- 16 hours ago
🇳🇱 While tech giants across North America and Europe slashed headcount, the Netherlands quietly avoided the chaos. No mass layoffs. No headline cuts. But make no mistake - this isn’t a tech utopia.
In this episode, I break down why Dutch tech held steady through the downturn, how deep tech and AI are thriving, and why talent shortages, not layoffs, are the real crisis. With over €3.1 billion in VC raised in 2024 and a booming semiconductor industry led by ASML, the Dutch model shows what a steady hand looks like in turbulent times.
So if you’re a mid-to-senior engineer, data scientist, or product leader asking “Is the Dutch tech market worth it?” - this deep dive will help you decide.
Watch the full playlist to see all videos from the "Where to Run" series.
In this episode, I break down why Dutch tech held steady through the downturn, how deep tech and AI are thriving, and why talent shortages, not layoffs, are the real crisis. With over €3.1 billion in VC raised in 2024 and a booming semiconductor industry led by ASML, the Dutch model shows what a steady hand looks like in turbulent times.
So if you’re a mid-to-senior engineer, data scientist, or product leader asking “Is the Dutch tech market worth it?” - this deep dive will help you decide.
Watch the full playlist to see all videos from the "Where to Run" series.
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TechTranscript
00:00While tech giants across the US, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland hemorrhaged their talent through
00:05mass layoffs and struggled with pandemic aftershocks, one European market quietly defied
00:09the chaos and did things differently. The Netherlands. Not dramatically better, just
00:14differently. But here is where it gets really interesting. In a country of just 17.9 million
00:19people, they're facing a projected shortage of 1.4 million workers by 2030. That's nearly 8%
00:26of their entire population. The Dutch market created some unusual dynamics. FANG layoffs
00:31barely touched the Netherlands. Housing costs are pushing away the very talent they need,
00:37and tax salaries are slowly climbing while the rest of Europe is stagnating. By the end of this
00:41deep dive, you'll understand for yourself whether the Dutch model is sustainable and whether it's
00:46worth it for you in 2025 for a tech career. This is episode 9 of my series, Where to Run.
00:53And on
00:56working very hard to deliver the most accurate and honest information about the tech market
00:59in 2025. This video series is for tech professionals already living and working in the US, Canada,
01:07the UK, or the European Union. If you're based outside these regions, or in an outsourcing
01:13heavy market, the data in this video will not apply to your situation. I do not cover immigration,
01:19international job hunting, or topics like how to break into tech without a college degree.
01:24If that's what you're here for, this probably isn't the right channel. And that's okay. But if
01:29you are operating within these markets, keep watching. There's a lot ahead for various seniority
01:34levels and career tracks in tech. As always, tech scene and culture. Let's start this episode by
01:40highlighting the dynamics of growth and investment in Dutch tech, because that will dictate how we will
01:45go through the layoff data. The Dutch tech is strong in deep tech fields such as artificial
01:50intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors. Deep tech startups now make up 12% of the Dutch
01:56ecosystem. And this isn't higher when compared to the UK, Germany, Switzerland, or France. But Holland
02:01does have a relatively high scale-up ratio. 35% of the Dutch deep tech progress to scale-up status,
02:09which is significantly higher than others. The Amsterdam's Science Park was recently chosen as the site
02:15for a new EU quantum computer. The Dutch tech companies got 3.1 billion euros in VC funding in
02:212024, which is a 47% increase over 2023, opposing the European trend of declining investment. As of
02:292025, the Netherlands is the Europe's fourth largest startup hub, behind Germany, UK, and France. At the
02:35same time, the number of new startups declined by 23% in 2024, and Dutch investor participation in late-stage
02:43funding dropped, pushing local startups to look abroad for growth opportunities. I will make a
02:48video about the VC situation in Europe in the light of geopolitical and political changes of the past
02:54two years. But long story short, the US is still the land of dreams for tech startups. Whether you like
03:00what Trump is doing or not, that trend has not changed. On to the layoffs. Unlike the US, mass layoffs
03:06are
03:07less common in the Netherlands due to strict labor loss and employee protection. Companies tend to manage
03:11downturns by not renewing temporary contracts rather than large-scale firings. Now, it is worth noting
03:17that there are examples of companies laying off employees on permanent positions as well, despite
03:22labor loss, but this is very rare. According to the information that I found in local Dutch tech
03:27communities, people say that unlawful layoffs are rare because employees can go and sue companies in
03:32court. And by doing this, companies risk losing a lot of money fighting in courts. Now, the flip side of
03:37this coin is that the companies now hire temporary contractors to offset those risks. So that's just
03:43something worth noting for trends. Nevertheless, the Dutch market remains fairly healthy, as healthy
03:48as it can be in these realities, with a preference for hiring freezes or gradual adjustments rather than
03:54abrupt cuts. Let's look closely at the layoff data of the past three years. 2022. The Netherlands
03:59largely avoided the mass layoffs seen in the US and other parts of Europe. Notable cases, MessageBird,
04:05a Dutch company that laid off 31% of its staff, which is about 250 employees in November 2022. And
04:11this is considered a high-profile layoff case. Now, knowing what's happening in the US, 250 does not
04:17seem like a substantial figure at all. And to be clear, I'm not trying to downplay the significance
04:22of this. Even 250 people means that 250 lives were changed as a result of this. But please understand
04:28where I'm coming from. In my career, I have seen entire floors of people being taken into a room with
04:34HR, leaving five minutes later in tears, packing everything they have in boxes, and leaving the
04:39building. So when I say that 250 is low, it's only because I've seen hundreds being laid off within
04:45single companies. 2023. For context, 2023 was the worst year on record for global tech layoffs,
04:52with 263,000 people laid off, which is 59% higher from 2022. The Dutch market remained relatively
05:00untouched by global standards. Less than 4% of software developers surveyed in the Netherlands
05:06were laid off, compared to 13.2% in the rest of Europe. Now, the one thing that got hit
05:11really hard
05:11was startups. Startups in the Netherlands had a 42% increase in attrition rates, both voluntary,
05:17with employees choosing to leave themselves, and involuntary departures, compared to a 10% increase
05:23across Europe. But what is meant by attrition in this case? In 2022, there was a sharp decline in VC
05:29activity globally, and the following year became the worst year for startup funding in nearly a
05:35decade. This combined with macroeconomic factors, rising interest rate to offset inflation, the war
05:40in Ukraine, and the global supply chain disruptions that followed, as well as the pandemic market
05:45correction. That is what I mean by attrition. The Dutch startups moved from a growth at all costs
05:50approach to a focus on profitability and sustainability, which always result in slowdown and reduced hiring.
05:56The Dutch startup hiring rates dropped by almost 50% in 2023, compared to a 37.5% drop across
06:03Europe.
06:03Like I said before, the Dutch dealt with the crisis through hiring freezes and termination of contracts
06:09that they were able to legally terminate or not continue, not layoffs. And then 2024 and 2025,
06:15the global tech layoff wave continued with over 150,000 jobs cut in 2024, and more than 22,000 layoffs
06:23in the first five months of 2025. The Dutch, however, continued its trend of low layoff rates.
06:29There were isolated cases, such as Amsterdam-based Bird laying off 33% of its workforce, which is about
06:36120 employees in early 2025. But mass layoffs remained rare, and the overall labor market stayed
06:43tight with a high job vacancy rate. The main employment challenge for the Dutch tech companies
06:48was not layoffs, but the difficulty in hiring and retaining skilled talent, with 56% of tech job
06:55openings considered hard to fill. Now, what's also very interesting is that over the past two years,
07:00the number of FAANG layoffs, specifically in the Netherlands, has been extremely limited,
07:04with no large-scale or headline-grabbing cuts reported from Dutch offices.
07:09Yes, Dutch teams in FAANG are modest in size. Its headcount is much lower than in the UK, Germany,
07:15or Ireland. The Netherlands is a location for logistics, sales, and a very limited number
07:19of product roles. It is not the primary engineering or R&D center for FAANG in Europe. But there are
07:24other countries in Europe where these roles are dominant, and they suffered a lot more. For example,
07:29Spain, Belgium, and Italy. The Dutch FAANG teams were among the least affected by layoffs in Europe
07:34in the past two years, thanks to a combination of robust labor protection laws and smaller,
07:39less engineering-heavy local offices. So overall, the Netherlands consistently avoided
07:44mass tech layoffs, seen in the US, UK, and Germany. Layoffs in the Dutch tech have been isolated and not
07:50systematic. Attrition and hiring freezes have had a larger impact than the layoffs themselves.
07:55On to the characteristics of the Dutch tech. Let's talk about the most prominent Dutch tech
07:59companies and their global impact. ASML, semiconductors, photolithography. ASML is
08:04the world's leading supplier of photolithography machines used in semiconductor manufacturing. Its
08:10extreme ultraviolet machines are essential for producing the most advanced computer chips. The
08:15company supplies all major chip makers worldwide, including TSMC, Samsung, and Intel 145. Booking.com,
08:22online travel and hospitality. I mean, we all know what booking is. It's headquartered in Amsterdam.
08:26Booking.com is one of the world's largest online travel platforms, serving millions of customers
08:32daily in over 220 countries. ADN, fintech and payments. ADN is a global payment processing company,
08:38enabling seamless transactions from major international brands like Uber, Spotify, and
08:43Microsoft. Its unified commerce platform supports payments in almost every country, making it a
08:47backbone for global e-commerce. MOLLE, another fintech company. MOLLE is one of Europe's fastest-growing
08:53payment service providers, supporting tens of thousands of merchants with simple, scalable payment
08:58solutions. PICNIC. Online groceries. PICNIC has revolutionized grocery delivery with its innovative
09:03app-based electric vehicle-powered logistics model. And FASENT. Electric vehicle charging
09:08infrastructure. FASENT operates a rapidly growing network of fast-charging stations for electric
09:13vehicles across Europe. On to the outsourcing trends in Holland. Near-shoring is on the rise.
09:1840% of Dutch organizations plan to increase outsourcing, with only 6% expecting a decrease,
09:24and 54% foreseeing no change. Near-shoring, primarily to Eastern Europe, has become the most
09:30common model for IT and customer service roles, favored for proximity, cultural similarities,
09:35and time zone alignment. Traditional offshoring, for example, South Asia, is expected to decline,
09:40with organizations preferring EU or near-EU partners for data security and regulatory reasons.
09:46Now, what are the motivations for outsourcing? Well, the main reason, the most obvious one,
09:51is cost savings, which gives businesses the ability to focus on core business functions.
09:55I'd like to add here that even though Holland is known to be a country where English is very
10:00commonly spoken, with the shift of local roles towards business, operational, technical leadership
10:05functions, knowing Dutch is a big asset. Outsourcing, and especially near-shoring, helps Dutch
10:11companies address acute local tech talent shortages and optimize costs. Automation and AI adoption have
10:17shifted outsourcing from traditional call centers to more IT, data security, and digital service
10:23functions. Quality of talent. Let's talk about education and then about the skill gaps. Digital
10:28skills, including media literacy and cybersecurity, are embedded in the national curriculum for secondary
10:35school onward. The Netherlands cybersecurity strategy mandates continuous updates to tech curricula at both
10:41primary and secondary levels, ensuring that students are introduced to early digital competencies
10:47and emerging technologies. I think such an early introduction to tech for kids is fantastic. The Dutch
10:53system includes 14 research universities and 34 universities of applied sciences with strong tech and
10:59engineering programs. The higher education in the Netherlands is more expensive than in Germany and France,
11:04but more affordable than England and Scotland. The Delft University of Technology, or TU Delft,
11:08ranked number one globally for engineering and technology by QS World University Rankings 2022,
11:14and consistently in the top 20 worldwide. Actually, here in Canada, I worked with folks who graduated TU
11:19Delft, and they were very skilled all around. Eindhoven University of Technology, or TU Eindhoven,
11:24ranked number 13 globally for engineering and technology, and awarded Digital University of the Year in 2024.
11:30University of Twente and University of Amsterdam, home to cutting-edge research in nanotechnology,
11:36AI, and medical technology. They excel in AI, data science, and computational science with high research
11:42output, which is over 24.9 million citations from 640,000 academic papers in computer science.
11:49Now, onto the skill gaps. To me, this was a fairly unexpected fact, but I found plenty of data resources
11:55indicating a chronic shortage of qualified tech professionals in the Netherlands. To be honest, when I saw it,
12:00I started questioning the source, thinking that I misread something. But then as I started reading,
12:04my eyes were opening wider and wider, because I had no idea how it had such interesting local trends.
12:10The labor market scarcity is projected to triple by 2030, potentially resulting in a shortage of 1.4
12:18million workers across sectors, with information technology sector being affected the most. And that's
12:24in a country with a 17.9% population, meaning for them to fill the gap, they need 8%
12:30of the population
12:31to get into tech. As of 2025, the job openings in the ICT, in the information technology, and tech
12:37consistently outnumber available workers. In 2021, there were 26 vacancies for every IT worker in the
12:44Netherlands. The talent shortage is not uniform across all roles. It is particularly acute in specific areas.
12:51Full stack devs, DevOps, data engineering, data analytics, and product engineering folks,
12:57with expertise in niches. FinTech, food tech, and AI. Not surprised. A very similar trend is being seen
13:04in England and Switzerland. You're welcome to check those episodes as well. There's a paradox.
13:09Even though the number of tech workers in the Netherlands is growing by 6.9% year over year,
13:14nearly doubling over a decade, and projected to surpass 1 million by 2030, plenty of positions
13:20still remain very difficult to find or recruit. Scarcity doesn't mean that the number of tech
13:25workers is small in absolute terms. It means that there are still more open positions than qualified
13:30people to fill them. Holland ranks at the bottom of the world 89 global economies for ease of finding
13:36qualified personnel, and is considered to be one of the hardest places to find talent. The postings
13:41that require only English dropped. This, combined with a severe housing shortage in tech hubs,
13:46makes it harder for foreign professionals to relocate and stay. The vibe.
13:51Holland, considering its location on the continent, takes something from different tech cultures around
13:57it. And it has a lot of local and regional culture. It's collaborative and flat. For those who
14:02watched the Nordics episode, that's a huge distinction of the Nordic sector. Work-life balance
14:06is everything. It's a very European and also a very Dutch thing. It's quite diverse, and it offers a good
14:12mix of professional and social life. Of all the European countries outside of England, I'd say
14:17Holland is the biggest of networking, which reminds me personally of North American culture, because a
14:22substantial percentage of jobs is filled through networks and connections. That's a very North
14:27American thing. Events, meetups, and conferences are very active and accessible. Amsterdam hosts
14:33multiple conferences and industry events. Go to Amsterdam. It's a multi-day software development
14:38conference for AI, machine learning, DevOps, and cloud computing folks. Texpo Amsterdam,
14:43React Summit, JS World, Level Up, Holland High Tech Events, and many more. Lots of opportunities
14:49to network. Cost of living. Between 2022 and 2025, the cost of living in the Netherlands has risen
14:56sharply, with housing at the center of these changes. Housing costs, already high by European
15:01standards, soared further. 33.8% above the EU average. And by 2025, the rent in cities like Amsterdam
15:09skyrocketed. House prices hit new records, with an 8.7 increase in 2024, and forecasted 7% increase
15:16on top of that in 2025. Driven by a persistent housing shortage, which is a European problem,
15:23not specific to Holland. The lower mortgage rates and higher household incomes, meaning more people
15:28being able to afford more expensive housing, but the higher household income is primarily
15:32concentrated in large tech hubs. Other living costs also climbed. Food and non-alcoholic beverages,
15:38healthcare, mandatory insurance, and transport, making it the third largest expense after housing and
15:44food. While economic growth was modest, and household finances remained generally stable, the main
15:49challenge for tech workers and newcomers was the acute difficulty in finding affordable, quality
15:55housing in major cities. A problem exacerbated by limited new construction and high demand.
16:00Overall, the Netherlands became an even more expensive place to live, especially in urban tech
16:05hubs, with housing affordability and availability as the most pressing concern for residents.
16:10Conclusion
16:11The Dutch tech market in 2025 is defined by both resilience and clear structural challenges as
16:17it navigates the post-pandemic, post-layoff, and AI-first era. The ecosystem demonstrated its
16:22strengths by securing 3.1 billion in venture capital at the time when most of Europe saw declining
16:27investment. Deep tech, including AI, quantum computing, and semiconductors, now comprise a
16:32substantial chunk of the Dutch tech landscape. So when is Holland a good idea? If you work in high
16:37demand fields like AI, cloud computing, data science, or deep tech. If you value a flat, collaborative
16:43work culture with strong work-life balance with flexible work options. If you're attracted by a
16:47welcoming diverse community with frequent tech meetups, events, and networking opportunities.
16:52If you want strong employee benefits, including ample vacation, professional development, and
16:57relocation support for international workers. The Netherlands might not be a good idea for tech
17:01workers if you are highly sensitive to cost of living. If you prefer lower taxation, as Dutch income
17:07taxes are progressive and substantial for high earners. And if you're seeking rapid US-style startup
17:12scaling or a move-fast, break-fast culture. The Dutch approach is more measured and consensus driven.
17:18If you have founders ambitions and you want easy early-stage startup funding. As recent years have
17:24seen a drop in early-stage investment and more cautious VC landscape. If you need extremely fast
17:29career progression or expect the fastest possible salary growth. And that's a wrap for Holland. As always,
17:34I hope this was helpful. And we'll see you in the last episode of Where to Run. Until next time.
17:39Bye.
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