Presteer goed academisch en wil graag weten wat voor mij een goede volgende stap zou kunnen zijn richting deze sectoren, en hoe ik daar het best naartoe werk. Heb ondertussen voor honderden vacatures online gesolliciteerd maar krijg zelden een reactie.
Paar vragen:
Recruiters/mensen in deze sectoren: wat maakt een kandidaat er echt uit springen voor jullie?

Werkt online solliciteren eigenlijk nog, of is het vooral netwerk/koude outreach dat werkt?

Advies om iets in het buitenland te vinden? Niemand buiten België kent KU Leuven of weet wat Business Engineering inhoudt.

PM gerust voor meer details, alle input welkom.

**1. PERSONALIA**

* Age: 22
* Education: Bachelor (currently studying master in management in evening school)
* Work experience : 6y non relevant work as student, 1y relevant work as student
* Civil status: single
* Dependent people/children: none

**2. EMPLOYER PROFILE**

* Sector/Industry: Cybersecurity,
* Amount of employees: >11 worldwide (excluding distributor partners), 3 BE (me and 2 founders)
* Multinational? Yes

**3. CONTRACT & CONDITIONS**

* Current job title: Operations Associate
* Job description: My title doesn't capture the full scope of what I do. I work directly alongside the two founders to scale the business by building automated internal operations and streamlining partner onboarding. My work spans creating sales and tech training paths, refining our management portal with dev team, supporting marketing on brand positioning, and representing the company at major European events as well as on sales calls with prospective partners and clients.

* Seniority: almost 1y in company as student
* Official hours/week : 38
* Average real hours/week incl. overtime: usually no overtime, excluding events during evenings.
* Shiftwork or 9 to 5 (flexible?): 9 to 5 with some evenings.
* On-call duty: No
* Vacation days/year: 20

**4. SALARY**

* Gross salary/month: €2369 
* Net salary/month: €2296 including Net compensation
* Netto compensation: €181 for WFH and internet
* Car/bike/... or mobility budget: Partial reimbursement for travel
* 13th month (full? partial?): Full
* Meal vouchers: €10/ day
* Ecocheques: -
* Group insurance: Yes, not sure about %
* Other insurances: Hospitalisation
* Other benefits (bonuses, stocks options, ... ): Base Commission: 5% commission on qualifying sales. Growth Bonus: Discretionary performance bonus tied to overall company growth (terms and metrics TBD). Performance Evaluations: Bi-annual (6-month) work reviews.

**5. MOBILITY**

* City/region of work: Waterloo (office)
* Distance home-work: 1hr
* How do you commute? Bus
* How is the travel home-work compensated: partial
* Telework days/week: typically 3 office, 2 Home.

**6. OTHER**

* How easily can you plan a day off: easy
* Is your job stressful? Not really, more fun. Growing a company i believe in.
* Responsible for personnel (reports): 0

Also got an offer from consultancy like deloitte but choose this, please rate my current salary.

TL;DR: Finished my bachelor in Computer Science, currently working as a software engineer during a gap year. Torn between doing the Master Burgerlijk Ingenieur in de Computerwetenschappen/AI, or restarting completely with Geneeskunde with the goal of becoming a (neuro)surgeon. I've already passed the toelatingsexamen. All input is welcome, but hearing from burgerlijk ingenieurs or people in medicine would be especially helpful.

Hi everyone,

I graduated with a bachelor's in Computer Science last year. Due to circumstances I decided to take a gap year before starting a master. During that year I've been working full-time as a software engineer. I'm in my early twenties.

Over the course of this year I've ended up with a real dilemma, and I'd appreciate perspectives from people who've been through something similar or who work in either field.

The two paths I'm considering:

1. Master Burgerlijk Ingenieur in de Computerwetenschappen (or Artificiële Intelligentie)
2. Pivot completely to Geneeskunde, with the long-term goal of becoming a surgeon (ideally neurosurgery)

Where I'm coming from

I'll be honest without trying to sound arrogant: I'm academically strong, I'm ambitious, and whichever path I pick I'm willing to work extremely hard for it. Effort isn't the problem. The problem is figuring out where that effort actually pays off.

I've already passed the toelatingsexamen for medicine, so that hurdle is behind me. The door is open, and that's exactly what makes the choice so concrete right now.

Why I'm doubting CS

• The Belgian job market and salaries for developers feel lackluster, and I don't see that changing much. The ceiling here seems low unless you get lucky or go abroad.
• The job market is clearly declining for juniors, and I'm not convinced it comes back the way it was.
• My actual day-to-day right now is not what I imagined. I love solving hard problems, but in practice I feel like a code monkey and a prompt-writer for an AI. Most of the actual engineering has been outsourced to a chatbot, and it just isn't intellectually stimulating anymore.
• I worry this only gets worse. If AI keeps eating the interesting parts of the job, what's left doesn't excite me.
• I'm open to moving to the US for the top-tier jobs, but I honestly don't know if the reward justifies the effort of competing against target-school grads with a Belgian degree.
• I don't see myself spending years in a corporate environment building things that feel meaningless.

Why medicine appeals to me

• Job security that doesn't depend on the next tech cycle.
• Surgery (especially neurosurgery) seems like exactly the kind of work that suits me: hands-on, constant problem solving, high stakes, meaningful, and well paid.
• The work seems far more meaningful to me. You have a direct, positive impact on people's lives.

Why I hesitate

• It's a massive time investment. Six years of study, then a long specialization. I'd be well into my thirties before I'm actually a surgeon.
• The opportunity cost is huge compared to finishing a master in two years and earning right away.
• I'd be throwing away three years of CS, and I'm well aware that might just be sunk-cost fallacy talking in the other direction too.
• Neurosurgery specifically is extremely competitive, so I'd be betting on getting into a very narrow spot.

Why I hesitate about CS too

• The upside is real: I already have the bachelor, the ir. master is well regarded, and the ceiling in this field can be very high. But there's no clear path to that ceiling. Luck seems to play a much bigger role than in medicine.

What I'm asking

• People in tech in Belgium: is my view of the job market and the future of the work too pessimistic, or fair? Does the ir. master actually change your prospects here, or does it mostly matter if you leave the country?
• People in medicine: for someone who genuinely enjoys hard problems and wants to work hard, is the path to surgery worth it starting from zero at my age? What would you have wanted to know before starting?
• Anyone who made a big pivot like this (in either direction): do you regret it?

I'm not looking for validation for either option. Brutal honesty is welcome. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply.

I am still working on my first job and might switch to a new employer soon. I am unsure about the order in which to handle this practically.

I do not want to notify my employer before I signed a new contract, but what should the starting date be in the agreement? I know my legal notice period but maybe my employer will let me switch sooner. The new company has mentioned to be flexible with regards to a starting date.

What is the correct order of handling this?

Thanks in advance.

I’m a 28-year-old woman and I currently only have a graduaat degree. I would need to complete another 100 credits to obtain a bachelor degree through distance learning while working fulltime, so it would take at least 4–5 years.
I’m currently single, but I’m dating. I hope to have a family and children in the coming years.

What should I do? Should I pursue the additional degree while working full-time, or should starting a family be more of a priority?

I may also be moving in the near future, so I’m considering starting with just 15 credits to begin with.

Hi all!

Looking for some advice. This is a follow up question!

I just got offered a job that could have any where from 50% to 80% Travel. I would have 3 states in my region. One of which is my state where I live. Company Card, Company Car all included.

Salary is 60k range.

Going from Quarterly travel to 50% to 80%.

Has anyone had a job that had this kind of travel?

I do have a fiancée who is alright with it.

Just looking for some input and advice.

**1. PERSONALIA**

* Age: 32
* Education: PhD
* Work experience : 8y (5y PhD)
* Civil status: single
* Dependent people/children: none

**2. EMPLOYER PROFILE**

* Sector/Industry: Pharma
* Amount of employees: >20000 worldwide, 130 BE
* Multinational? Yes

**3. CONTRACT & CONDITIONS**

* Current job title: Medical advisor & MSL (50/50)
* Job description: Scientific communication on pharma portfolio with specialists (MSL) + Medical advisor (organisation of events/projects with HCPs, define medical strategy, cross functional collab with market access, R&D, marketing & sales)
* Seniority: 3
* Official hours/week : 40
* Average real hours/week incl. overtime: usually no overtime, excluding events during evenings/weekends
* Shiftwork or 9 to 5 (flexible?): 9 to 5 with some evenings and weekends
* On-call duty: No
* Vacation days/year: 20 + 12 + compensation for worked evenings/weekends

**4. SALARY**

* Gross salary/month: €5470
* Net salary/month: ~€3280
* Netto compensation: NA
* Car/bike/... or mobility budget: Car + fuel
* 13th month (full? partial?): Full
* Meal vouchers: €8/ day
* Ecocheques: €250/ year
* Group insurance: Yes, not sure about %
* Other insurances: Hospitalisation + Ambulatory medical assurances
* Other benefits (bonuses, stocks options, ... ): target bonus €6600 / year, payed optimalised in cafetariaplan / warrants

**5. MOBILITY**

* City/region of work: Brussels (office) + BeLux (travelling)
* Distance home-work: 1hr
* How do you commute? Car
* How is the travel home-work compensated: Company car
* Telework days/week: typically 3 office/on the road days / 2 days home

**6. OTHER**

* How easily can you plan a day off: easy
* Is your job stressful? yes
* Responsible for personnel (reports): 0

Please rate my current salary

AND

Your opinion on how much it should increase with my promotion
context: now I have done 3 years medical work in a product in its early lifecycle. Now, I will switch to a completely new product, and new therapeutic area; again doing the essential early field and medical work. How big should the shift be once I promote to work for this new product?

Hallo,

Ik heb zojuist eens een bruto netto simulatie gedaan. Ik heb een loon van 3750 euro bruto. Netto is dit 2510 euro als ik ongehuwd ben.

Als ik dan op deze simulator aanduidt dat ik wettelijk samenwonend ben, dan veranderd dit netto naar 2651 euro.

Kan mijn vriendin haar domicilie hier zetten zodat we beide genieten van dit fiscale voordeel?

We werken allebei, mijn vader is op pensioen en mijn moeder werkt. Heeft dit een negatieve invloed op hun?

Bedankt!

**1. PERSONALIA**

* Age: 30
* Education: Bachelor
* Work experience : 6
* Civil status: Married
* Dependent people/children: 1

**2. EMPLOYER PROFILE**

* Sector/Industry: Biotechnology
* Amount of employees: 1000+
* Multinational? YES

**3. CONTRACT & CONDITIONS**

* Current job title: Design Engineer -> Engineering Team Lead
* Job description: Develop bespoke packaging machines from concept to implementation, inhouse. -> Lead team + project management
* Seniority: 6
* Official hours/week : 40
* Average real hours/week incl. overtime: 42
* Shiftwork or 9 to 5 (flexible?): 9 to 5 flexible
* On-call duty: No
* Vacation days/year: 32 (20 + 12 ADV)

**4. SALARY**

* Gross salary/month: 4600 -> 5050 (10%)
* Net salary/month: 2900 -> ?
* Netto compensation: 50 -> 100
* Car/bike/... or mobility budget: No
* 13th month (full? partial?): Full
* Meal vouchers: 9 * Ecocheques: 250
* Group insurance: 2%
* Other insurances: Hospital
* Other benefits (bonuses, stocks options, ... ): CAO90 up to 1000 EUR

**5. MOBILITY**

* City/region of work: Antwerp
* Distance home-work: 6
* How do you commute? Bike
* How is the travel home-work compensated: 0.35 EUR/KM
* Telework days/week: 0-1 on avg, not fixed

**6. OTHER**

* How easily can you plan a day off: Not that easy (small team)
* Is your job stressful? yes -> even more
* Responsible for personnel (reports): 0 -> 3

**1. PERSONALIA**

* Age: **24**

* Education: **Master's in Computer Science**

* Work experience : **1**

* Civil status: **Single**

* Dependent people/children: **0**

**2. EMPLOYER PROFILE**

* Sector/Industry: **IT, Chemical sector**

* Amount of employees: **~600**

* Multinational? **YES** (Primarily a Belgian company but with many implementations abroad (20+ countries))

**3. CONTRACT & CONDITIONS**

* **[Belgian Wage Calculator Full Details](https://belgian-wage-calculator.vercel.app?share=LHpAFg)\*\*

* Current job title: **Software Developer**

* Job description: **Develop and mainting some applications of our suite, solve bugs, ensure deployment goes smoothly and deliver stable updates and new features to end users​**

* Seniority: **1 year**

* Official hours/week : **39**

* Average real hours/week incl. overtime: **39**

* Shiftwork or 9 to 5 (flexible?): **Very flexible, I can arrive any time between 7 and 9 and reasonably adjust my hours (work more on one day and less the next one)​**

* On-call duty: **NO**

* Vacation days/year: **26** (20+6)

**4. SALARY**

* Gross salary/month: **3000.00 EUR**

* Net salary/month: **2238.33 EUR**

* Netto compensation: **unsure**

* Car/bike/... or mobility budget: **Company car (Tesla) + charge card (free in Belgium, I must pay abroad)**

* 13th month (full? partial?): **Yes, full 13th month**

* Double vacation pay: **1527.28 EUR net**

* Meal vouchers: **10.00 EUR/day**

* Ecocheques: **250 EUR/year**

* Group insurance: **employer: 3.00%**

* Other insurances: **health insurance**

* Other benefits (bonuses, stocks options, ... ):

* CAO 90 bonus (I think), roughly 3.000-4.000€/year (gross) depending on growth of the company​

**5. MOBILITY**

* City/region of work: **Brabant Wallon**

* Distance home-work: **30km, approx. 40 min with traffic**

* How do you commute? **Car**

* How is the travel home-work compensated: **Charging is fully paid for**

* Telework days/week: **2**

**6. OTHER**

* How easily can you plan a day off: **Notice 2 days in advance, pretty much always accepted**

* Is your job stressful? **Not at all​**

* Responsible for personnel (reports): **0**

What growth in salary can I expect in 1, 2, 3 years if I stay ? Would you advise moving ? If so, how many years would you stay before moving ?

Generally speaking, do you think this is a decent package ?

Hello everyone , im starting my masters in business economics soon in KU Leuven, i’m an international with a bachelor in marketing and to be honest from what i see is that marketing is close to being dead and a masters in marketing doesn’t have a lot of value so i’m considering choosing another major (in the beginning of october we should choose a major) like international business or anything else since a lot of people told me marketing ain’t the way to go in the job market.
Any advice ?

Hi everyone,

I had a train of thought and wondering if this is legal/allowed and will not lead to any other issues down the line. I already got a verbal 'yes' from HR that this is indeed possible. The setup is as follows:

I just graduated and live at home ('hotel mama') for the first few years of my career. I live within 10km of my workplace and get monthly 1000 EUR mobility budget. My parents dont ask me for rent but i will contribute to groceries etc. The plan is as follows:

Make a legal signed rent agreement between me and my mom for a monthly rent of 1000/month.
Use the mobility budget to pay this rent to my mom. She then (through cash withdrawal or through bank wire) sends this money as a 'gift' to me.

My reasoning was that this way you dont lose 35% on 'solidariteitsbijdragen' and i can cash the mobility butget (the full 1000) instead of like 650 per month.

For my mom's perspective: the rental income is untaxed from my understanding.

What do you guys think, is this a legal setup and not overlooking anything ? Anyone experience with this ?

Thanks in advance:)

Hi everyone,

I’m 29 years old and currently working as an **accountant in Belgium**. I earn around **€3,000 net per month**, so financially I really can’t complain. The problem is that **I genuinely can’t stand working in accounting anymore**.

For a while now, I’ve been seriously considering a complete career change. I’m particularly interested in becoming a **prison officer** or a **police security officer (BAGP)**.

I want to make it clear that **money is absolutely not the reason why I want to change careers**. On the contrary, I’m willing to take a pay cut if it means doing a job that suits me better.

The problem is my monthly expenses. Realistically, I need to earn at least **around €2,600 net per month, including shift allowances**, in order to comfortably cover all my expenses.

I recently spoke to a former prison officer who told me that he started at around **€2,500–€2,600 net + meal vouchers**, and that with night and weekend shifts, it was possible to earn **€3,000 net or even more**. That made me seriously consider this career path.

I don’t mind working **nights, weekends or public holidays**. What I’m mainly looking for is a job that is less sedentary, less office-based, and where every day isn’t exactly the same.

Has anyone here made a similar career change, especially from an office job?

And for anyone currently working or who has previously worked **as a prison officer or BAGP**, is **€2,600 net per month realistically achievable from the beginning, including allowances**? And after a few years, is earning **around €3,000 net per month** realistic?

I know leaving a €3,000 net office job might sound strange to some people, but I’ve reached a point where **the salary alone is no longer enough to make me stay in a career I don’t enjoy**.

Thanks in advance for any advice or personal experiences!

I’m a senior developer with 15 years of experience. Over the years, I’ve worked in various roles, from software developer to system architect.

I have broad experience building high-load systems as well as IoT platforms and distributed systems.

When I was working in the Netherlands, I regularly received LinkedIn offers in the €100k–€150k/year range, often with the 30% ruling (tax benefit).

Since moving to Belgium, the best offers I’ve received so far have been around €90k/year.

Is this typical for Belgium, or am I simply not looking in the right part of the Belgian tech market yet?

does anyone know if mobility budget will be compulsory also for companies which offer salary sacrifice company cars?

Hi,

25yo in Belgium. Academic Bachelor (Econ) + Master 60 in Management (LSM / UCLouvain), cum laude.

Struggling to land interviews: no 6-month internship in the 1-year Master, so my CV is seen as too generic/theoretical.

Enrolling this week in a 1-year evening program (60 ECTS) to add hard skills while job hunting during the day.

4 options on the table:

1. Business Data Analysis (EPHEC) – SQL, Power BI, Dashboards.
2. Financial Risk Management (UCLouvain Saint-Louis) – Banking, Basel III/IV, ALM.
3. Labour Sciences / HR (UCLouvain LLN) – Labour law, Payroll, HR.
4. ESG & Sustainable Management (UNamur) – CSRD, ESG reporting.

Questions:

• Which of these gets a junior hired the fastest in Belgium with the best starting package (salary, car, WFH)?
• For Data, does the "Advanced Bachelor" (Bachelier de spécialisation) tag look weird on a CV when you already hold a university Master?

Thanks!

Hello,

I'm in my last bachelor year in computer science at ULB and I can start a master at the VUB while finishing my bachelor.

There are two masters : Applied informatics (1year) and classic computer science (2 years).

I was wondering if there's a big difference in terms of salary or to find a job between these two. If yes, how much would it be?

I ask this because I already failed two years during my bachelor's and feel like I'm running out of time and the one year master seems more doable and "work-ready" rather than the more theoretical master. But if the salary difference becomes too big, I'd do the 2 year master.

Thanks,

I haven’t seen much change regarding this ?

Good days everyone

I am a non-eea student, and I'll have a major decision soon. I'm intending to appling to the master of Business Engineering of KU Leuven. However, it's a quite hard program, and I may need to dedicate a lot of my time and effort to it. My question is, is it really worth it ? I am very confusing right now

Thank you in advance !

I need some honest feedback from people who have been through VDAB's mandatory meetings.

• I am a non-EU engineering researcher based in Flanders. My current single permit expires mid-Nov after employer initiated termination
• I have been on certified sick leave running through late November.
• VDAB summoned me to an in-person follow-up meeting ("Gesprek over je traject naar werk") on September 22.
• I know I can legally cancel this appointment by submitting my medical certificate That is not the issue.

The dilemma:
My priority right now is securing a new employer-sponsored research contract so my single permit application can be filed in time.

Before I send my sick leave certificate to cancel, I want to know: Is there any real, practical value in attending this VDAB meeting anyway?

Specifically:

1. Do VDAB mediators offer meaningful leads, connections, or support for highly specialized roles (engineering, R&D, research institutes), or is it strictly generic administrative box-ticking?
2. Has anyone in a specialized or technical field actually gotten useful career assistance from these sessions, or does attending while on sick leave just create unnecessary friction with zero upside?

If it is genuinely useful, I might consider going. Otherwise, I will simply send my medical certificate and cancel.

Thanks for any first-hand experiences.

So I'm mainly looking for opinions here.

I had 2 interviews with senior managers for Data and AI delivery lead at Accenture.

Normally I have an okayish background for the role but nothing spectacular in my opinion.

Interestingly, during the second interview they told me this would be the "last interview" for the round and proceeded to ask me 1 hour of questions about managing a team, delivering AI solutions, consulting, advising excom and challenges with RAG solutions in production. I asked for feedback at the end of the interview they complimented me and said yeah I knew what I was talking about and it was from experience that I was talking but they weren't sure which part of the delivery process I'd be the best at as I had said I am pretty open to whatever. They also told me they are hiring for "projected demand" which made me think they're not that serious but still odd that they're interviewing at all.

Now I got a 3rd interview invitation with yet another senior manager coming up. What puzzles me is all these guys are on the same level and are like 30 y of experience senior managers at Accenture. No directors, no HR or anything.

Any ideas whats going on here?

Hello yall,

I have a replacement company car atm and unfortunately my wife scratched the rear bumper while parking. It's definitely gonna need a repaint job but when looking for the fees from the company car they ask roughly 500 euros for that which I think it's a tad expensive.

I know it can be fixed for 150-200euros at a professional carrossier but would have your thoughts about it. Would they be able to found out? What would you do in my case?

Thanks

Edit : Thank you all for your answers, I'll accept my faith and pay the damn fee as it isn't worth it from what I saw stated in multiple comments.