Best Cities to move as a Web Dev

I have finished university and am looking for somewhere to move abroad. I currently live in Melbourne, Australia. Opportunities are good here but it feels disconnected from the greater world and I have never resonated with australian culture.

London and Gothenburg are two of the main cities I am considering. Others would be Manchester and Berlin. Who here has moved cities and found work? What were your experiences and where would you recommend?

Fortune 500 posted this article of the best places for jobs in 2017. I do believe most of these are US cities: http://fortune.com/2017/09/13/best-cities-to-find-a-job-2017/

Forbes had this for tech jobs specifically (again mostly US): https://www.forbes.com/pictures/edgl45hhjm/1-san-francisco-oakland/#a02ce44229d3

And Tech Beacon said these were the best 7 international cities for developers:

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Canberra, Australia
Zurich, Switzerland
Hamilton, Canada
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Melbourne, Australia
Geneva, Switzerland

Here’s a link to the last article so you can dig deeper. Sorry I’m not much more help. https://techbeacon.com/top-12-international-cities-software-engineers

Don’t forget… The grass is always greener on the other side. — NOT!

Obviously UK is going to be attractive for language and the fact you’ll have zero visa issues. Cost of living in London is staggeringly high, but lots of jobs. Cost of living in Manchester is much lower, tech is pretty good, second city after London. App design is pretty big; Manchester is great for visual design, and the tech firms reflect that. Bristol always come out well from surveys; video games are main thing I think. Birmingham not sure, but its actual second largest city so assuming relatively good for jobs. Leeds is ok (betting tech is big - SkyBet are based there, fintech, apps), Newcastle area as well (games - Ubisoft & a few other other games companies, betting, business tech - Sage), but much smaller cities.

Also depends on what you studied/want to do.If it’s research/science-ey, Oxford, Reading, Cambridge are very good. Being London satellites & having research means other tech firms cluster, so good jobs wise. All three of those have high cost of living, not quite London but still hefty.

London most stuff to do but a bit isolating. Manchester p excellent, busy. Smaller cities away from London generally quite good (Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle). London satellites deadly dull.

This from last year, still valid: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37380696

Prague is maybe what you are looking for. I lived there for seven years and it always has a special place in my heart. Prague is beautiful, yet small in a way that you can walk just about everywhere in the centre. Most workplaces are very international. And there are plenty job opportunities for developers at big companies or startups

Every now and then grass is in fact greener on the other side. Good luck with your explorations.

.

1 Like