Daniel Nel

Daniel lives in the Netherlands since the beginning of April 2025, together with his partner Amaal. Read more about the first experiences.

Daniel, why did you emigrate to the Netherlands?
My partner and I had been discussing moving overseas for some time and she applied to a few PhDs. After weighing up our options, it made the most sense for us to move to the Netherlands. Not only did she like the PhD programme in Leiden the best, but the thriving tech scene in Amsterdam was a big drawcard for me.

Can you tell us something how you do like the Netherlands?
We love it here so far. We’ve come at the perfect time of year, so the weather has been great and we have been going outdoors every chance we get. One of the biggest differences I’ve noticed between the Netherlands and South Africa is the incredible bicycle infrastructure. It’s been a real pleasure exploring Amsterdam by bike.

Please tell us something about the projects you are currently working on.
I am working as a Devops Engineer building microservices, internal platforms, and tooling for my company. My team is awesome and the tech stack we are using is incredibly cutting edge. So far it is going really well!

Did the process of emigration go smoothly?
Luckily, because my partner and I were together, we could split all of the admin tasks, which made things much easier. There were a lot of documents we needed to collect but once we had submitted them, the process went very smoothly.

Can you explain to the South Africans who are considering to go overseas how you did experience the support from us?
Working with summit developers made the transition so much easier due to their extensive knowledge of the immigration process, and the many administrative tasks that they assist with. Not only did they find me a job in a team I really like, but they have also helped us by always being available to provide extra information and support with any challenges that have arisen.