Year in Switzerland reflections

I don’t miss home, but I don’t love Switzerland either. The real impact of moving abroad wasn’t the startup job or the lifestyle upgrade — it was the shift in my mindset.

On the surface, Finland and Switzerland seem nearly identical: polite and reserved people, clean cities, functional bureaucracy. But dig a little deeper, and the cultural fault lines start to show. Swiss work culture is hierarchical and highly preoccupied with appearances. Finnish culture, by contrast, is flat and direct, even brutally honest at times. It’s not always a good match.

Lifestyle-wise, Switzerland delivers. Despite the high cost of living (why wouldn’t you spend an average Finnish net salary on a single bedroom apartment), purchasing power is strong. I live comfortably and save money. But I’ve realized that comfort and income, while nice, aren’t what matter most.

The real shift was psychological. For nearly two decades, I’d toyed with the idea of moving abroad, but never truly acted. I lived 14 years in the same apartment, anxious to even move to a new place in the same city. Then, almost on a whim, I changed countries in a span of less than two months. The jump I’d built up in my mind turned out to be… not that dramatic. That shattered something. In a good way.

Since moving, I’ve been contacted by recruiters for roles in other countries — even some more unusual locales, like Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. And to my surprise, the idea of relocating again feels frictionless. What once seemed bold now feels routine. A few of those opportunities were leadership roles. I didn’t land them, but the fact that I got through multiple rounds shifted something: maybe these roles are closer than I thought. Maybe I’ve been underselling myself.

Switzerland didn’t offer a breakthrough, but it broke the inertia. It removed barriers I once believed were real. And now that they’re gone, the future feels a lot more mobile.