On the face of things, Europe and its tech hubs seem to pale in comparison against the US, but figures from the second Slush report suggest this is far from the truth. Read more: Want to be an entrepreneur? The ultimate guide to getting started
By studying data from LinkedIn, Stack Overflow and Meetup, as well as surveys with industry leaders, the report has found there are now more professional developers in Europe (4.7 million) than across the US (4.1 million).
And the number one destination for international tech talent is the UK.
“The competition for European tech talent is only going to increase as an increasing number of successful startups battle it out with the large tech incumbents who continue to aggressively hire across Europe,” Dan Hynes, partner and head of talent at Atomico told WIRED. “What this year’s report shows is that traditional auto, insurance, financial, media and telecoms industries are also building out their tech expertise and are now trying to attract the best and brightest engineers as they seek to reinvent themselves from within.
“People will wonder if this a positive thing? Won't it drive up salaries or reduce loyalty? However the truth is that this is actually a great opportunity for Europe. If we weren't seeing this, we wouldn't be heading in the right direction. This is the hallmark of a healthy and competitive ecosystem, and one not seen on this scale anywhere else in the world outside of Silicon Valley.”
Looking across Europe, the top developer hubs are London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Amsterdam. London's developer population is now bigger than New York, while the total professional developer population in London, Paris and Berlin outnumbers that in the Silicon Valley/Bay Area.
As a result, many of the people coming to work in tech jobs in Europe come from outside the continent or are moving between countries. Read more: Europe's 100 hottest startups 2016
A quarter of these so-called 'tech migrants' who move into Europe head for the UK. Germany (12 per cent), France (nine per cent) and Spain (seven per cent) follow. The UK is also the top destination for people from both outside and inside Europe.
The majority of roles being filled by these tech migrants are engineering positions (36 per cent), but the report also shows that sales and marketing and operations roles are popular (21 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.) The remaining roles are a mix of software-related jobs.
“Our greatest strength has been the number and quality of our engineering schools,” explained Frédéric Mazzella, founder of BlaBlaCar. “We have people who are very well educated and loyal. We have a real competitive advantage here compared to the US because in France you don't overpay for people who will leave your company in 12 months because they get offered a better salary at the startup next door.”
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
