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There are pockets outside London where demand for developers is very high. Don't be fooled into thinking it's London or nothing for the UK workforce. I'm in Cen

There are pockets outside London where demand for developers is very high. Don't be fooled into thinking it's London or nothing for the UK workforce. I'm in Central Scotland, and there's a thriving tech thing going on here.

lucaspiller 12y ago
In my experience jobs outside of London have a much lower earning potential. I went to university in Devon, and there are a fair few tech jobs around there, but even as a senior developer with 10 years experience I wouldn't get much more than £40k. Instead I moved to London, and was getting more than that two years after I graduated. Sure London is more expensive, but if you don't mind commuting you can live further out of the city for not much more than the UK average - I'd imagine rents between Bristol and Reading are pretty similar, but Reading is easily commutable to London (Bristol isn't bad either, but I wouldn't like to do it every day). There is also the question of technologies too, if you aren't happy working with legacy Java or .NET systems then you'll have a much harder time getting a job outside of London. Also where exactly is Central Scotland (I'm a southerner)?
- pjc50 12y ago
  Central Scotland = Glasgow, Edinburgh and places along the M8 (eg Oracle at Linlithgow). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Glen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Glen also includes Dundee which isn't quite "central" but has a games cluster centered on Abertay. It's a good way south of the centre of a map of Scotland, but it's the area where people are concentrated.
- brianmcc 12y ago
  In general you're probably right. I guess it's finding the exceptions that are out there that's difficult, and as you say, for someone based in the south of England, the middle bit of Scotland is pretty obscure. There is a body, IIRC, promoting Scotland and awareness of its growing activity in tech as a place to come and live and work. Perhaps not "Mission Accomplished" quite yet :-)

lucaspiller 12y ago

In my experience jobs outside of London have a much lower earning potential. I went to university in Devon, and there are a fair few tech jobs around there, but even as a senior developer with 10 years experience I wouldn't get much more than £40k. Instead I moved to London, and was getting more than that two years after I graduated. Sure London is more expensive, but if you don't mind commuting you can live further out of the city for not much more than the UK average - I'd imagine rents between Bristol and Reading are pretty similar, but Reading is easily commutable to London (Bristol isn't bad either, but I wouldn't like to do it every day). There is also the question of technologies too, if you aren't happy working with legacy Java or .NET systems then you'll have a much harder time getting a job outside of London. Also where exactly is Central Scotland (I'm a southerner)?

pjc50 12y ago
Central Scotland = Glasgow, Edinburgh and places along the M8 (eg Oracle at Linlithgow). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Glen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Glen also includes Dundee which isn't quite "central" but has a games cluster centered on Abertay. It's a good way south of the centre of a map of Scotland, but it's the area where people are concentrated.
brianmcc 12y ago
In general you're probably right. I guess it's finding the exceptions that are out there that's difficult, and as you say, for someone based in the south of England, the middle bit of Scotland is pretty obscure. There is a body, IIRC, promoting Scotland and awareness of its growing activity in tech as a place to come and live and work. Perhaps not "Mission Accomplished" quite yet :-)