Our Developer Happiness Index uncovered that, while developers in the Netherlands are generally happy, salary and cost of living can be some of their biggest pain points. By making this salary data public, we hope that we can give these developers a little more insight into how the market looks and what to expect.
We analysed 12,000 data points from the past five years to understand what developers can expect to earn around the Netherlands and how the market is changing. We also uncovered a few surprises about how COVID-19 has (and hasn’t) affected developers.
Developer salaries in the Netherlands grew in 2023! Find out more HERE.
The average salary for developers in the Netherlands has grown only marginally from 2016 to 2020, up from roughly €50k to €56k.
Salaries in Amsterdam have fluctuated quite a lot in 2020, ranging from €62k to €52k after COVID-19 hit.
Fullstack developers earn less than frontend or backend developers on average.
The impact of COVID-19
The pandemic has led to unstable and varied average salaries.
Overall, Covid-19 has driven salaries down in the Netherlands, particularly near the end of 2020. The virus has also slowed down hirings. Compared to 2019, there was a 12% drop in developer hirings from March to April in 2020. Fortunately, both interview invites and average salaries continue to rise.
Breakdown of Developer Salaries in the Netherlands
Salaries jump by over 30% between junior and senior roles.
On average, junior developers in the Netherlands earn around €39k while those with over 8 years earn €63k. Amsterdam, in particular, has the highest rate of salary growth over time compared to other cities in the Netherlands as well as Germany and Austria.
Average Offered Salary by Role
Fullstack developers earn the least; managers earn the most.
Hands down, managers come out on top in terms of salary. Developers in these roles tend to earn almost 15% more than the average backend, frontend or fullstack developer. At the other end of the spectrum, we found that fullstack developers earn the least on average.
Most In-Demand Technologies
Companies want Javascript, ReactJS and Node.js.
All technologies are unique and special of course. We could never pick just one as a winner, but our data did reveal something interesting. Over 50% of job listings in the Netherlands ask for Javascript, followed by ReactJS and Python.
We also analysed the exact technologies of developers who are receiving interview invites. Those with Javascript were most likely to receive interview invites, followed by ReactJS and Node.js
Average Offered Salary by Language & Location
It's all about location, location, location.
The most important factor for Dutch employers looking to send an interview invite isn’t language—it’s location. Furthermore, developers who live locally but do not speak Dutch are most likely to receive an interview invite. This is likely because developers who have travelled to the Netherlands for work have already gained valuable experience or unique skills that make them particularly good candidates. Similarly, developers who come from abroad are usually highly skilled, which raises salary expectations.
*‘Local’ refers to developers living within the Netherlands.
Average Offered Salary by Gender
Women earn almost 6% less than men on average.
We found that women are consistently offered lower salaries than their male counterparts. On average, female developers in the Netherlands earn €54k while male developers earn €57k.
For reference, across Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, we found that women earn €59k on average while men earn €62k.
Average Offered Salary by Company Size
Company size doesn’t greatly affect paycheck size.
In the Netherlands, working for a bigger company doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll take home a bigger paycheck. In fact midsize companies of 51-200 or 501-1,000 employees seem to offer the biggest payout.
It’s worth noting that very small companies may also compensate by offering equity in the company, which is not included here. Index Ventures suggests an early stage senior engineer could receive as much as 1% of the company.
Cost of Living in Amsterdam
Amsterdam is an expensive place to live, even for developers.
Before moving to a new city, developers need to consider not just their salary but also the cost of living, including apartment, travel, groceries and a lot more. We found that Amsterdam is less affordable for the average developer than other big cities like Berlin, Munich or Vienna.
This sentiment is largely confirmed by our Developer Happiness Index, which also found that developers in the Netherlands report cost of living as one of their biggest pain points.
Methodology
We used salaries specified by hiring companies during the interview process on the Honeypot platform as our key data source.
We removed interview invites sent with missing information (like position title or company location) in order to ensure that the data can be compared consistently. We also removed salaries that were unusually low or high to get rid of any extreme outliers. An external library was used to determine gender based on the individual’s first name.
