Amsterdam is a very appealing destination for tourists and is now becoming a trending destination for techies and tech companies. The city provides astoundingly fast internet, is start-up friendly and a forward-thinking city which tech talent just can’t resist. With the Netherlands investing and rapidly developing in technology, it is considered as a haven for tech talent and start-ups.
The city is home to some of the world’s biggest tech giants, start-ups, tech events, hackathons and communities and is a reason why diverse tech talent is heading to Amsterdam. And the creative tech and start-up scene means that other techies are always close by and even your next career move could be around the corner.
There are approximately 1,700 start-ups and scales-ups in Amsterdam, and the tech industry accounts for around 250,000 jobs in the country, which is about 13% of the Dutch economy.
The city is fairly small and manageable which makes it easy for people to connect and to attend meetings from one side of the city to the other. On a daily basis, there are around 100 meetups you could go to, ranging from major conferences to smaller events to engineers coming together for hackathons over the weekend. There is also a great connectivity in terms of transport, as there is a rail system that connects you to the whole of Europe and an international airport in Schiphol that connects you to the rest of the world.
The technological change in the past two decades has seen it grow rapidly across the globe and this couldn’t be truer in Amsterdam. The dynamic change has had large companies such as Tom Tom, Booking.com, Tesla, Netflix and Uber building their European headquarters in the city. Amsterdam is such a small city, that if you were to start up a tech company or come and join one, it is likely that you will also bump into your next business partner or client. In other words, the tech scene is such high quality and so connected that it is very easy to get to know several people who may benefit your business or give you your next job and this may be why diverse tech talent is heading to Amsterdam.
Despite the huge imbalance in tech with the industry being driven by more males than females, Amsterdam could be the place where this changes quickly. The city is very multicultural and is home to several tech companies and professionals. Therefore, this may be why diverse tech talent is heading to Amsterdam as if you want to work in a diverse workforce and to have greater gender equality, the inclusiveness in Amsterdam could provide this for you.
A programme called Tech Connect is taking place over the next four years in Amsterdam to help bring underrepresented groups into the tech market and is set to bring around 50,000 people into tech jobs in the city. Diversity and equality are beneficial for businesses and teams as it makes them more creative and effective. And bringing more women, people from deprived backgrounds and people who are aged 40+ will not only help the diversity in tech but also society as a whole.
As well as the Netherlands investing in tech, there are plenty of other reasons as to why tech professionals love living and working in the city and why diverse tech talent is heading to Amsterdam. Here are a few:
Research has concluded that the average net monthly salary for techies in Amsterdam is £4,000, which is the highest in Europe. Highly skilled migrants coming to the Netherlands to work get a major benefit of a 30% ruling tax advantage. Companies in Amsterdam are constantly looking to fill tech roles, so it makes it relatively easy to look for a job in the city.
The Dutch believe that balancing work, personal life and family commitments is essential and contributes to the wellbeing of household members. The Netherlands is the 3rd country out of 38 in which workers dedicate more time to leisure and personal care as only 0.5% of employees work long hours.
Amsterdam is a magnet for tech talent. There is a pool of over 250K tech workers in the city. Its growing community of tech lovers are from all backgrounds such as founders, UXers, growth hackers and developers. The city holds and is ideal for several conferences and events that tech professionals can attend.
You can check out some tech jobs available in Amsterdam here and read more on how to increase diversity here.