London Leads for Tech Talent

(Source: London & Partners)

London is home to more tech talent than any other European city, according to new data from the developer platform Stack Overflow. The findings are released to coincide with London Tech Week, Europe’s largest festival of technology.

Analysis of Stack Overflow’s users shows that there are more than 418,000 professional developers in London[1], more than any other European city, Tokyo, or Singapore.

The number of developers in the capital has increased by 11 per cent during the last year as some of the world’s largest global tech companies have also pledged long term investment in London.

In 2016, Apple announced a new £9bn project to open a London HQ in Battersea, Google announced a £1bn investment for a new London headquarters. While this year Snap Inc. also announced it will open an international hub in the capital, and Amazon have announced plans to open a new 600,000 sq. ft. head office in East London providing capacity for more than 5,000 employees in the capital by the end of 2017 - sending a clear signal that London is open to business, innovation and talent.

Deputy Mayor for Business, Rajesh Agrawal, said: “London’s tech sector is one of the capital’s success stories. Tech Week is showcasing our expertise to the entire world and proving that our great city is at the forefront of technological talent, innovation and investment.”

Stack Overflow’s data shows that London continues to attract more developer talent than any other European city and in comparison to the US, the capital comes second only to the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, which house 661,000 and 432,000 developers respectively.

Jeffrey Szczepanski, Chief Operating Officer at Stack Overflow, said:

“Whether a seed-funded startup, or global corporation: every business needs developers - the people writing the code that powers innovation and growth. That’s why it’s so exciting to see that London’s tech talent pool grew by 11% in the past year alone.”

Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon, said: “London is a great place to innovate and is a melting pot of highly skilled talent, which is why we have a long-term commitment to the capital. Our new Shoreditch head office will allow us to continually innovate on behalf of our customers, enable small businesses to export around the world, and attract the best and brightest talent from the tech industry.”

The Mayor has also funded Ada, the brand new National College for Digital Skills based in Tottenham with £18million via the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP). He is encouraging more employers to work with the college to deliver their Higher Apprenticeship in Software Development.

In addition, he is calling on young people from East London to take advantage of the Flipside scheme that will shortly be launched by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) on the former Olympic Park. This will provide support on how to design and develop the digital products of the future. This programme is being co-created by digital agencies ustwo, Beyond, Sennep, Made by Many, Reading Rooms and Siberia and aims to support talented people from diverse communities to access opportunities.

London Tech Week, taking place this week, is Europe’s largest festival of technology and will shine a light on London’s booming technology sector, including talent, diversity and innovation.