UK tech salaries increased by 13% in 2019, making the technology sector the fastest growing in the country.
This is according to the annual State of Software Engineers Report 2020 from online career marketplace Hired.
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UK tech salaries continue to increase
The average software engineer salary reached £74,000 in 2019, the highest pay increase out of any global tech hub, including New York, San Francisco and Toronto.
According to a report by Reed Specialist Recruitment, there was a 4.7% increase in the average UK tech salary last year. That’s significantly higher than the median average full-time salary for the UK, which is £30,420, according to the Office for National Statistics. Developers now earn almost £44,000 more than the national average and for engineers, the best-paid role in London was embedded engineer.
The report found that the top three best-paid developer roles in the UK were blockchain engineers, embedded engineers and computer vision engineers, which all had an average salary of over £80,000.
The role that saw the largest pay increase in 2019 was gaming engineer, which rose by 25%.
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By GlobalDataThe report also noted an increased demand for augmented reality and virtual reality talent, which rose by 1400% as the technology receives interest from a number of industries. Machine learning engineers rank within the top 10 highest paid roles, earning on average £101,000.
It also highlighted that a relevant university degree is not always needed to enter the tech industry, with one in five software engineers in the world are self-taught.
This comes as the UK tech scene had a record-breaking year, despite the uncertainty caused by Brexit, with the sector receiving a record investment of £10.1bn. This suggests that London is making up some ground on the likes of Silicon Valley as it continues to grow as a hub for tech talent and investment.
“A great motivator for tech talent in the UK”
Gordon Smith, general manager, 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.”
Read More: 25 best jobs in the UK for 2020 topped by tech role
