Edinburgh was the fastest growing tech hub in the UK throughout 2017.
That’s according to Stack Overflow’s Q4 report, which found that the Scottish city’s developer population rose by 8% in the second half of 2017.
Edinburgh’s total developer population now stands at approximately 20,000 – which is the equivalent to seven developers per 100 people in the labour force.
During the same time period, the number of data scientists in the city grew by 19%.
Despite the growth seen in Scotland, London unsurprisingly remains home to the UK’s largest developer population with more than 300,000 developers based in the capital city.
According to Stack Overflow’s data, London is home to more tech talent than the entirety of Italy, Spain or Poland.
Manchester and Birmingham have the biggest developer populations outside London, with 39,000 and 40,300 respectively.
Glasgow follows closely with approximately 16,500 developers – the equivalent of six per 100 people in the workforce.
Coding languages
Python was the most popular language among developers in Q3 2017, with job advertisements featuring the tag making up 11.6% of UK traffic on the side. This was slightly above JavaScript, which accounted for 9.9% of traffic.
Sean Bave, general manager and vice president, talent at Stack Overflow, said: “Technology moves quickly: even just a couple of months can make a difference to the languages and methodologies developers are interested in and it can sometimes be difficult for employers to keep up with the trends.
“What’s fascinating about this data is the pace at which different technologies rise and fall. It’s more important than ever for employers to keep their ears to the ground and look at data like this to make sure they’re using the right technologies and attracting the right talent as we move into 2018.”