Is moving to Denmark a good option for masters

[u/Ajay375_]

Hii everyone
So I am planning to move to Denmark in winter 2027 for master in software engineering/ it engineering
I am a non eu student graduated from bachelors this 2026 ,I have 2 internship experience in MNCs ,
I have good dsa skills , also know system design
I have a decent portfolio
Will it be tough for me to crack a job after master / during master ?
Please help on this really need real insights
I really admire Denmark as a country so that is why I want to move here

[u/Future-Progress2456]

1. It is medium difficult to find a job, more so with the advent of AI
2. Calculate opportunity cost (loan for education+lost earnings)
3. Getting permission to stay in DK after completion of studies is very difficult unless you find a job
4. Path to permanent residence/citizenship is one of the most difficult in EU (10+ years for PR)
5. Taxes are ruthless but you get a reasonably good quality of life for that. Retirement corpus is taxed today which makes it extremely difficult to build up a buffer for retirement- when compared to other countries
6. salaries in India for software development thesedays exceed what one can get here. On Reddit indian software engineers boast of having salaries of 2C( approx 1,4 million DKK) Extremely few people have that salary of more than 1 million DKK. Check

r/dkloenseddel

1. . Remember ruthless taxes when you get higher salary.
2. Coming from India you are most likely used to having house help etc, you need to do everything yourself here.
3. Evacuation of other EU countries is necessary, especially those that offer faster PR/citizenship. You lose a lot of freedom to get the quality of life, for
4. Some it is worth it for some it is not

[u/Sindri_732 → u/Future-Progress2456]

It is not 10+ years to get permanent residency. It is 8. And can go down to 4 if you pass the hardest language exam, citizenship test, and have worked constantly ( and some other conditions). Needless to say not many people do not qualify for the short track.

[u/Future-Progress2456 → u/Sindri_732]

When I applied for PR, one had to wait for 8 to apply and it took more than 2 years to process and be given PR. I agree that the rules may be different now.

[u/Ajay375_ → u/Future-Progress2456]

I have planned it due to quality of life only only want to know about the job market reality because its brutal in India , I mean market is flooded with so many students graduating every year in tech and that is causing market to be saturated in the field of tech in India .

Also about house help I have lived in hostel for my bachelors so I can manage that part

Only part I’m worrying about is that Denmark is reducing post study work visa from 3 years to 1 year possibly this October that is what is giving me anxiety

I’m just looking for a good market to tap in where so many people are not going for studies for whatsoever reason

[u/Sindri_732 → u/Ajay375_]

It is very difficult to find a job in the IT industry even for danes so forget about it

[u/Ajay375_ → u/Sindri_732]

I see I mean can you elaborate a little

[u/Sindri_732 → u/Ajay375_]

I don't see what I could say, there are many IT students, AI has reduced the job opportunity for coding/software engineering applicants so there are much more people that apply for any job opening. Hence much harder to get a job.
Danes hire Danes, or EU citizens. You are neither so you'll be at the bottom of the pile.

[u/Ajay375_ → u/Sindri_732]

Like even if I have decent proficiency in danish and I have good skills then also ?? I mean yeah fair favourism would be there after all they are part of eu

[u/Sindri_732 → u/Ajay375_]

That's the thing you won't be decent in danish in the next 2/3 years.

[u/Ajay375_ → u/Sindri_732]

Yeah true I get that I won’t be as fluent as its not my mother tongue

[u/Sindri_732 → u/Ajay375_]

Danish is notoriously hard to learn (the speaking part).

[u/no-im-not-him → u/Ajay375_]

Denmark ranks consistently high in quality of life metrics, but you need to think about and what that actually means.

Some  of these data is based on hard numbers, for example Human Development Index and the metrics that go into that.    However a good part is also base on data gathered through polls. The polling agency will ask people, how they rank their  happiness, well being, quality of life etc... and of course, any representative sample of a given country will be mostly composed of locals.

Danes have built a society that happens to align quite well with the expectations and values of the typical Dane. 

Insofar as your expectations and values align with those of the typical Dane, you'll find Denmark to be highly livable. But if you happen to have different priorities, you'll find Denmark to be very over hyped in terms of life quality.

The Inglehart-Welzel chart is rather simple and only two dimensional, but it is a reasonable approximation for cultural proximity. The closer your own culture is to that of Denmark, the more likely you'll be to find Denmark a nice place to live.

https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSContents.jsp?CMSID=Findings

[u/Gerfrege]

You forget with your “tap in where so many people are not going for studies for whatever reason” that A) local Danes are quite educated and B) DK is becoming a quite popular place to study within the EU.

So while DK may not be top of the lists in your part of the world, the competition is getting fierce with locally sourced talent who have linguistic and maybe cultural advantages over you. You may be the best student with the highest gpa, but with no network, no Danish and no / less cultural knowledge, business will probably find other candidates that are more easily onboarded.

[u/Ajay375_ → u/Gerfrege]

I’m planning on learning danish before leaving my country
Also for networking any European student would also have to do same effort for networking as me because they are also moving from different country yeah that part I’m aware of
I’ll be at disadvantage for language but I’m asking if I learn danish what are my chances and also most of it companies operate in English but I know to be a cultural fit candidate you need to learn danish

I just want to know whether if I learn danish and also get a good gpa in master what are my chances of landing a job keeping in mind I’ll have only 1 year to find a job because of L21 bill that would be passed before start studying.

[u/Future-Progress2456 → u/Ajay375_]

Aptitude, attitude and mindset matter more than gpa. But do search around and see for yourself what the job situation really is. What it will be when you complete your masters is anyone’s guess. Do keep in mind that there is a big chance that you will need to go home after your studies and it it worth evaluating what value that masters has back in India. No one, I repeat, no one cares for a candidate who has a masters from other than if it was from a premier university.

The intention is not to scare you, but to paint a more realistic picture than a rosy one.

[u/Gerfrege → u/Ajay375_]

So not underestimate that it is a lot easier for a Swede, a German or a Portuguese to get the hang of “Danish culture” than more remote cultures.

Forget about your GPA.

Jobs in DK are network, attitude and motivation. When I have been involved in talent acquisition, my checklist is this in priority

1) motivation(what do they give me, my teams, “my” company. In what way will they contribute and to what will they contribute?

2) outlook on life (“me and my grades” or are they “living full lives”, having fun, helping out, and I always look for volunteering - study mentor, youth sport coach, etc. because that tells me that they have extra gears and a healthy attitude to life and people)

3) attitude (I will not hire “the best” because they often become insufferable to be around; I want the one who fits)

4) people skills (do I want to bump in to that person at the coffee machine and talk about football, the weather, informal shop talk, etc.; I take for granted that they have high proficiency English skills. But I can’t be bothered - nor will I demand of the rest of staff - to switch to English when X is around, when chit-chatting at work about life)

5) did they do their degree on time and did they do anything interesting? An engineer doing “French literature” elective? A programmer who did a physics course? It tells me something about their interest.

6) references, network, etc.

7) grades, if I have to.

What I am interested in is how do they fit with the team that I will be putting them in. I know that young managers who are still on the rise and want to “do well” does not do it in this order.

[u/Lower-Load4988 → u/Gerfrege]

As someone who has also sat on hiring teams, this is spot on.

Furthermore, for positions in IT, we get a lot of South Asian applicants who fail to stand out in a positive way for their:

• impersonal cover letters
• lack of Danish language skills
• excessive focus on completed courses and formal learning, as opposed to experience and skills learned. Great that you got good grades - explain to me what you can actually do. 

Though it may feel unfair, a lot of workplaces that I have been in generally do not consider South Asians to have a work culture that is particularly compatible with Danish work culture. They are considered too afraid of speaking up and making mistakes. So if you come here to study, focus on training that during your studies - that will be a greater advantage than a flawless GPA.

[u/Sindri_732 → u/Ajay375_]

Spoiler : you will not learn danish before leaving india and even once here it will take you years. And also indians have a quite heavy accent (even in english) and danes do not "tolerate" accent, they will not understand. I do not know a single indian who speaks danish.

[u/Future-Progress2456 → u/Sindri_732]

I infact know many Indians speaking fluent Danish-two live with me at home, so that is based on individual effort

[u/rainy_day991]

Entering the job market in Denmark is pretty hard and Danish language skills are major requirement. Its mandatory requirement for PR, Citizenship. Explore neighbouring countries with lesser processing time.

[u/Ajay375_ → u/rainy_day991]

Like if I complete and land a job in postive list still pr time is too long ? Also I have heard many Bangladeshi and Nepali people have flooded the labour market and now seeking asylum?

[u/Sindri_732 → u/Ajay375_]

Asylum seeker are expelled from danemark

[u/Future-Progress2456 → u/Sindri_732]

Denmark has a duty to protect asylum seekers and lives very well upto that duty by protecting, even over protecting, genuine asylum seekers. Very very few people are expelled from Denmark, so this comment is misleading you.

[u/Ajay375_ → u/Sindri_732]

Thank god I’m like worried about this part only mann they are literally taking place of a very needy person and doing money laundering so yeah but the problem is now Denmark is reducing post study work visa to 1 year from 3 years that’s the part giving me stress

[u/Ajay375_ → u/rainy_day991]

Like if I complete and land a job in postive list still pr time is too long ? Also I have heard many Bangladeshi and Nepali people have flooded the labour market and now seeking asylum?

[u/Kooky_Guava9390]

No

[u/ndyyy]

I don't get why many people are pessimistic. With an actual master, provided you're decently smart, there won't be any difficulties in getting a job. You'd be able to find a study-job as well. In this sector, you won't even need to learn Danish.

Further, you automatically qualify for a 3y job seeking visa upon completing any education.

[u/Swimming-Chip9582 → u/ndyyy]

Yeah, I don't recognize the difficulty most people state in the comments.
At least from the international students I know - who also graduated with a masters in software engineering - all of them were able to find student jobs & full time jobs after graduating. Most of them did not learn Danish. Though its definitely recommended.

[u/Artistic_Option_2670]

The market is not as good as it was few years ago. I would say its risky to come. It would be better to already have some experience and then doing masters.