According to multiple reports there are estimated three million software engineers in Europe, and finding the right person for the right job can still be a challenging task. Major metropolitans such as London and Paris may have a higher density of engineers, but when it comes to finding a skill-specific individual, companies may have to dig deep in smaller cities of the continent. Sequoia, the Venture Capital powerhouse is looking forward to finding a solution to this problem, as it introduces Atlas, an interactive guide to the European tech talent landscape.
Atlas is largely built with its own portfolio founders in mind, but it is also released to the general public. The platform combines a series of qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches, such as the following.
- It incorporates a talent survey involving 1,035 participants.
- A survey of 125 recruiters representing European tech companies.
- 17 comprehensive interviews were conducted with founders and recruiters.
- Aggregated data sourced from reputable third-party platforms like Dealroom, SeekOut, Remote, Ledgy, and GitHub.
Essentially, Atlas presents a comprehensive, interactive, and detailed talent guide for tech professionals in the European landscape. The platform includes 27 member nations of the European Union (EU) plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, collectively making the European Economic Area (EEA), which also includes Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.
Sequoia also published a report analyzing data collected by its surveys. The following are key points from the report.
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London tops the list of most engineers
London emerges as the frontrunner in terms of the total number of engineers across all disciplines, as well as in each specific field such as AI model engineering, DevOps, and security. However, Atlas report also was of the opinion that the higher density of engineers in a city doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the best place to go to seek a job.
Remote Work Options in Rise
The report also highlights that remote work is still relevant and is even preferred by employees and recruiters alike.
- Six in ten companies in the survey conducted by Atlas have permanently distributed teams in remote locations and nearly two-thirds of recruiters expect to have more such employees in the coming years.
- 78% of respondents stated that their engineers work in a distributed manner.
- Around three-quarters of recruiters cited access to specialist skills in other cities as a driving factor in going remote.
Level Grounds for Compensation
In the report, it was found that high-caliber engineers were able to command compensation for their jobs across the cities. With this regard, the report states, “Almost three-quarters of respondents agree that pay differentials are eroding between countries; eight in ten see this within countries”. Therefore, it was noted that offering low compensation for remote hiring is a declining trend.
European Tech Hubs
The report identified 24 cities with talent density in 14 key specialties. Irish capital Dublin ranked first in per-capita density for five of these categories.
- AI Technology: Dublin and Zurich boast the highest concentrations of AI engineers per capita. However, there is growing momentum in various cities across Europe, including Athens, Berlin, and Paris.
- Application development: Lisbon, Barcelona, and Porto emerged as the top-tier cities in this category.
- Database: Portuguese cities Lisbon and Porto remained the biggest hubs for Database engineering.
- Data Science: Dublin remained the best city in the region, scoring almost double the European average.
- DevOps: Dutch capital Amsterdam and Dublin present the greatest number of these engineers.
- Finance: Dublin also tops this category, followed by Berlin and Athens.
- Front-end frameworks: Cities of Vilnius and Tallinn boasts the highest density in this specialization, with a local density 60% higher than the average European density.
- Gaming & graphics: Helsinki tops the list followed by Vilnius and Stockholm.
- Hardware: Cambridge and Bristol are leaders in Hardware engineering closely followed by Munich and Stuttgart.
- Mobile: With a 1.5 times higher density than the European average, Barcelona is the hub in the region.
- Robotics, drones & autonomous vehicles: German cities Munich and Stuttgart leads in this category.
- Security: Dublin tops this list as well, while the Estonian capital Tallinn is not far behind.
- Server & Cloud: Dublin also tops this list with Amsterdam, Berlin, and Lisbon.
- Systems: The city of Gothenburg is the leader in System Engineering boasting 1.5 times more density than the region average.
Europe: Global Hub for AI
Europe has a significant concentration of specialized AI engineers compared to its overall engineering talent, surpassing the figures in the United States by 30% and tripling those in China. These engineers demonstrate a high level of education and experience in the region, with 70% of professionals holding a master’s or Ph.D. degree and a slightly higher proportion possessing over ten years of professional expertise. Supported by a range of capital investment and regulatory initiatives, Europe is on the verge of making itself a leading global force in the field of AI technology.
The Resilience of Ukrainian Talent
Despite the ongoing Russian invasion of this east-European state, Ukraine’s tech talent has demonstrated remarkable resilience. Global tech companies have put forward sincere efforts to retain and safeguard their Ukrainian workforce. Over 70% of Ukrainian IT professionals and more than 80% of software developers continue to work full-time.
As Sequoia introduces Atlas, an interactive guide to the European tech talent landscape, the report shares a detailed analysis of how well-distributed the tech talent is across the continent. Multiple key highlights shared by the guide, help us understand which cities are the best to look forward to and what trends can be expected in the coming time.
Source: Atlas, Sequoia Atlas Executive Summary
