can only be secured with language skills - opportunities are always present - if you are 1 in 1000. Think better

Tiwaz · Post by **Tiwaz** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 8:01 am

Turkish is not going to help. The few (and far between) similarities between Finnish and Turkish have been ruled as being purely coincidence by proper linguists.

I have a feeling that this "turanian"-idealism might still hold some love in Turkey leading to grasping straws like relation to Finno-Ugric language family, but reality is that it is total BS without reality. Of course if we go back enough, odds are that all languages are related by common first ancestor, but it would make as much sense for English speaker to say they can learn Finnish easily because it is (extremely distantly) related to English.

On top of that, geography is not field where there is massive need for workers.

Likewise, culture is not going to be your friend. Finnish culture is quite unique even among all the uniqueness of all the cultures. Culture shock will be harsh, and specially for people from strongly patriarchal and conservative (not to mention islamic) societies even worse. Not to mention the dislike that is building up towards people from such groups due to insane rape levels they succeed achieving.

Lucky for you Turkish people have not succeeded in becoming famous for such deeds, but it does mean that you are closer to "wrong" side of dividing line than for example Italians.
Finland has mainly Kurdish people when speaking of immigration from area of Turkey, who overall are not disliked but their main source of income tends to be.... Pizzas and kebabs. Cheap ones. Some Turks have found employment in other fields, but requires good education and insane amount of luck, which tends to be case for all foreigners who want to come here.

There you go, situation in a nutshell with quick overlook on what kind of reference group you would belong here.
Still interested?

Auroth · Post by **Auroth** » Thu Mar 26, 2015 11:24 pm

Yeah, I will not give up

I know that in western liteature, Ural-Altaic language family idea was abandoned. I just want to indicate some little similarities between Turkish and Finnish. I downloaded a huge Finnish learning language pack. My grammar books are ready, I have a large listening pack, vocabulary lists, dictionaries, music-film packs .. Also I don't have any problems with pronunciation at all.

Beside that, I downloaded a book named Culture Shock! Finland and I've started to read it. It's a society I always wanted to be in. As I said before, culture and language won't be a problem for me (maybe a bit), I believe myself

But, job-related issues became depressive for me lately ..

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:05 pm

Auroth wrote:But, job-related issues became depressive for me lately ..

For many Finns too...

HerraMopsi · Post by **HerraMopsi** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:01 pm

Auroth wrote:job issues became depressive for me lately ..

Can you make a decent Döner kebab/Shawarma? How about Pizzas? Are you comfortable handling pork?

Auroth · Post by **Auroth** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:30 pm

Upphew wrote:
Auroth wrote:But, job-related issues became depressive for me lately ..
For many Finns too...

I know, I know .. I read something that Finland is in a situation like economic repression, depression or something like that

HerraMopsi wrote:
Auroth wrote:job issues became depressive for me lately ..

Can you make a decent Döner kebab/Shawarma? How about Pizzas? Are you comfortable handling pork?

I'm not a muslim so I don't have any problems with pork. And yes I'm a skillful cook and I worked in a small food restaurant before. Why ?

HerraMopsi · Post by **HerraMopsi** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:37 pm

Auroth wrote: And yes I'm a skillful cook and I worked in a small food restaurant before. Why ?

From what I've seen, opening a Pizza/Kebab place is the way most Turks fulfill their 'Finnish dream'. The business model seems to rely on importing cousins and using them as a free workforce while you hold on to their passports.

caster · Post by **caster** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 11:41 pm

Auroth wrote:
Upphew wrote:
Auroth wrote:But, job-related issues became depressive for me lately ..
For many Finns too...
I know, I know .. I read something that Finland is in a situation like economic repression, depression or something like that

HerraMopsi wrote:
Auroth wrote:job issues became depressive for me lately ..

Can you make a decent Döner kebab/Shawarma? How about Pizzas? Are you comfortable handling pork?
I'm not a muslim so I don't have any problems with pork. And yes I'm a skillful cook and I worked in a small food restaurant before. Why ?

Because the last time a Turkish sold his running pitza business was for 3 million

so called the turkish donar kebab business in particular - as someone pointed out here

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 6:00 pm

You sound rather ditzy.

You don't even know exactly what is going on economically in Finland? I think you need to do some serious research about Finland.

Auroth · Post by **Auroth** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:17 pm

Flossy1978 wrote:You sound rather ditzy.

You don't even know exactly what is going on economically in Finland? I think you need to do some serious research about Finland.

Ditzy ?

I know Finland isn't in a perfect economic condition, just I don't know much about it. I read an article about "-ssion"ist thing about Finland's economy but I couldn't remember its contents.

caster · Post by **caster** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 9:37 pm

Flossy1978 wrote:You sound rather ditzy.

You don't even know exactly what is going on economically in Finland? I think you need to do some serious research about Finland.

Being ditzy or empty headed is better than learning about economics by amateurs - Research about Finland shows immigrants who were jobless in bullish markets of Finland are without jobs also when the so called economy is down - So is their any correlation between economy and immigration. No, not for immigrants but yes for so called expats who by default don't even pay full tax and always on a look for high trend economies to earn their living

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