Eg e fra BƦƦƦƦƦƦƦrrrrrrgeeeen
Translation:
āI am from Bergenā.
If you lived in Norway, youād laugh at that one
From that list of cities youāll learn one thing pretty quickly: they are very different places. If you intend to learn the language then maybe Oslo would be best, as if you learned the Trondheim dialect it would be really hard for you to understand other dialects. Itās not as bad if you learned the Bergen dialect, but there are still huge differences in east, west, south, mid and north Norwegian language. The further off the beaten path you get, the harder it is to learn the language.
Trondheim is sort of our technological capitol, thanks to the NTNU university. Oslo is a business central, so if you want to work with international companies chances are youād want to move there. Bergen is a good city for startups, especially when dealing with IKT (āinformasjon & kommunikasjons teknologiā, or "information and communication technologu) businesses. Bergen is also under heavy development and will grow within the next decades. Stavanger is quickly becoming a nice place for culture and music, but Iām not sure how much IT work you could get there besides standard admin work. There are however datacentres in all of these cities.
As for cost? I need you to sit down for this oneā¦ Norwayās spensive. Mui spensive. Like the cost of rent is not favourable, though it is not as bad as say San Fransisco or parts of California. But housing prices are also regulated and values canāt be easily manipulated here, so we got that going for us. Last year and the beginning of this year is when utility bills in Norway flew through the roof, thanks to offshore cables selling electricity to the greater European area via England (no matter how much the energy sector claims there are āmore complex mechanics in playāā¦ itās supply and demand really). This is a problem, because itās FUCKING COLD IN NORWAYā¦ scusĆØ. We sort of need electricity so we dont freeze to death and the bills were so outragous this year that some people had to decide between eating and having a heated home. Yeah, itās not all rosy red up here either. Weāve got some issues, thatās for sure. The funny thing is that the whole energy sector is subsidised, up and down, some electric companies are co-ops which regulates prices heavily, but the previous administration sort of went after these co-ops because āitās not a pure businessā. The funny thing is that these co-ops are now mostly in remote places (so not in any of your previously mentioned cities, except maybe Stavanger). In some cases they live in such remote, inhospitable areas, that the government will literally pay you to live there and youāll get your electricity for free.
A little bit of a tangent there, but I thought Iād give my Norwegian take on it. My account may not be complete, as I have limited experience with Oslo and have personally never been to Trondheim. I was in Stavanger as a kid, but thatās ancient history. As for Bergen? It rains here - like a lot. So youād better like the cold, storms and wind that can cut through bone. Not the greatest endorsement, but Iād like to end on an old Norwegian proverb:
āThereās no such thing as bad weather - only bad clothingā.
Hope this helps a little in your decision making ^^ Safe travels!