The city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is poised to take over from London as Europe’s leading tech hub, and the main reason is Brexit, a key recruiter for the industry has warned.
Tom Brookshaw, principal consultant for the Netherlands at technology and data recruiter KDR Recruitment, said that he is seeing a surge in job openings in the Amsterdam tech industry.
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“There are huge opportunities for creative and intelligent people to quickly carve a great career in data science in Amsterdam,” he said.
“Jobs in the tech sector in Amsterdam are increasing at a rate of 12% each year, which is hugely exciting.”
The city has also attracted major tech companies – particularly those looking to strengthen their presence in mainland Europe following the UK’s departure from the EU.
At the end of 2019, Netflix leased a 95,00 square foot office that will become its primary headquarters for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, while Uber is currently building its new international headquarters in the city.
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By GlobalDataMeanwhile, Google has had a presence in the Dutch capital for years, but has expanded its several of its divisions to the city recently, including Google Brain and Google Cloud Platform, both in 2018.
Such support from industry giants is helping to drive average tech salaries in Amsterdam to levels only beaten by Switzerland, at €69,000.
Brexit and the tech industry in Amsterdam
One of the key drivers of the growth of the Amsterdam tech industry is certainly Brexit, although Brookshaw highlighted other factors that have made the city a favourite for technology.
“Brexit is definitely having an impact with these large organisations considering the need for a European base outside the UK,” he said.
“But other factors are important too, such as the ease of relocating to Amsterdam, fantastic transport links and a population that has an almost universal ability to speak English.”
This has also led KDR Recruitment to expand to the city.
“The data, technology and analytics fields are booming in the Netherlands and there are an increasing number of appealing opportunities for us in this market. With the UK no longer being a part of the EU it is important that we secure our ability to serve European markets and our clients who are based or have operations there,” said Brookshaw.
“Amsterdam has the potential to take over from London as the major centre for data, technology and analytics recruitment and we are ready to be a part of that success.”
Read more: Brexit and the tech industry: Experts share their concerns
