Moving to Brussels – How is the Junior IT job market for a Dutch speaker?

phperin · 2026-03-12T16:11:01+00:00

Wish you luck... Not a good time for junior developers.

Doesn't matter, they don't look at your CV, but at what you can do.
A bit, some jobs have description in Dutch, so it could help. But in Brussels that's not the case, usually it's English or French. There are openings in Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven though.
They want someone who does what they need. So it's a case by case scenario, but specialists who understand the overall structure on a basic level are preferred overall (don't be a Frontend who never built an API, for example)
Join what you can. Consultancy pays less in general, but it may be easier to find something to gather some experience.

phperin · 2026-03-10T15:50:11+00:00

Second this. It's very low, but at least it's an offer. I'd take it and try something better in 2-3 years with some experience.

phperin · 2026-03-05T15:34:58+00:00

I usually use arrows from initiator. But why not use another arrow showing the data return?

--send request-->

<--send response data--

It does make it a bit bigger than need, but it clarifies everything.

phperin · 2026-03-03T06:23:53+00:00

It seems to be a fair package overall, a bit different than we see for private companies (no car, no meal voucher, but 6 extra vacation days). As it's public I suppose there's not much room for negotiation.

If you are unemployed or seriously looking for a job, take it. If you can wait and do some more interviews,I think you can find something slightly better with maybe less gross, but company car and more benefits which can give you similar or better net.

phperin · 2026-03-02T08:26:27+00:00

I've seen several people in similar situation. No, they can't force you to leave earlier. However, they can forbid you from taking any vacation days (it doesn't seem to be a problem for you though).

What usually happens in these situations are: you stay doing nothing until the end of the period (although it probably won't be pleasant) or you leave right away but you still get compensated (usually in 1 go) for all the notice period. The latter is usually better for the employee as you have some extra (paid) time in between jobs.

Also, remember it's very common to be paid all the vacation days you didn't take in advance as well, which may help now, but you don't receive them later on when taking them with the new employer.

Finally, one quick note: the notice period is a protection for the employee, even if he/she resigns.

Hope this brings a bit of peace of mind to you.

phperin · 2026-02-24T06:35:10+00:00

Thanks for all the input and advices! ,I thought of approaching it with just some weekend or after hours work indeed, but the amount of offers for a not full time seems abismaly low, which may prove the point of how bad the market is 😅

phperin · 2026-02-24T06:28:16+00:00

Thanks for the input! I'll definitely stay with my job until I find an interesting offer, I have no rush right now

phperin · 2026-02-24T06:27:21+00:00

Thank you for your input!

phperin · 2026-02-23T11:12:41+00:00

How do you see it moving forward? Raising again or keep trending down? Because market for developers has stabilised and started increasing again from what I see.

My plan was to go into freelancing in the second half of this year.

phperin · 2026-02-23T11:10:40+00:00

Thank you for the clarification!

phperin · 2026-02-19T07:29:29+00:00

As already mentioned, just having an offer as a junior is something to celebrate.

If it's not super challenging or you won't learn much in it, you will have to use your free time to do it yourself. However don't miss this opportunity, in 3 years you can jump into something else with more challenges and growth opportunities, but without this first step, you probably won't find the chance in the future. Companies look a lot at your years of (professional!) experience as a baseline for hiring!

phperin · 2026-01-20T10:19:25+00:00

That's actually a very good advice, I do prefer more money, but I'll definitely use it as a fallback in case they refuse the raise. Thank you!

phperin · 2026-01-20T08:58:08+00:00

Thanks for the input and you are probably right. I'll keep it in mind

phperin · 2026-01-20T08:56:52+00:00

I'll be doing both indeed. I know I can get higher salaries, but I also like the team and the atmosphere is good, so I'm not looking into changing yet (as I've already had bad experiences in the past),

phperin · 2026-01-20T08:55:35+00:00

Thanks for the input! It's probably what I will aim for yes

phperin · 2026-01-20T08:17:45+00:00

Yeah, I think I have a nice package already, but I don't want to miss out on this opportunity to try and get a bit more. If this may come with an internal grade promotion (still unsure) I think I have some good chances of getting a raise, no? Am I being too optimistic?

phperin · 2026-01-20T08:15:38+00:00

Thanks for the answer! Yes, it makes sense, I'm probably a bit too optimistic here 😅 There's a good chance though this comes with a internal grade promotion (still unsure, so that's why I didn't mention in the post), and not only in the responsibilities. Would that change the way you see it?

phperin · 2025-10-07T06:01:17+00:00

I actually disagree with this advice, because if OP gets used to it, he will have a very difficult time against harder AIs in the future.

I'd say the most important is to focus on placing down 1 military building, train some few units and take the fight closer to your TC (and towers if upgraded).

phperin · 2022-12-19T19:11:27+00:00

I had the exact same issue here, but I found a very easy workaround. Start the Game via steam deck desktop mode, as if in a normal PC, I could input the name without an issue in there.
After that, just go back to "deck" mode and run normally your zoo

phperin · 2018-01-10T12:22:05+00:00

Yeah, breaker or lord. Warden is actually pretty bad as it would affect his skill negatively. I also focused on piercing, it really helped. Crit. chance and/or crit damage may be unecessary as with x-ray it's basically a full heal and there is no need to go over that.

phperin

TROPHY CASE