I have been complaining that so many vacancies for data science jobs are in Amsterdam. It cannot be that all the work is there. I have also seen way more meetups in there. (I also have the impression that people from Amsterdam never seem to want to go beyond the city borders, as if there is nothing of interest outside of the city.)
I find it rather frustrating that I have to travel 1.5 hours every day just to get to work (I know, I’m spoiled by living in a small country, Americans do this every day). But maybe there are indeed more data-sciencey companies in Amsterdam and maybe that is not so weird after all. It is a well known effect that all mattress stores in the USA congregate together, as are building material shops and supermarkets in the Netherlands.
It is not so strange that these companies cluster together. Once there are a few of those in the same city, people quit and start a new one. They visit each other work together more and innovate by competition and collaboration. You get clusters of innovation. And that is great, collaboration and innovation are awesome.
But it doesn’t have to be geographical clustering! Collaboration happens online all the time. Look at the DVS (Data visualisation Society) they have an amazing collaboration going on. Influencing all over the world (but mostly USA and Western Europe). There is a super cool group mostly on Twitter #tidyTuesday that analyses and visualises datasets every week.
You can create such a society yourself by surrounding yourself online with people that can critique, inspire and support you in your work. Create a new twitter list / RSS feed or pinboard tag for them and get inspired!
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