Average UK tech salary now £74K per year
The average UK tech salary increased by 13% in 2019, to £74K per year, according to new research on global software developer salaries from Hired.
This was the highest pay increase compared to other tech hubs globally and also means that UK developers now earn twice as much as the average Brit (who earns £37K a year according to the ONS).
The global report looks into which Software Engineer roles have the highest salaries, what the most popular programming languages are and the work factors that matter most to the developers building our digital world. These insights illustrate the growing need for tech talent in the UK and the current in demand jobs, providing those working in the sector with an indication of their market worth and highlighting the positive future head for these skills.
The UK fared well in terms of salary increase against other tech hubs, including Toronto based engineers who saw a 9% (£4,000) increase, New Yorkers who saw a 7% (£7,000) increase and San Franciscans who saw a 6% (£6,360) hike. These findings suggest that, despite Brexit, London’s tech scene continues to skyrocket towards competing with the likes of Silicon Valley, coming after the recent news that VC funding for UK-based tech firms hit a record-breaking £10.1billion last year, increasing by 44%.
Gaming Engineers saw the highest salary rises in both London and San Francisco (with techies getting a £19,800 and £13,600 pay rise respectively), while in New York, Machine Learning engineers got pay hikes of £13,800 and Search Engineers in Toronto got an extra £19,800.
Some other interesting findings from the report are:
- The top three best paid UK developer roles are: Embedded Engineers (£82K annual salary), Blockchain Engineers (£81K annual salary) and Computer Vision Engineers (£81K annual salary)
- 1 in 5 Software Engineers globally are self-taught coders and only half have a Computer Science degree
- Worldwide, demand for AR/VR talent is up by 1400% as the tech is now increasingly being used by a broader range of industries, from marketing, to retail, to film
- The world’s most in-demand coding language is Google’s Go, but the most used language is JavaScript, suggesting a lack of supply for critical skills
- Machine Learning Engineers rank within the top 10 highest paid roles, earning on average £101K ($131K)
Commenting on the report, Gordon Smith, GM, Europe at Hired, said:
“This data, aside from highlighting some of the trends driving digital transformation globally, is a great motivator for tech talent in the UK, empowering them with insights that will help them to understand current hiring trends and their market worth.
“While salaries for Software Engineers continue to rise globally, the UK led the way in 2019, cementing the country’s place as one of the world’s top tech hubs. To continue this unparalleled growth in the UK, employers, aside from offering competitive salaries, need to ensure that understanding what top talent want from their jobs is a main priority for hiring managers.”
