- A quarter of UK tech professionals more optimistic about future of job market than immediately after EU vote
- 53% of UK tech professionals remain confident Brexit will not negatively impact their career plans
- 1 in 5 think Brexit will prove to have had a positive impact on UK tech job market by the end of 2017
Six months on from the vote to leave the European Union, a new report has highlighted that UK technology professionals see plenty of grounds for optimism as the sector prepares to head into 2017.
Dice, the online career site for the technology community, surveyed over 1,000 tech professionals and recruiters to see how sentiment had changed since its initial Brexit poll in July, which measured the initial market reaction to the Leave vote.
The report showed almost a quarter (22%) of tech professionals said that the six months since Brexit had made them more optimistic about the future of the tech job market in post-Brexit Britain.
The report also highlighted that 53% of tech professionals surveyed didn’t think Brexit would have a negative impact on their career plans.
9% of tech professionals described themselves as ‘much more optimistic’ about the future of the UK tech job market by the developments they had seen since 23rd June. Further to this, 1 in 5 (19%) tech professionals said they expect Brexit to have a positive impact on the UK tech sector by the end of 2017.
31% claim that their confidence in the future of the UK tech job markets remains entirely unchanged by any developments they have seen in the six months since the EU referendum. Only 1 in 6 (17%) believe the worst-case scenario is imminent and are ‘much more pessimistic’ about the future of the UK tech sector.
The report also found that a vast number of recruiters in the technology sector are reporting that Brexit has had little impact on their hiring plans, with pre-referendum fears of job losses or recruitment freezes yet to materialize for many.
Although the report indicated tech professionals are confident that the UK market is robust, it also highlighted that 45% of tech professionals are now more open to looking for job opportunities outside of the UK as a result of Brexit. Dublin (44%), Berlin (40%), and Amsterdam (35%) are the cities UK tech pros said they would be most likely to head to in Europe.
Jamie Bowler, Marketing Director for Dice Europe, comments, “Following our previous Brexit report, we wanted to gain insight into the general thoughts of the tech industry, now that the sector has had six months to digest the result and assess the likely implications on business.
“Our findings seem to suggest that whilst there is still a lot of uncertainty, the mood is far from doom and gloom amongst UK tech professionals and recruiters. Brexit will undoubtedly bring its challenges to the sector moving forward, but it is clear there is a collective attitude that the industry is strong enough to weather any storms that may lie ahead.
“’It is great to see UK tech professionals demonstrating such positive attitudes during these uncertain times. The UK currently leads Europe in technological and digital innovation and it is these tech professionals that will determine the sector’s future success. At Dice, we have every confidence that the UK will remain a place where the best and brightest tech talent from all over Europe and beyond will want to come to live and work.’