Tech start-up jobs up 22% this year

The number of jobs available at technology start-ups has grown 22% since last year, according to a new study by recruitment event organiser Silicon Milkroundabout. 

By analysing job ads on online recruitment site Adzuna, it found that the number of positions open at technology start-ups reached 3,229 in April of this year. 

Software-as-a-service start-ups are offering the most jobs, with 15% of the vacancies on offer. They were followed by travel companies, e-commerce sites and music-related start-ups, each with 11% of the jobs.

London, perhaps unsurprisingly, has the highest concentration of vacancies, with 34% of roles, followed by Cambridge (27%), Brighton (11%) and Bristol (8%). 

Just over a third of the jobs on offer (34%) are for software developers. Ruby development skills were in highest demand, with 14% of jobs seeking Ruby experience, followed iOS (8%) and Android (7%) experience. 

Silicon Milkroundabout also surveyed 200 software engineers, product managers and designers to gauge their interest in working for a start-up. Two thirds (67%) would be "easily persuaded" to join a tech start-up, it found, while a quarter would only considered a tech start-up for their next job.

The survey also asked respondents what they would expect to receive when working for a start-up, versus an "established business". 

Nearly all of them (97%) said they would expect to receive job satisfaction at a start-up, compared to 40% at an established business. Even more (98%) would expect to receive learning opportunities at a start-up, versus 61% at an established business.

Meanwhile, only 28% would expect a high salary at a start-up, versus 87% for an established business. 

This would imply that if they are to compete with start-ups to lure top tech talent, established businesses must either bump up their salaries, offer greater learning opportunities than workers might expect, or focus on job satisfaction. 

Pete Swabey

Pete Swabey

Pete was Editor of Information Age and head of technology research for Vitesse Media plc from 2005 to 2013, before moving on to be Senior Editor and then Editorial Director at The Economist Intelligence...

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