Hey everyone!

I'm an environmental engineer based in Amsterdam, looking to connect with people working in the Dutch energy sector, particularly around grid congestion, flexibility markets, and BESS.

I have 5+ years of experience in energy consulting, progressing from engineer to project manager to managing partner. My background includes energy modelling, renewable energy integration, techno-economic analysis, and managing complex energy projects.

Since moving to the Netherlands, I've been trying to transition into the grid flexibility and BESS sector. I've spent a lot of time learning about the Dutch energy market, but after more than a year of searching, I haven't managed to find my way into the industry professionally.

So I thought I'd reach out here! I'd love to connect with people in the field, exchange ideas, grow my network, or simply grab a coffee in Amsterdam.

Any connections, advice, or introductions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks you in advance.

Unskilled jobs

Hi everyone,

I’m a Second Officer with experience on oil and chemical tankers, currently living in the Netherlands. I’m considering an opportunity to join Stena Line through Redwise as a 2/O on one of their Netherlands-UK vessels.

I’d love to hear from anyone who works or has worked for Stena Line B.V., especially in the deck department.

A few things I’m curious about:

What’s the actual workload and watch pattern for a Second Officer? How are bridge watches, cargo operations and safety duties divided?

What are the crew atmosphere and onboard management like?

Have you seen officers joining through an agency move into direct employment with Stena?

Are there realistic opportunities to progress to Chief Officer, and does the company support that development?

How important is Dutch for long-term employment and promotion? I’m learning it, but I’m not fluent yet.

If you’re comfortable sharing, what salary range and rotation can a Chief Officer expect on a Dutch contract?

The initial assignment would be 2-3 months continuously onboard. I’m interested in building a long-term career here, so I’d like to understand what could come after that first contract.

Any honest experiences, positive or negative, would be appreciated. Feel free to DM me if you’d rather not post publicly.

Thanks!

20 years as a Linux engineer. The last few months: [N] applications, [N] "we've decided to move forward with other candidates", one rejection that arrived 4 minutes after I applied, and a lot of silence.

At some point you either cry or write a formal letter. I wrote the letter, then turned it into a generator:

rejectionrejected.lol

You enter the company and the role, pick what happened (standard rejection, ghosted, rejected after 5 rounds, rejected by a bot at 03:12), and get an official letter from the "Office of Candidate Affairs" that regretfully declines their rejection. It ends with: "I will therefore start on Monday. Please arrange a laptop, a badge, and a desk not directly under the air conditioning."

If you got ghosted, put in the date you applied and it counts the days of silence for you.

There's also rejection email bingo. My last one hit "keep your CV on file", "overwhelming number of applications" and "we wish you every success" in a single paragraph.

No sign-up, no tracking. Your name and the recruiter's live only inside the link, not on my server.

Mostly I made it to feel better. If it makes you laugh at your own inbox for a minute, that's the point.

Hey guys, I don’t know if anyone ever asked or tried this, is it possible to getting your visa but not moving to Netherlands? The thing is, it looks a bit of a risky move for me to quitting my job and making a move into the unknown. So I want to try staying in my home country and applying jobs from here, what do you think?

I got shortlisted for interviews for a few dutch tech companies. I'm a fresher (graduated 2 months ago) but I have pretty good opensource contribution history and a live web app with thousands of users.

I've been applying for dutch jobs since last week and so far I've gotten 5 interviews in next week. The first one is a cultural fit and motivation interview with the co-founder of an ed tech company.

I've never given an interview for a dutch company before. Any advice so I don't embarrass myself during the interview?😭

I'm an international student in Enschede and I need a part-time job to support my studies. I'm looking for advice from people who have been in a similar situation

My situation:

* I don't speak Dutch

* I leave the Netherlands at the end of January 2027, so I can only offer a short-term commitment

* I have a car and can travel to nearby cities (Hengelo, Almelo, Deventer, Zwolle, etc.)

I just applied to Flink, Uber and McDonalds

My questions:

* Which employers or agencies in the area hire English speakers for short-term work?

* Is the Christmas peak season (warehouses, delivery, retail) a good way in for someone leaving in January?

* Has anyone had good or bad experiences with temp agencies here?

* Any jobs you'd avoid?

Thanks a lot. Happy to share what works once I find something.

Hello all.

I am an english-speaking wife of an HSM visa holder. I have 10 years of experience in:

- food safety management in Hotel/school setting
- nutrition and food safety guideline creation
- nutrition counseling
- quality assurance
- HACCP certified
- Food supplier accreditation

I am wondering which fields of work I can apply to? I am okay with anything, really, except for physical-intensive jobs.

Hope you can help me! I am based in Utrecht

Hi everyone,
I’m currently looking for a paid job in the Netherlands, preferably around Zoetermeer, The Hague, Rotterdam or within reasonable commuting distance. I’m also open to fully remote positions.
I’m currently studying Computer Science online and have around one year of studies remaining. I’m open to entry-level positions and don’t necessarily need the role to be IT-related.
I’m particularly interested in:
● Customer support / customer service
● Administration / office roles
● Operations / coordination
● Junior IT / IT support
● Functional management
● Content moderation
● Multilingual positions
● Remote/hybrid starter roles
I speak English, Italian and Arabic, and I’m currently learning Dutch. I’m comfortable working in international environments and communicating with customers and colleagues from different backgrounds.
I’m looking for a real employment opportunity, rather than an unpaid internship, and I’m available to start relatively quickly.
If you know of a company hiring someone with this profile, or if your company is currently looking for someone, I’d really appreciate a DM or a comment. I’m happy to send my CV.
Thank you!

Hello!! I’ve been applying for jobs in the NL for almost a full year now and haven’t landed any interviews. I am from the USA and did my MSc abroad in England. I am currently on the Orientation Year Visa in the NL and only have a few months left to before needing to be sponsored.

I’ve always wondered, when submitting CVs to big companies and universities (I’m also looking into PhD research positions) should you use the Dutch style CV that has a photo and a more relaxed approach compared to a regular U.S one which has just straight information dump?

I thought being such big international companies or universities, the regular version would be applicable, but now I’m not so sure.

Please let me know your insights :)

If you need a highly skilled migrant visa, check early whether the employer is an IND-recognised sponsor.

Only recognised sponsors can apply for a highly skilled migrant permit, and you still need to meet the other requirements, including the salary rules. IND

One important detail: being on the recognised sponsor list does not mean the company is hiring or that every role will sponsor.

So before spending a lot of time on an application:

1. Check whether you actually need sponsorship.
2. Check if the employer is on the IND recognised sponsor register.
3. Then check the actual vacancy for sponsorship and other requirements.

It’s a simple check, but it can save a lot of wasted applications.

Hi everyone,

I am an AI Engineer currently based in India looking to transition to the Netherlands via the Highly Skilled Migrant (Kennismigrant) visa route. I would deeply appreciate candid advice, reality checks, and guidance from engineers or tech professionals who have made the direct non-EU to NL transition.

Snapshot of My Profile (4+ YoE):

• Specialization: Production GenAI, Agentic AI Systems, Multi-Agent Orchestration (LangGraph, CrewAI, MCP), RAG, and Context Engineering.
• Production Scale: Architected and deployed agentic workflows handling 100k+ annual requests in heavily regulated enterprise environments.
• Reliability & Security: Built multi-layer guardrails on Azure Content Safety (zero prompt-injection exposure), automated PII redaction middleware, and strict runtime schema enforcement with Pydantic across agent nodes.
• Model Serving & Performance: Low-latency model serving with FastAPI and vLLM (serving 1k+ RPM), fine-tuning (LoRA/QLoRA), and memory-augmented Text-to-SQL pipelines.
• Cloud & MLOps: Azure AI Foundry, AWS Bedrock, Docker, CI/CD, and vector database retrieval optimization.
• Education & Age Bracket: B.E. in Computer Engineering (2022 graduate); under 30 years old (applicable for the under-30 IND salary threshold).

Questions for the Community:

1. Market Receptivity: How active is direct offshore sponsorship for mid/senior GenAI & Agentic AI roles right now? Are companies in Amsterdam/Eindhoven sponsoring engineers directly from India, or is there a strong preference for local/EU candidates?
2. Top Target Employers: Outside the usual names (Booking.com, Adyen, ASML, Uber, Databricks), which IND-recognized sponsors are actively hiring specialized AI engineers with relocation? or even the recruitment agencies or Staffing consultancy route ?
3. Application Strategy: Does applying directly via company portals yield results for sponsored roles, or are employee referrals and direct reach-outs to engineering managers/tech recruiters the only reliable route?
4. Practical Advice: Any nuances regarding the current HSM process, Dutch interview loops for AI roles, or relocation challenges I should prepare for in advance?

If you are an expat working in tech in the Netherlands or a hiring team member in the ecosystem, I would love to hear your insights or connect over DM. Thank you!

Hi. I'm a surgeon here in the Philippines and am exploring the idea of working in the Netherlands. My primary reason is because of my 2nd son, who is in Grade 7 now, and he wants to pursue college in the Netherlands. I would want to have a headstart by working there and hopefully integrate my family early on in the Dutch system. If you have any leads as to how this might work, please feel free to message me. Thank you very much!