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Java team member Charlotte Young is a shining example of career progression at Understanding Recruitment, and since joining as a Researcher in 2018, has gone from achievement to achievement to work as Senior Recruitment Consultant. We meet her to find out her advice for those at the start of their recruitment career, the Java developer recruitment market, and what she enjoys about #LifeAtUR. What was your career journey before joining the world of recruitment? I studied Geography at Cardiff University and working at Understanding Recruitment was my first ever full-time job.   What appealed to you about working in recruitment? I was exploring various lines of employment-related to my field of study. When I realised how competitive it was, I reached out to someone I knew in recruitment to find out a little more as I heard he was progressing very quickly in his role and earning great money too! He passed my CV onto UR and after several interview rounds, I secured a position by Christmas of my final year of university!   "UR was a team of about 40 when I joined and now there are 75+ people! The company created values that are adhered to throughout interviewing new prospective recruiters and also has a collaborative working culture."   What do you enjoy about working here (e.g. people, skills, culture, what you’re learning)? Everyone at UR is hugely supportive of each other. We celebrate successes as a team and we show compassion and support others when things don’t always work out the way we would like. We have a mentor/mentee system at UR where we, as recruiters, constantly learn from one another as well at AURA (our learning hub). I’m always learning from my manager who takes the time to listen to my questions and coaches me to the right outcome. Overall, UR places a huge emphasis on its values and it’s great to see an organisation that is an advocate for collaboration and setting high expectations with a strong reputation.   How has Understanding Recruitment evolved since you joined? The first noticeable change is size! UR was a team of about 40 when I joined and now there are 75+ people! The company created values that are adhered to throughout interviewing new prospective recruiters and also has a collaborative working culture on the sales floor. UR also hired in-house trainers who have now put together an extensive training programme for new recruits which has been great and joiners are getting off the mark very quickly! What excites you about being part of the Java industry right now? There is no better time to be a Java Developer than right now, as our 2022 Java Talent & Salary Report demonstrates – the job markets we work on have been very candidate-driven, with salaries higher than ever for tech professionals, and overall job packages increasingly including the likes of equity options nowadays. It’s great to see new industries emerging (e.g. FinTechs, MedTech, Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence) with really exciting opportunities in Java. It’s interesting to see the industry adapt to the increased demand for more flexibility around working hours and working from home too.   What significant changes have you seen in the job market and hiring in the past couple of years? In addition to becoming more and more candidate-led and demand for hybrid or fully remote working sky-rocketing, some sectors have been expanding at an extremely quick pace (e.g. MedTech, cybersecurity). I also see that counteroffers are on the rise in the market, as organisations really do not want to lose staff – projects become business-critical, and it costs them more to re-hire someone else.   What’s a standout memory or highlight from your 3.5 years at the company? My first deal was definitely a standout memory – I was actually abroad on holiday when I found out! My promotions were the most important milestones for me personally, especially my first ever promotion. There was a lot of build-up and it was proof to me that I could really do 360 recruitment. One of my clients is also the company’s biggest client which is also a highlight for me looking back on how far I’ve come. What’s your advice to someone considering a career in recruitment? I’d say good things take time and it’s all about not giving up – ride the wave and good things always come. It’s cliché, but I’d also say to remember that diamonds are made under pressure! It can be very stressful at times working as a recruiter, but the reward is absolutely worth it! Additionally, make sure the organisation you join really invests in your training. It’s important to ensure it has a comprehensive training and onboarding programme, as well as continuous bits of training throughout the year to make sure you are constantly improving in your role and using the latest tools to support you.   What are you most excited about looking to the future working at Understanding Recruitment and in the Java sector? I’m most excited about growing out my own team and starting management – I have even already secured my first hire for the summer! I’m also really excited to continue helping my current clients and scale out my client base with some more exciting tech companies that are evolving quickly.   Thank you to Charlotte for giving a glimpse into Tech Recruiter Life and look out for more spotlights on other members of the UR team on our blog soon!   Does a career in tech recruitment sound appealing? Find out more below!​

Have you checked out our 2022 Talent & Salary reports yet? Each year we share in-depth tech recruiter insight on the average developer salary in different verticals using our market knowledge and data insight sources, as well as trends when it comes to what language developers are enjoying using, what benefits they are receiving, and other trends in each market. This year, we report on Java, Python, .NET, Front End, DevOps, and AI & Machine Learning – here are the highlights from this year’s surveys. Looking ahead to 2022, we note the demand for remote working continuing (with many tech professionals preferring one day a week) and salaries continuing to be very healthy, and competing with counteroffers being frequently offered to tech professionals when giving their notice. SUMMARY: JAVA DEVELOPER MARKET Talent pool: 55,000 Diversity: 85% male / 15% female Median tenure: 1.8 years Where is talent located? London dominates geographically when it comes to Java talent, accounting for nearly 35% of professionals, followed by Manchester and Edinburgh. Explore Java developer jobs. Our report focuses on professionals our dedicated Java team most frequently works with, including Software Engineers, Java Software Engineers, Full Stack Engineers, Back End Developers and Senior Software Engineers. 2021 was a fantastic year for the Java industry, and we only expect more growth in the year ahead. We have seen a wide selection of software development roles on the market in Europe. We also note that in addition to the trend to push to retain Java talent with counteroffers and increased desire for remote working, bonuses and equity options are increasingly being included in benefits packages. KEY TECH FINDINGS Tech professionals in the industry are most commonly using Java, Agile, Public cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure), Microservices, Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, MongoDB, and Multithreading. Microservices architecture, Public cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) and Docker, followed by Kubernetes, Multithreading (banking environment) and AI/Machine Learning tools, appear to be the most desirable tech professionals want to be using the most due to enjoyment or to expand their horizons. WFH vs. in-office Software developers have a strong preference for working from home over working in an office, and on average, London-based companies are requesting an office presence of… READ OUR FULL JAVA TALENT & SALARY REPORT (including average salary for Graduate, Junior, Mid-level, Senior, and Lead Developers). SUMMARY: .NET DEVELOPER MARKET Talent pool: 34,780 Diversity: 87% male / 13% female Median tenure: 1.8 years Where is talent located? The majority of talent is located in London with hiring across Manchester, Leeds and Bristol remaining very high. Search .NET developer jobs. .NET talent was in high demand in 2021, in accordance with the high demand across the rest of the tech industry. In total, over 7,900 professionals reportedly change their job last year. Many companies hired throughout 2020, but lots put their hiring on hold meaning projects were backlogged and they needed to scale quickly in 2021. We saw interview processes being streamlined, while salaries and the number of fully remote roles increased. .NET 6 was released on 8/11/21 and 39.1% of our respondents said that their company has already started using it. Typescript and React also saw a 32% growth in skills among this talent. KEY TECH FINDINGS 86.1% of developers were happy with the tech they use (down 2.9% from last year) 80.9% said that their company has moved into the cloud with 64.9% stating that they use Azure 72.2% are expected to code in Front End with React (48.3%) being the most used. Blazor is on the rise with 18% saying they code in that 43.7% said they like coding in Front End, 35.9% saying they don’t mind and 20.4% saying they don’t like it What tech are developers most excited to work with and learn and what percentage of professionals think they are underpaid? READ OUR FULL .NET TALENT & SALARY REPORT to find out, as well as average salaries from Graduate/Junior Developer level up to Enterprise Architect and Development Manager level. SUMMARY: FRONT END (JAVASCRIPT) DEVELOPER MARKET Talent pool: 20,951 Diversity: 85% male / 15% female Median tenure: 2.5 years Where is talent located? London boasts over six times the number of Front End professionals compared to Manchester in second place. Explore Front End developer jobs. 2021 was a great year for Front End and it has been exciting to see the market go from strength to strength even against the backdrop of the pandemic. Our report focuses on the two types of roles our team largely concentrates on, Front End JavaScript and Full Stack JavaScript Developers. We have seen more Full Stack Developer roles using Node on the back end than ever before (especially in the second half of 2021). From what we are seeing in the market, we don’t expect this to change in the first half of the year – however, we foresee more TypeScript-focused roles moving away from frameworks like React towards the end of 2022. We expect the trend of increased demand for remote work to stay from our interactions with developers who still have an appetite for remote working and expect it to be offered by employers. We’ve found most developers are open to hybrid working but most would prefer only coming into an office once a week. In terms of landmark company growth, we have seen Octopus Energy working towards increasing its headcount by 129% following receiving £438m funding at the end of 2021. KEY TECH FINDINGS We are seeing React continue to be the most commonly used language among developers (40%), followed by Angular and Vue, according to our 2021 Tech Stack Report exploring the most commonly used web frameworks. In terms of what Front End specialists want to use, Node.js and Python lead the way, with 40% having a preference for the languages. Read the average salary of JavaScript/Full Stack professionals in London, Midlands and the North, the typical benefits packages they’re receiving, and more, in our full FRONT END TALENT & SALARY REPORT. SUMMARY: DEVOPS, CLOUD & SRE MARKET We are continuing to see a huge range of titles in the Cloud and Ops world; ranging from SRE to Platform Engineer, DevOps Engineer to Cloud Engineer, and providing relevant salary information based on title has become more of a challenge, so our report has a ‘tech not title’ focus. Search DevOps, Cloud & SRE jobs. KEY TECH FINDINGS What’s the in-demand skillset? GCP (currently the least common skill set across the three major cloud providers), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or Cloudformation), Docker, some exposure to Kubernetes, development languages for automation (Python, Go etc.).    What’s the ‘premium’ skillset? Pro4Rduction, complex or multi-cluster Kubernetes, strong development skills (Python, Go, Java most common), complex or large-scale cloud environments, distributed computer frameworks, niche knowledge in areas such as Nomad or MLOps. There is no doubt the market has changed significantly over the last 18 months. Competition has driven salaries to record highs and we have seen a number of huge percentage salary increases. Our highest base salary offer in 2021 sat at £170,000 for an individual contributor, and whilst an outlier (sitting comfortably in the Premium section), we have also seen a record number of +£100,000 IC salaries. "Our highest base salary offer in 2021 sat at £170,000 for an individual contributor..." One of the main drivers has been increased access to opportunities due to remote working. Those in the UK now have more access to US and European teams hiring for fully remote positions. This has been particularly acute with some of the major US tech groups entering the market, with comparatively high salary levels and whilst certainly, a factor in driving UK salaries, has had even more of an impact across traditionally lower-paying locations across Europe. There is no sign of this slowing in 2022. Our average DevOps, Cloud and SRE placement salary in 2021 sat at £91,500, with the median figure sitting at… READ OUR FULL DEVOPS TALENT & SALARY REPORT to find out, in addition to average salaries at junior, mid, senior-level based on skillsets. SUMMARY: MACHINE LEARNING & AI MARKET Talent pool: (Broken down by sub-sector in report) Diversity: 78% / 22% female Where is talent located? London has maintained its seat as the number one area where this talent is located. Nevertheless, we have also seen (2) Cambridge, (3) Manchester and (4) Edinburgh grow in the last year. Explore Machine Learning & AI jobs. According to AI News, ‘The British technology sector enjoyed its best year of investment yet, attracting £29.4 billion in 2021.’ The UK Government also recorded that in 2021, the UK tech sector achieved its best year ever as success feeds cities outside London. In 2022, there are plans to ‘level up’ and innovate further with AI Governance. Hence, it appears as though the growth within AI across the UK has only just begun and this is an incredibly exciting industry to be part of. The market has never been so candidate-driven, and expectations are rising not only with compensation, but benefits, working environments, and more.  To give an insight on how huge the current need is across the UK for Machine Learning talent, let’s discuss some statistics: there have been 9,454 results for job adverts for ‘Machine Learning Engineers’ in the UK (in the past month) on LinkedIn alone; for Data Scientists there has been ‘10,555’, ‘15,645 results’ for Data Engineers and ‘1,353 results’ for Machine Learning Researchers. Considering these are the results just on LinkedIn, it shows there may be more demand than candidates available. WFH vs. in-office This has been a contentious issue for employers moving out of the pandemic, as there has been a huge appetite in the technology industry for working from home. This is only exemplified from a recent poll on LinkedIn where 41% of professionals stated they preferred a hybrid model of office and remote work, 33% said they would most like ‘occasional visits,’ and a fifth stated they would most prefer working remotely on a full-time basis. Read our salary benchmarking for Machine Learning Engineer, Data Scientist, Research/ML Scientist, Software Engineer (with AI exposure) and Data Engineer roles across all levels, as well as professionals’ preferred interview process, and lots more, in our full AI & MACHINE LEARNING TALENT & SALARY REPORT. SUMMARY: PYTHON DEVELOPER MARKET Talent pool: 19,394 Diversity: 85% / 15% female Median tenure: 1.3 years Search Python developer jobs. Where is talent located? London is unsurprisingly the hotspot for Python talent, boasting over ten times the professionals than Glasgow and Manchester, which follow. The insights in our report are based on Python web frameworks and titles including Python Developer, as these typically make up 95% of our roles. 2021 was a great year for the Python programming language. On the TIOBE index, Python hit the number one programming language, ahead of C and Java. This index ranks the popularity of programming languages and is the first time in 20 years C and Java have been overtaken. This year, we’ve seen the market adapt and many positions have moved towards remote working as companies continue to realise that this is the best way to find high-quality candidates. The demand for Python talent is incredibly high and competition for talent means candidates will often receive multiple offers, and some organisations are willing to pay above market rate to secure the best talent. In terms of other key trends for 2022, we expect Python will continue to be used across many different areas including web development, Machine Learning, data analytics, mobile apps, automation, and scientific computing, amongst others. We expect more companies will realise the power of paying engineers London-based salaries for remote workers and salaries will continue to rise. KEY INDUSTRY FINDINGS We have found that Django continues to be the largest web framework, with 11,125 individuals having it as a skill, but newer and quicker frameworks are now being used such as Fast-API which companies such as Revolut have already implemented. We saw 2021 be a huge year for Yelp, with hundreds of millions in sales but we’ve also seen many candidates open to working for them as they grow across many areas. GoCardless also received a massive $95m in Series F which has helped them expand last year. Remote vs. WFH What a tech professional values most in a role is evolving beyond a strong focus on salary, and we are seeing flexibility grow in value to the typical Python professional. We found only two roles we worked with required engineers to be in the office more than two days per week, which were both roles that required client interaction. Notably, 86% of our roles have considerable remote working options, with 58% having the option of being fully remote. Why do Python developers most commonly leave their roles and what do they look for in a new employer? These questions and more (including the average salary of Graduate developers up to Lead Python Developer/Engineering Managers) are answered in our FULL PYTHON TALENT & SALARY REPORT. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading all the insight from our 2022 reports, and we look forward to sharing our tech recruiter insight again in 2023! Find all our Talent & Salary reports here.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, I’m not only reminded of the talented women we’re lucky to have within Understanding Recruitment but also the positive progress we’ve made over the years to ‘break the bias’ (this year’s theme) and encourage both technology and recruitment as a career path for everyone, regardless of gender. Thankfully, times are changing, and we’re seeing more women being encouraged to drive technological innovation across the world. That said, despite the positive shift, the statistics we’re seeing are still shocking, with several sectors having as much as 85% male-identifying people versus 15% female-identifying individuals within their teams. So, how can hiring companies tackle bias in their recruitment processes and overall lead the way for more gender diversity in the workplace? A TOP-DOWN APPROACH In my opinion, it’s the job of everyone involved in the hiring process, from the top down to be mindful of diversity every step of the way. And to help with this, it’s really important to have different people with multiple perspectives involved to help eradicate unconscious bias of any individual during the process. Here at Understanding Recruitment, we’ve introduced unconscious bias training and support around inclusive hiring so that everyone is aware of their unconscious biases and how this can impact the recruitment process. Across the business, we regularly review our internal interview and recruitment process to help eradicate any bias as well as promote and encourage new ways of working, including part-time working which sadly can be all too often overlooked within our industry. We’re also members of Women in Recruitment, within which there are mentoring opportunities to help encourage more women to have a seat at the table and elevate their careers.  Additionally, we have an internal mentoring scheme so that all our team members can reach their fullest potential. We recognise from a range of research carried out that people involved in the hiring process are often encouraged to look for a certain profile or behaviour. However, we know that this negatively impacts business performance and in turn, companies are losing out on talent without knowing it. THE VALUE OF DIVERSITY Companies that embrace diversity are proven to be much better positioned for innovation and perform better. It also creates more diversity of thought and approaches in the workplace which research proves makes for a far more productive and successful business. In my experience, companies that are growing quickly sometimes haven’t been deliberate enough about their hiring process and end up allowing unconscious biases to creep into their decision making. Although a lot of companies are already aware of this issue and claim they are trying to make their hiring processes less biased, it is easy to fall into the trap. In many cases, people don’t even realise they’re doing it.  “In my experience, companies that are growing quickly sometimes haven’t been deliberate enough about their hiring process and end up allowing unconscious biases to creep into their decision making.” We advise our clients to work with standardised competency-based questions, making sure questions don’t vary between people so they are interviewed objectively. Letting interviewers pick their own questions means that their experience of the candidate can vary. While some people might just have a friendly chat based on common interests, others interrogate the candidate. This means that people often end up being recommended for the role based on a personal connection rather than their ability to do the job, a fact often supported by the company’s staff retention rate, a statistic often ignored. The good news though, is that the easiest place to remove unconscious bias is in recruitment. Taking the time to make biases visible will help companies address them and improve the diversity of their teams. And whilst we’ll be fully celebrating International Women’s Day here at Understanding Recruitment, it’s the work we’ll be carrying out throughout the year around breaking the bias that really matters. DISCOVER OUR 'DIVERSITY IN AI' SERIES: Catherine Oxley, PolyAI: https://www.understandingrecruitment.co.uk/blog/2021/08/annas-diversity-in-ai-series-catherine-oxley Priscilla Boyd, iTech Media: https://www.understandingrecruitment.co.uk/blog/2021/09/annas-diversity-in-ai-series-priscilla-boyd Ye Tian, Wluper: https://www.understandingrecruitment.co.uk/blog/2021/10/research-scientist-ye-tian-on-working-on-amazon-alexa-and-the-value-of-nlp Yue Wang, Samsung: https://www.understandingrecruitment.co.uk/blog/2022/02/diversity-in-ai-series-samsungs-yue-wang-on-propelling-the-ai-industry-forward

One perk of joining the Understanding Recruitment team as a trainee or graduate recruiter, is that if you meet a certain target you qualify to go on a trip to our office in Boston! This is what three of our high performers got to do this month, as they jetted off to Massachusetts to meet our Acceler8 Talent recruitment team and have a taste of life in the U.S. as a reward for their efforts and surpassing their targets in the early stages of their Understanding Recruitment career. One of the most significant recent expansions within the Understanding Recruitment Group has been the addition of our Boston recruitment team. Acceler8 Talent (formerly Understanding Recruitment US), is going from strength to strength when it comes to recruiting in specialist areas including AI & machine learning, hardware acceleration, quantum computing, photonics, and biotech. Its team has grown to over 10 team members since COO Mat Ferdenzi took his success growing our UK Machine Learning team stateside in 2019.   @understandingrecruitment Our 'Road to Olympia' Winners recently enjoyed a trip to Boston! #LifeAtUR #Recruitment #Travel #WorkTrip #TechRecruitment ♬ Forever - Labrinth   After being postponed due to the pandemic, in February three of our qualifying team based in our St. Albans office headed to Boston to meet the expanding Acceler8 team and have the U.S. office experience. The temperature may have been minus degree centigrade when the manager of our Python recruitment team, Josh Smith, Java specialist Ollie Brown, and Front End (JavaScript) team member Brad Howell arrived in Boston, but that didn’t stop them having a trip to remember with their American counterparts.   MEET THE ‘ROAD TO OLYMPIA’ TEAM       “A ‘ONCE IN A LIFETIME’ EXPERIENCE” Here’s what the team said about their trip to Boston and advice for anyone hoping to hit their target in style, and reap the reward of all their hard work with an incentive!     Q. How did it feel to find out you made ‘Road to Olympia’? Ollie: It was awesome, and felt like a genuine reward for months of hard work. The satisfaction of securing talent for roles is great, but nothing really beats the feeling of hitting incentives; especially this one because of the nature of it. RTO is designed to be a challenge for new starters to hit, so to have done it and secured my seat on the plane was fantastic. It was made even better in knowing I’d hit it with Josh and Brad too – knowing we had all hit it at roughly the same time, achieved something special together, and were going to have a great experience together was priceless.   “It was the best feeling to know I was part of a select few who had hit the incentive was brilliant. It was also the point where I really started to believe I could do the job and do it well!” Brad: It was the best feeling to know I was part of a select few who had hit the incentive was brilliant. It was also the point where I really started to believe I could do the job and do it well!   Q. What do you feel you learned from working in the Boston office alongside the US team? Josh: The US is very different in terms of the way they work to the UK. It was good to see that the culture over there is exactly the same as in Understanding Recruitment’s UK office and we all got on so well. I learnt a lot from the way they write their LinkedIn InMails to candidates which is something I've already started to incorporate into my messages since I’ve been back. Ollie: The Boston team do quite a lot differently from us, which I found interesting. There’s a lot of crossover, but they are really unique and have put their mark on a lot of processes. We had a load of knowledge-sharing sessions around things like database usage for sourcing candidates, how they write job adverts and messages, and how they communicate with candidates and clients; and I’d say they learned a similar amount from us as we did from them, which was pretty cool.     Q. What was the professional highlight of your trip? Brad: Meeting the whole team and celebrating when one of the US team did a placement – to be a part of that happening with a different team was great! Josh: I really enjoyed sitting next to Mat from Acceler8 for the second half of the week, listening to him on the phone to clients and seeing him help his team out was something that I'm aspiring to be like in a few years’ time.   Q. What was your non-work-related favourite part of the trip? Brad: Seeing and getting involved with all that Boston has to offer – Acceler8’s office is right opposite the basketball and hockey stadium, so we went to both games. The hockey was great to watch, and it was actually the first time we had all seen ice hockey live.   Q. What would be your advice for those trying to hit a special meal/trip or milestone with their performance early on in their recruitment career? Ollie: Set your plan out early, as with all incentives. It is so vital to focus on that if you want to do X, you need to do Y every month in order to get there. This is something that I didn’t do well enough early on in my journey at UR, but I think planning is the difference between success and ‘lack-of’ in this career. This works on both a micro and a macro scale – So if you want to bill X in a month, you need to get Y CVs out in that month, so Z CVs out each week. The more structured you make it, the easier it’ll be to see if you’re on track or not to hit the bigger incentives!   “...my learning curve was significantly shortened just because I went the extra mile. Now I'm managing a team of four, having only joined the company 2.5 years ago.” Josh: Work your absolute socks off and you'll see the successes, nothing comes easy in recruitment but if you have the drive and intensity you'll reap the rewards that come with it. I stayed late almost every day for the first two to three months of being with UR and my learning curve was significantly shortened just because I went the extra mile. Now I'm managing a team of four, as the Python market continues to rapidly grow, having only joined the company 2.5 years ago. Brad: It really was a once in a lifetime experience, so I would put 100% effort into everything you do to hit the trip and it will also put you in good stead to smash the rest of your first year!   #URLife sound pretty good? We’re always on the lookout for enthusiastic trainees and graduates, who are interested in a career in recruitment!