Getting a job in Norway without speaking Norwegian is realistic through staffing agencies (bemanning) that hire foreigners for physical labor, and the later move into office roles — especially IT — happens through English and relevant skills, while Norwegian catches up alongside the job.

In short

  • In Norway, a diploma and work experience from home don’t count at the start — entry often happens through a staffing agency (bemanning) and physical labor.
  • The entry bar into IT is lower than the language barrier: English and the ability to write code matter more than perfect Norwegian.
  • An internship at a local company turned into almost five years of work and launched an IT career.
  • A foreigner earns trust at a Norwegian company through action: one crisis project solved in half a day changed colleagues’ attitude.
  • Over 10 years, the career grew from intern to CTO responsible for AI implementation, and the 2016 move never became a final decision to stay forever.

Where working in Norway without the language starts: staffing agencies and construction sites

At the start, a diploma and work experience from back home don’t matter: in Norway, a newcomer isn’t seen as a trained specialist but as someone with no language and no connections. One of the people interviewed describes it bluntly — a master’s degree and prior work experience interested no one, because he was a Pole who had just arrived, knowing neither the language nor the local culture.

a master’s degree and prior work experience interested no one, because he was a Pole who had just arrived, knowing neither the language nor the local culture

When he arrived in Norway, he knew only two people in the country — his fiancée and her stepfather — and the only Norwegian he could say was “hi, my name is.” From that starting point, the path had to be built from scratch.

The typical entry point in a case like this is a staffing agency, bemanning. It’s an intermediary that takes on people without the language or professional qualifications and sends them to various jobs — wherever physical labor is needed, with no interviews in Norwegian and no diploma checks. One of the people interviewed started his career in Norway exactly this way: the staffing agency moved him from site to site until he ended up on a construction crew — a common first job for Poles arriving in the country.

Starting from zero

In Norway, a diploma and work experience from home don’t help at the start: without the language, the path begins at a staffing agency and in physical labor like construction.

How to move from manual labor into IT without a relevant degree

The move from construction into IT wasn’t a ready-made path on the Norwegian job market — it was a personal goal that had to be pursued through self-discipline and long hours on top of a regular job. Back home, one of the people in this story worked in marketing, sales, and operations, but continuing that career path in Norway without connections and flawless Norwegian turned out to be nearly impossible. Programming, on the other hand, had been a long-standing hobby since before the move, and in IT the language threshold is lower: English and the ability to write code in some programming language matter more than perfect Norwegian. That became the reason to switch direction — even with “shaky” Norwegian, it was possible to get hired at a company to write code.

In practice, three things ran in parallel: paid work that covered rent and daily life, learning Norwegian, and working on personal projects on the side. A portfolio built up gradually — first a simple website or a small project for one company, then a job for the next one, then referrals. These projects are what caught employers’ attention.

The turning point was an internship: when word came of a local company looking for interns, the decision to try led to almost five years of work at that company — the internship secured the newcomer in the profession and launched his IT career.

Getting into IT

The entry bar into IT is lower than the language barrier: English and the ability to write code matter more. A portfolio of small projects and referrals opens the door to an internship.

Why a foreigner at a Norwegian company gets treated as an outsider

The feeling of being an “outsider” at a Norwegian company isn’t about discrimination: it’s simply that you’re not one of them — until you prove otherwise. At the company where one of the specialists was hired, he became the second foreigner among roughly 20-plus employees, and the first was an Englishman who communicated only in English, even though the company was Norwegian.

That same colleague gave him a warning: here you need to “push harder” — work noticeably more than the locals, because foreigners are seen differently. The advice turned out to be questionable, but at the start that’s exactly how it played out: the newcomer got the worst or least developmental projects compared to everyone else — he had to start from the bottom and work his way up.

The turning point was a single project — for a local football club known for having produced a player who went on to the national team. The project had fallen behind by about two weeks, the client was getting nervous, and the budget was draining away. After figuring out what was wrong, the specialist and a colleague took it upon themselves to fix it — and closed in half a day what the client’s own team had been struggling with unsuccessfully for almost two weeks.

closed in half a day what the client’s own team had been struggling with unsuccessfully for almost two weeks

After that, attitudes at the company changed: it became clear these two “could actually do something,” and they started getting trusted with more complex tasks — the proof came through action, not words. Working abroad generally demands more effort than working back home, and this period was the hardest of all.

Migrant family against a Norwegian landscape ten years after moving from Poland
Ten years after the move, the feeling of home in Norway is no less than the feeling of home in Poland
The cost of being ‘the outsider’

Until proven otherwise through work, a foreigner at a Norwegian company gets handed the worst projects — despite no outright discrimination.

From junior developer to executive: ten years of career growth

The first company, where he started as an intern, became home for almost 5 years. After that, employers changed twice more — each time it was a move to a more complex project and a higher position, not a retreat. The team of Polish programmers he managed to build at one stage eventually grew to 8–9 people — a result of the reputation earned on difficult tasks that used to be entrusted only to local employees.

The next leap was moving from a digital agency, where he ran small projects, to a major project with an annual budget in the tens of millions and a large team reporting to him. The scale of responsibility was incomparable to anything before: a mistake at this level meant not a lost client for the company, but fines in the millions.

a mistake at this level meant not a lost client for the company, but fines in the millions

The next move came from that large project with a budget in the tens of millions — where he was responsible for the risk of multimillion fines — into an IT corporation, where he worked as a consultant; he doesn’t plan to keep working in that kind of role. His new position is at a smaller company, with a new title: CTO, responsible among other things for implementing artificial intelligence, with a much larger share of independent, essentially entrepreneurial work.

Ten-year career path: from intern to CTO

Each move brought a jump in task complexity and level of responsibility.

  • Intern at the first companyabout 5 years
  • Digital agency, small projectsMove to a more complex position
  • Major project with a budget in the tens of millionsResponsible for the risk of multimillion fines
  • IT corporation, consultant roleTransitional stage, not planning to continue in it
  • CTO at a smaller companyAI implementation, independent work

Is it worth leaving for good: doubts, quality of life, and the option to go back

The move in 2016 wasn’t meant to be permanent emigration: the Polish couple planned to live in Norway for a year or two or three, then go back — there was no shortage of family in Poland, and the way back always seemed open. The plan stretched into ten years: in July they marked a decade since the move, and the decision to stay was never consciously made — it simply happened on its own.

Over those years, there were at least three moments when he wanted to give it all up. The first came a few months after the move, with the realization that an orderly life in Poland was behind him, and here was construction work and vegetable-sorting jobs, and that was all he could manage. The second was during the pandemic, when borders closed, travel became impossible, and the daughter born around that time was kept from seeing her grandparents for a long stretch — no one could help the young parents come visit. The third came after the move into the major project with a budget in the tens of millions of kroner, a few months into the job: the sheer scale of responsibility in the new role hit hard — too sharp a jump from everything before it.

Despite all that, ten years on, the feeling of “home” in Norway is no different from the feeling of home in Poland — there’s almost no difference between the two countries for him. Some Polish emigrants, in his observation, feel like outsiders because of the language, the culture, the food, or the absence of familiar Polish grumbling, but personally he never felt that gap.

Going back to his profession in Poland would be possible without trouble and without a pay cut — his field pays just as well back home. What keeps him there isn’t income but quality of life: a calmer pace, no constant rush from morning to night, and a wide circle of close friends, both Polish and Norwegian. So there’s no clear-cut answer on whether the family will stay in Norway forever: the decision, just like in 2016, may simply happen on its own, depending on how the children grow up.

Ten years without a final decision

A one-to-two-year plan stretched into ten years without a conscious decision to stay — despite three moments when he wanted to give it all up.

Frequently asked questions

Can you move to Norway without knowing Norwegian and find work right away?

Yes, a typical entry point is staffing agencies (bemanning), which place newcomers without the language or a diploma into physical labor, such as construction work. No interviews in Norwegian and no diploma checks are required there — just hands willing to work.

What level of Norwegian do you need to get into IT in Norway?

For a developer role, English and the ability to write code matter more than flawless Norwegian — you can get hired at a company to write code even with “shaky” Norwegian, unlike fields such as marketing or sales, where it’s nearly impossible to build a career without fluent language skills and connections.

How long does it take to move from physical labor into an IT career in Norway without a relevant degree?

There’s no fixed timeline: the transition took more than a year and required juggling paid work, learning the language, and building personal projects at the same time. The turning point was an internship, after which almost five years of work followed at the same company.

Can you move back home after many years in Norway without a pay cut?

Based on this person’s experience — yes: going back to his profession in Poland would be possible without trouble and without a drop in income, since his field pays just as well back home. What keeps him in Norway isn’t salary but quality of life — a calmer pace and a close circle of friends.

Is it normal for a foreigner to be given less interesting projects at a new job in Norway at first?

Yes, this is a common situation at the start: a foreign newcomer initially gets the worst or least developmental tasks compared to local employees, and the only way to change that is to prove competence through actual work, not words.

Should you believe the advice that a foreigner needs to work harder than locals to be accepted?

This advice came from a fellow foreign colleague, and at the start of his career he really did work more than everyone else, but he himself sees this strategy as questionable and, in his own view, regrets buying into it.