London’s IT programmers are some of the highest paid and most experienced in the world, according to a new report from online developer community, Stack Overflow and London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s promotional company. The findings are being launched as part of the second Tech Talent Week London, a festival of events that will celebrate London’s talented community of developers1.
Analysis of over 56,000 Stack Overflow users shows that London’s technology businesses are benefitting from access to one of the world’s most experienced developer talent pools. On average, the capital’s developers have 7.8 years’ experience under their belt compared to 6.5 years for the global developer workforce, and greater than the majority of rival European tech hubs such as Stockholm, Berlin and Paris.
Developers are attracted to London by the city’s competitive salaries. Stack Overflow data reveals that London’s developers are among some of the highest paid in Europe earning an average annual salary of $79,500.97 (£55,459.34), which is more than in Dublin, Berlin and Madrid. However, London still lags behind the United States, where developers earn an average annual salary of $95,218 (£66,423.44.)
Further analysis of Stack Overflow’s users shows that there is a better gender diversity on tech teams in London, with over one third of London respondents revealing that they work with two or more women on their development teams (5 per cent higher than the national average), and 52 per cent ‘agreeing completely that diversity in the workplace is important’ (6 per cent higher than the national average). London’s tech developers are also more content with their jobs, compared to workers across the rest of the UK (31.56 per cent love their jobs vs 30.98, the UK average).
Tech Talent Week London will gather some of the industry’s most noted thought leaders to discuss key issues facing the technology sector, including women in technology and the importance of adopting long-term recruitment strategies. Stack Overflow will host a variety of events in partnership with London & Partners, taking place across the city from 25-29th April.
Alexa Scordato, Director of Marketing at Stack Overflow said: 'Developers are literally writing the script to our future. Every line of code they write has the potential to impact our lives. That's why it's so important to recognise the value of technical talent, and treat developers with the respect they deserve. Tech Talent Week London is a festival of events which celebrates the thriving developer community here in the UK's capital.'
Eileen Burbidge, Mayor of London Technology Ambassador and Partner at Passion Capital said: “London’s talent pool is fuelling the growth of the city’s digital ecosystem. With more software developers than New York and San Francisco, London has emerged as a leading centre in areas such as fintech and cyber security. As a truly international city, London is one of the world’s most diverse tech hubs and it is refreshing that we are seeing more programmers coming into the ecosystem -- male and female alike.”
David Slater, Director of International Trade & Investment at London & Partners added: “London is home to some of the best creative and tech talent in the world. With the highest concentration of world class universities compared to any other global city and Europe’s fastest growing technology cluster, London is a leading destination for international businesses looking to expand globally. As the industry continues to grow at a rapid pace it is important that we continue to attract the world’s best talent and initiatives such as Tech Talent Week are helping to shine a spotlight on why London is the world’s leading city to live and work.”
Tech Talent Week London will see keynotes by leading figures from some of the UK’s largest and fastest growing companies including; Bryan Dove, SVP Engineering at Skyscanner; Harsh Sinha, VP of Engineering at Transferwise and Meri Williams, Head of Engineering at M&S.
London’s booming fintech sector offers strong employment opportunities for developers. According to separate research from EY, Britain’s fintech ecosystem ranked higher than New York and California and currently employs around 61,000 workers across the UK.
Tech Talent Week London keynote speaker Harsh Sinha, VP Engineering at TransferWise, said: “Hiring the right people is crucial to the success of any company, but especially when you're a high-growth business expanding internationally at speed. Finding great developers is particularly tough. But there's a strong emerging developer community in London, so it's great to see Tech Talent Week supporting and celebrating that community."
London & Partners is the official promotional company for London. We promote London and attract businesses, events, congresses, students and visitors to the capital. Our aims are to build London’s international reputation and to attract investment and visitor spend, which create jobs and growth. London & Partners is a not-for-profit public private partnership, funded by the Mayor of London and our network of commercial partners.
Stack Overflow is one of the smartest and most helpful corners of the Internet. It’s the place where millions of developers go to learn, share their knowledge, and advance their careers. With nearly 40 million monthly visitors and 10.2 million programming questions, Stack Overflow has unparalleled insights into how developers think, what matters to them and what gets them excited in their job.
Tech Talent Week London is a festival of events that celebrates London’s talented community of developers. Stack Overflow will host a variety of events in partnership with London & Partners. The headline sponsor is ThoughtWorks and the events are also supported by sponsors WorldFirst and Badoo.
Chandeliers, velvet sofas, antique wallpaper and a ridiculously good-looking, dance-loving crowd adorn this multifloored mansion. The DJs – spinning funk, soul and house – are phenomenal, which is not surprising given Eric Hilton (of Thievery Corporation) is co-owner. The lack of a sign on the door proclaims the club’s exclusivity. No athletic attire or sneakers. Cover charge ranges from $10 to $20.
Katy Ryder Finnegan assembled these photos of Ruth Harriet Gearen Ryder's siblings in 2006 according to Katy's handwritten notes on the reverse. I believe the photos were taken at different times. The birth and death dates for each child are attached next to their photos. It is likely that all were taken in Sioux City although the oldest may have been born in Illinois.
The photo quality here is not excellent because it is a photo of a digital photo but Katy treasured this collage and it is worth sharing it with you on that alone! Thanks to Kathleen Finnegan Hiatt for sharing it.
This November, 2017, re-post edits and corrects some items in the family history of our great-grandmother Mary Jane Jacobs Ryder, wife of Fred Ryder, and her Jacobs and Abbott families.
Our grandfather Frank Thomas (or Thomas Francis as he was baptized) Ryder's father was Fred Rider who died in Missouri in 1923. The December 7, 2014, Long Since Dispersed blog posting Finding Our Ryders, A Course Correction discussed Fred and his son Benjamin. Included was some information about great-great-grandfather Azariah Rider, a Union Civil War veteran who moved from McHenry County, Illinois after the Civil War to Sioux City, Iowa.
Azariah was born in Bath County, in the Shenandoah Mountains of far western Virginia (Virginia and not the portion that became the adjoining state West Virginia). His family had moved to McHenry County, Illinois as an early part of the expansion into the Connecticut Western Reserve - meaning a large part of what became Ohio. Azariah married Mary Jane Jacobs, daughter of a neighboring farmer, on March 7, 1860; their marriage license is below.
Their son Fred was born in 1861 in McHenry County, Illinois which adjoins Lake County on Lake Michigan and is on the northern border of Illinois. Only a census record sets this date and I was advised by the McHenry County Historical Society that it is unlikely such records were created at that time. In 1862, Azariah, a married man with an infant son, was drafted into the Union Army, Company F of the 95th Illinois infantry. He was discharged on August 17, 1865 and after the entire length of the war, he returned to McHenry County to his wife and son Fred. It is not known when they moved to Sioux City, Iowa, but apparently between the birth of Fred's sister Mary in 1866 in probably in Galena, Illinois and the birth of his brother Charles Benjamin in 1874 in Iowa, according to census and City Directory records. There were three children.
There is little other information about Fred's mother, Mary Jane Jacobs Rider – only their recorded marriage license and a recorded death certificate.
Mary Jane was born in Ohio on November 9, 1837 according to that death certificate. It is likely she was born in the vicinity of Cleveland in Cuyahoga County where her parents lived for a time. Mary Jane had two brothers, Clark (1841-1864) and Charles (1839-1914). After Azariah's death on August 29, 1895, Mary Jane lived in Sioux City until her death on July 26, 1914. She was buried in Sioux City's Floyd Cemetery near where Azariah is buried in the Grand Army of the Republic section. There is not a great deal of other information about Azariah and he did not seem to have a specific occupation which is sometimes stated on census pages. By 1866 he was approved for an invalid Civil War pension which Mary may have continued to receive after his death.
Mary Jane Jacob's parents were Norman J. Jacobs and Sophronia (also spelled Safrona on her headstone although her probate documents used Sophronia ) Abbott (1816-1899). They were married December 3, 1855 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Later, Norman farmed in McHenry County (along the Wisconsin border in northern Illinois and the second county west from Lake Michigan). Both of these families can be traced back to the earliest families of New England.
Norman's father was Aaron Clark Jacobs (1781-1855) and his mother Mary "Polly" Allen (1782-1813) (no other information can be confirmed about her). Aaron was born in Otis, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. For a time, he apparently lived in New York State as the Ancestry.com site for military records fold3.com shows this pay card for Aaron C. Jacobs during the War of 1812 in parts of 1813 and 1814 in the New York State Militia. Aaron was paid for his service with a land bounty as the federal government was poorly financed and land bounties were used to pay for military service periods.
After more research on this topic, a separate post can be made soon on the Jacobs family which migrated to Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony from Hingham, Norfolk, England in 1633.
Azariah's father Thomas J. Rider farmed near the Jacobs family. The Riders had purchased their lands in the county by 1845 and occupied them by 1847. The land record below (signed by President James K. Polk) indicates he might have purchased additional land in 1848. The Gordon J. Ryder family history "The Rider--Ryder Family of Virginia" narrates a journey his family members made as far west as Iowa seeking desirable lands for their relocations from the mountains. A separate blog entry will be posted.
Norman's grandfather was Jonathan Jacobs (1745-1822) who is shown on an Ohio listing of Revolutionary War soldiers buried in Newton Falls, Trumball County, Ohio. Jonathan's was originally from Litchfield County, Connecticut, later living in Chesterfield, Hampshire County, Massachusetts and Sheffield, Berkshire, Massachusetts before apparently leaving for Ohio.
Sophronia Abbott's father was Rufus Abbot (1784-1879). Her family lived in Cuyahoga County, Ohio for some time, but she moved to McHenry County with other family. A 1903 biography of Mark Hickox indicated that Sophronia moved with her sister Betsey A. Abbott to McHenry County before others in her family. However, it does not appear that she had a sister Betsey and it is more likely Betsey was her aunt and Mark Hickox her uncle. The article also stated that her father was Ebenezer Abbot, Rufus's brother, but it does not appear that Ebenezer had a daughter name Sophronia. An obituary clipping from an unnamed newspaper provided by McHenry County Historical Society states that Sophronia died of typhus. The entry from Find-A-Grave was created by volunteer genealogist Phyllis Wallington who also took pictures of the headstone and cemetery entrance. However, she stated that photos could not be used without her specific consent so they have not been used. You can visit them at www.findagrave.com.
Rufus, whose Abbot(t) family had arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1637 as Puritan Congregationalists and who had many ancestors who were ministers and deacons of their local churches, was converted to Mormonism in New York during the Great Awakening of religious zeal that followed the War of 1812. Rufus and his wife Anna Wright were among the first Mormons to reach Salt Lake City. Many modes were involved in their journey there – horses, carriages, steamboats, ox carts perhaps - they may have walked from Missouri where they had lived for a time to Salt Lake. They were driven from their home in Missouri by anti-Mormon violence, and state government seizure of their property and belongings followed. One of his sons was murdered later by anti-Muslim attacks there in Missouri. LDS History Overland Trails Pioneers
Ebenezer Abbot (1753-1832) was the father of Rufus Abbott. The information about Ebenezer was initially found in a copy of an application approved on December 10, 1910 by the Massachusetts Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution from Howard Briggs Abbott. Howard was descended from Elisha Abbott (1794-1869), Rufus's brother. The federal legislation proving these pensions for soldiers and spouses was not adopted immediately after the war and frequently the applications were made when the soldier was no loger able to work to support himself and spouse.
Because Ebenezer was a Revolutionary War soldier and from Massachusetts, there is a great deal of family history available about him and all of his family going back to the arrival in 1637 of one of several George Abbots with the same name who arrived about that time. A fascinating story unfolds and a later post will provide that.
(Howard is) Son of Lewis Smith Abbot born 1824 died 1898 and Harriet J. Abbot (Briggs) born 1824 and died 1912 married 1854
“This declaration contains a statement of Ebenezer Abbot’s place of which is confirmed by the published vital statistic of Chester, Mass., give the date of my grandfather’s birth. I learned of grandfather’s (Elisha's) place of birth and date from an obituary notice published in the Painesville Ohio Telegraph in fall of 1869. Elisha Abbot lived there many years although he died at St. John’s Michigan in Sept or Oct 1864 as I remember.”
The application's declarations continue with his military history from an affidavit submitted by Ebenezer in his application for a pension (punctuation is missing and not edited by me). This statement was included in the ancestry.com online version and not part of the digital copy in .pdf form I received from the Sons of the American Revolution. I transcribed this by hand because of the difficulty of printing from the filmstrip version on ancestry.com which I assume is deliberate. Ebenezer stated:
“Asa Whitcomb Col. John Whitney Lieut Col Ephraim Sawyer Ensign. That he (Ebenezer) was born in Lancaster, Worcester County in the State of Massachusetts in the year 1753. That his birth is recorded in the records of Lancaster aforesaid. That on hearing of the Battle of Lexington he went down to the Army and enlisted for eight months. That he thinks it was about the 25th day of April in the year 1775 that he entered the service and that he left it 31st December in the same year that he served during the term of eight months to the satisfaction of his officers. That he did not ask for nor receive a written discharge and he thinks none were given at that time. That a day or two previously to the Battle of Bunker Hill he returned home to Lancaster on a furlough for ten days. On hearing the cannonading in that Battle he completed his term of service the Army to the satisfaction of his officers. The Army continued in the neighborhood of Boston. That he was with the Army when Gen Washington arrived and took the command. That some Regiments of Riflemen joined the Army during his term of service. That he knew Gen. Putnam, Gen Lee and Gen Warner.“
“That he moved to Chester in the county of Hampshire State of Massachusetts about the year of 1780 where he resided about 30 years – and from there he removed to Worthington in the last mentioned County and from there in the year 1826 he removed to the County of Cuyahoga and the State of Ohio where he now resides.”
“That he has no documentary evidence. That he is known to Nehmiah Allen John M. Henderson and Post Master Harry Cook Lowell Goodman and others whom he believes can testify to his character and veracity and their belief of his services as a soldier of the Revolution.”
His affidavit is signed with his mark “X”, assumed to be an indication that he was not literate. It was sworn in open Court on August 4, 1832 before H. Perry Clark and was accompanied by testimonials from a clergyman and other Cuyahoga residents.
Ebenezer's application for the pension highlighted what he remembered, but historian and author Nathaniel Philbrick provides much more detail regarding the men of Massachusetts who responded to Lexington. The book information is listed below.
This information was located through Ancestry.com on November 26, 2016, in digital filmstrip format and it is not possible to copy or print.
Two interesting books from the middle of the 19th century and therefore out of copyright are now available free on Google Play Books in digital format:
For a description of the history and actions of the Town of Lancaster in the Revolutionary War including their town approvals of funds and arms, participation in spreading the efforts of the revolutionary communications, and a chronology of military events, by Rev. Abiah P. Marvin, Lancaster, Published by the Town read: History of the Town of Lancaster, Massachusetts From The First Settlement to the Present Time 1643-1879
Nathaniel Philbrick's The Battle of Bunker Hill provides an excellent history of the period and the siege of Boston including the Battle of Breed's Hill which was really the Battle of Bunker Hill). Philbrick's book puts the statements of Ebenezer, especially the last few lines in timeline and perspective.