Den Ivanov (34) from Russia studied IT management in his hometown Rostov-on-Don, situated on the Don River. Before leaving Russia, he worked in his mother’s publishing company. He experiences Norway as the land of opportunities and might by some be considered the turbo expat in Norway.
In his mother’s company, in which she was an editor, Den worked for her magazine as a photographer and later also as an IT manager, more or less as a volunteering helper. At the same time, he was helping his father, who was a real estate agent with networking and practical technical tasks. His genuine interest, however, was working with crypto. The world of cryptocurrency was rapidly expanding, and he worked in many crypto communities and set himself up for success.
After he earned a Bachelor degree in Business administration from Spain and a diploma in English translation, Den was involved in many crypto projects around the world and he has in his relatively young age already visited 30 different countries in three continents.
Why did you choose Norway as your primary expat country?
I was considering where to go, and asking myself the question “Can I live there?” I did a lot of research and realized that Norway is a rich country with many opportunities for the right person. I thought I could employ much of my education and experience in Norway.
There’s a saying, “My home is my castle”, which I totally disagree with. People usually stick to one location, but I think we should move a lot, and the more we move, the better – as long as your movements make sense.
In Russia, most people don’t even think about moving – not even to a neighboring community. They’re creating self-boundaries. They think they cannot move. They have money, they have possibilities, but they just think they cannot proceed.
Den listed Norway on top of his list and moved to the country in 2018. He says the timing was good as well as bad. Bad, because the Corona hit after he had moved, and companies were downsizing instead of recruiting, in particular for newcomers. He had a job, which he lost. Good, because he discovered opportunities he probably otherwise would have missed.
“Yah, it was tough, but less troublesome than I expected. I could work with different projects and not limit myself.”
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Related: Moving to Norway
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Do you have any hobbies?
“Software engineering, Linux, systems architecture, to name a few… I’m also hosting board games for expats as well as natives and I make 3D printing models.”
Den proudly shows me his phone case, which he has designed himself and adds, “It’s very important to communicate with people, and I love to share my experiences on different issues, be it technical hobbies, fixing electronics and software or finding new tools. This has opened up several job opportunities.”
Den don’t see restrictions – only opportunities. He likes to fill the gap between developers and management.
“Developers have ideas and see opportunities while managers are responsible for executing projects. They translate the developers’ visions into project plans, timelines, budgets, and resource allocations. I believe I can play a role here.”
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Related: An Expat’s Guide to the Best Golf Courses in Scandinavia
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What are your biggest challenges right now?
My biggest challenge at the moment is getting a permanent residency. I still need to learn Norwegian better since I want to assimilate. Another challenge is, of course, money. The cost of living in Norway is high, so unless you’re hired here locally and have a salary, it is tough. Currently I am commissioned by Mastercard.
Is it hard to get Norwegian friends?
My experience is that it is easy to start a connection, but hard to develop it. In Russia it’s the other way round. It’s harder to start a conversation, but if you do, you’re like a friend almost immediately. You just drink together, stay together for an hour and you might be introduced to his family. Here, it takes time to “win” people or get acquainted with them.
Building a serious connection in Norway takes time. To me it seems like a kind of protection mechanism. I must admit, I’m really struggling to connect with Norwegian girls. I feel they want to distance themselves from foreigners. Girls from the expat community, however, are much easier to connect with. If I did some sports activities, like bicycling, climbing, or skiing (but I don’t have the time) it might be easier.
However, I love nature and being in motion. Any sports connected to nature is great. But if the sport is in a gym, it’s boring.
Do we see a little contradiction here?
Yes, perhaps I’ll have to rethink my use of time. I know some multicultured couples and families in Norway who have met their spouses here. Maybe they have some feedback they could share with me. I am also promoting a group called Expats in Oslo.
What is “Expats in Oslo”?
It’s sort of a decentralized community. It was founded a long time ago as an original Meetup group, but I’m trying to revitalize it. I see a lot of opportunities here. We’re hosting different events, in fact with over 40 categories, like opera, yoga, ice bathing, watching movies and just random things. It is an international community for expats living in Oslo. Everybody is welcome.
How did you get involved?
That’s actually an interesting story. I had a teacher in Norwegian, the only one so far. She wrote a book about teaching expats, and my feedback was cited in it. Some of the issues were about challenges, e. g. tricky Norwegian vowels, sentence structure and verb tenses. I saw some similarities with English and even Russian. Because of this I connected to the Expat community in Oslo. I wanted to learn more about local culture. I would love to see more Norwegians in the expat communities. It would be helpful in this respect.
What are your future plans?
I have short term, middle term and long-term plans. My short and middle term objectives are to get my working permit in place, learn better Norwegian, obtain my driver’s license and hopefully my Norwegian passport.
My long-term plan is to establish more communities, different, but interconnected communities with people who develop products and services. My long-term dream is to build a city of the future.
A city of the future?
It’s a village or city disconnected from governments, a non-commercial city, somewhere in Norway connected to other cities of the future around the world. Cities of the future do not need passports or different currencies. It might seem a little futuristic right now, but the earth is like a single organism, isn’t it? We shouldn’t really have any limitations. Humans have already been to the moon and in space. We do space exploration. That’s awesome. There is an international space station. Why don’t we have an international space station on earth where all nations collaborate on common tasks and help each other.
Norway is technologically advanced and has resources of all sorts. But you need a lot of expats here, otherwise you won’t make innovations. It always helps to have new people from other countries with new ideas. With different backgrounds, they have different thought paths.
Instead of a democracy saying everybody has the same voice, we should introduce a meritocracy where people reach positions of power based on their abilities rather than their money, family connections, etc.
A world without borders – is it possible?
Probably not in my lifetime. However, I believe Elton Musk is thinking in the same terms. But he is a little bit afraid to express those thoughts now because it’s too early. But I think he builds it silently.
Thank you for your thoughts, Den. We have covered a lot. I like your enthusiasm and I wish you all the best. Together, let’s first concentrate on Expat communities, and try to live the best way possible in our present world – and build friendships across borders.
The Turbo Expat in Norway – briefly summarized
Daily Scandinavian is in the process of launching Expat in Scandinavia – a service for international people moving to Scandinavia for several reasons. The three largest groups of expats are
* business (leaders and employees)
* education (teaching and study), and unfortunately
* refugees
Daily Scandinavian wants to support these individuals through our three I’s
* Information
* Inspiration
* Integration
I have invited Den Ivanov to join us in this venture, and right now, we’re in the brainstorming phase.
If you want to join the community, share suggestions, or receive information on events, offers, etc., please leave us a note here.
The Turbo Expat in Norway, Den Ivanov, interviewed by Tor Kjolberg