Karl de Busser

Karl de Busser arrived in the Netherlands in July 2022. Read more about the experiences of Karl.

Karl, why did you emigrate to the Netherlands?
I personally emigrated to the Netherlands as the service based IT sector is far larger in the country, and therefore career growth is far greater. For me, the Netherlands has a very similar culture to South Africa, and I have Dutch family in the Netherlands, which makes it a bit easier for me to have moved here.

Can you tell us something how you do like the Netherlands?
The Netherlands is a very unique and beautiful country, and I am enjoying the culture here. Some stark differences to South Africa are that public services work much more efficiently, along with it being much safer. Personally, I am enjoying how accessible Rotterdam is from our home via bicycle. The purpose built cycle routes are something I had never seen in South Africa, but work so well here in the Netherlands. The natural and contrasting beauty of the country is also very different to South Africa, which makes for a great change of scenery.

Please tell us something about the projects you are currently working on.
At ISSO we are currently working on re-developing their content management system, which includes the introduction of middleware API’s between their 3rd parties and their client side systems. I am mostly working on this middleware, developed in Python, and their client-side web applications, developed in JavaScript. These are interesting projects to work on, as I did not previously have experience with these programming languages, however I did have experience with similar object oriented languages, such as C# and Java, so I am gaining knowledge as well as enjoying work!

Did the process of emigration go smoothly?
I believe it could not have gone more smoothly. From first application to getting my residency card, it has all worked out perfectly. When it comes to these processes, I feel I was quite lucky as all processes were timed perfectly, and some documents or authorizations came through within a day or two of their deadlines. With summit developers working closely with the IND, they managed to get my application approved in a very short timeframe.

Can you explain to the South Africans who are considering to go overseas how you did experience the support from us?
The support from summit developers was instrumental from finding good jobs for both me and a good friend of mine, at the same company, to finding a suitable apartment to rent and everything in between! A huge shoutout to all involved at summit developers who managed to find these great jobs for us, and found a path to emigration to Europe for us! I would highly recommend the service that they provide, and Software Engineers in South Africa should seriously consider choosing summit developers!