contracting in Belgium

[JohannM]

well i think you will find arrogant and nice people everywhere you work, especially in a competitive environment where jobs are easy to loose.

[bellymonster]

Once worked there as a permie for a few weeks, City is a bit dull but beer is good and transport was excellent. Kebab shops were particularly good and I would go back there purely for that reason.

The people were very arrogant where I worked, although they came from all over Europe so I don't think it was a Belgium thing.

On a side note, they do have some weird names out there, one person (can't remember their gender) was called Regular Fries (I kid you not although the spelling might have been slightly different).

[JohannM]

thanks

I replied back

[Recruitment Agent]

Sent message back

[JohannM]

sent you a PM

[Recruitment Agent]

As all of you know, the contracting market here is very bad, at least its not as it used to be. So I am considering my options and looking at Belgium for an IT Contract. Does anyone have any experience working there? Any considerations? And what is the rate I should as for a .NET contract? I have over 10 years experience in IT and 6 years in .NET.

Im currently recruit .Net Developers in Belgiumthe majority of the time they seek people that speak French and Dutch.

[JohannM]

however from what I have discovered, English is widely spoken in Brussels due to the large expat community

[Unicorn]

Forgive my ignorance here, but Dutch? In Belgium?

In Flanders (North Belgium) they speak Flemish, which is very similar to Dutch. In Walloon (South Belgium) they speak French.

Even though Brussels is in Flanders the majority of people speak French.

Top way to annoy someone in Flanders (Antwerp, Bruges etc) - speak French to them, they love it, not.

[JohannM]

yeah i think in Brussels the majority of the people speak French from what I have read, at least French is more widely spoken than Dutch

[NickNick]

Often I would attempt conversing in Dutch, and they would just reply in French.

Forgive my ignorance here, but Dutch? In Belgium?

[PharmaContractor]

I was in pharma at the time and only there for a short time. Didn't have my own Ltd and as it was under 4 months, just went through an umbrella. Other contractors went through off-shore 'grey solutions'. PM me for the former option if you like.

I did quite like the place in the end. Beer and waffles and the city centre has some impressive archtecture. Plenty of expats there too.

[scottydog007]

My experience of working in Belgium.

I am a mechanical design contractor so I can't advise on rates for your area of work, but generally the Belgium’s will pay considerably more than the UK. The reason is that if a Belgium company employs a Belgium person, the company has to pay the government approx 80% national insurance. But if they take a contractor who is not from Belgium the company can save on the 80% and give this contractor say 40% of this.

I have worked for 5 companies now in Belgium, and very recently I worked for Thomson Telecom in Antwerp. At times I have gone into their tax system as there are massive advantages of doing this, there are many 'management companies' that can give advice and help on this.

It seems loads of people go to Belgium take the money and leave without paying tax, so Belgium have recently installed a system called the Limosa system where they insist non-Belgium’s register. And if people do not register the companies and agencies can be penalized.

I hope this helps.

[JohannM]

Yeah I am considering Brussels. I have heard that the city is a bit boring, however I think its boring how to make it eh. And the weather is very similar to here so nothing to worry about.

What Payroll agency did you use? What kind of Technologies you worked with?

[PharmaContractor]

Brussels

Think it depends where you end up with. Brussel's got good transport connections and you can always consider the train to London if that suits you. The city itself is pretty grim (mind yuo I was there on a contract in winter) and most of the locals didn't really have the time of day for you. Often I would attempt conversing in Dutch, and they would just reply in French.

The beer is good though and I know fellow contractors who love the place an are still there after 6yrs.

Also a good location for travel to surround places/countries.

[JohannM]

As all of you know, the contracting market here is very bad, at least its not as it used to be. So I am considering my options and looking at Belgium for an IT Contract. Does anyone have any experience working there? Any considerations? And what is the rate I should as for a .NET contract? I have over 10 years experience in IT and 6 years in .NET.