Adam Griffiths

Here are the highest-paying companies in the UK for Software Engineers! (based on 'all levels' from Levels.fyi): 🥇 Citadel – £274,692 🥈 Wintermute – £274,382 🥉 Meta – £242,189 I posted late last year about how US companies (especially HFT / quant firms) were dominating UK compensation. Back then, Wintermute (UK founded) weren’t even in the top 10. Now they’ve jumped to #2, ahead of HRT, Jane Street, Meta and other huge names. Every company in the top 10 is now averaging £200K+ total comp for engineering roles. That would have been unthinkable for London just a few years ago. For founders: if you want to attract top engineering talent, this is your benchmark. As an aside, if you compare the London top 10 with the San Francisco top 10 you see a completely different type of company. SF is tech dominated. UK is still very much finance dominated. I'd love to see more UK founded tech companies in this top list!

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Over the past few years, I’ve seen a steady rise in demand for backend developers with Node.js experience. The reasons are clear: It scales effectively for high-traffic applications Teams benefit from using JavaScript across frontend and backend The ecosystem is vast, enabling faster development It’s a natural fit for real-time apps like chat, streaming, and collaboration tools For developers, this creates opportunities to work on innovative projects. For businesses, it provides the flexibility and scalability needed to stay competitive. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts: is Node.js becoming the standard for backend development, or just one strong option among many?

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Blazor United and the rise of full-stack .NET is something that’s been coming up more and more in conversations I’ve been having with .NET developers recently. A common theme I’m hearing is frustration around constantly needing to jump between backend C# and whichever JavaScript framework is currently in demand. Blazor United seems to be changing that conversation, with developers telling me they’re excited about being able to build across the full stack using .NET. The ability to combine server-side and WebAssembly rendering in one model is a big part of the appeal, along with improvements in performance, payload optimisation, and built-in security features. From a recruitment perspective, it feels like this could drive stronger demand for engineers who can deliver end-to-end solutions within the .NET ecosystem. Definitely one to watch as adoption grows. Do you agree? #DotNet #Blazor #FullStackDevelopment #TechHiring

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PHP may not be the flashiest language, but it’s still powering essential infrastructure across high-growth sectors. Here are the top 3 industries I’ve noticed actively hiring PHP devs right now: 💳 Fintech – Recently boosted by significant private funding! They often offer the highest paying roles ($120K–$180K) for devs building secure, compliant financial systems. Plus, many legacy PHP systems need ongoing maintenance and upgrades. 🏥 Healthtech – Demand for PHP in patient portals, telehealth platforms, and EHR systems is rising fast. Post-COVID, more patients want remote consultations, driving the need for skilled software developers. 🛍️ E-commerce – Magento, WooCommerce, and custom platforms continue to drive steady demand, with many companies still opting for WordPress, Magento, and Shopify. Are there any industries I’ve missed? #PHP #WebDevelopment #TechHiring #Fintech #Healthtech #Ecommerce #Laravel #DeveloperJobs #2025Trends

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Companies ask for a sheep with 5 legs, but decline a candidate because it has no wings 🙄 Last week, one of my developers had an interview. A beautiful frontend role asking for React, Typescript and Next.js. Of course, we introduced a strong profile that matched the techniques. There was a cultural fit as well, salary checked out and he lived just 10 minutes away by bike. Done deal, right? Rejected! Why? “Too little backend and data management experience.” But, HUH? This was a frontend vacancy. So how is it possible that someone gets judged on something that wasn’t asked for or something they’re not specialised in? You don’t judge an elephant on how it climbs a tree either. But this happens way more often than you’d think! Companies say they’re looking for one thing, but judge based on something completely different. This is often a major recruitment problem (and red flag) An internal policy that’s unclear, even if it seems clear at first and they realise it too late. I see this especially in small to mid-sized companies, where a single hire has a much bigger impact than in larger organisations. And yet, these are the exact companies where time gets wasted the most. Not because they can’t choose, but because they’re afraid to. They want certainty, they want the sheep that can fly and end up with nothing. I’ve lost count of the number of developers who called me, completely baffled by what just happened. That’s why my advice to companies is: map out your needs, make sure everyone’s on the same page and go through your own process as if you were the candidate. If your own process would frustrate you as a candidate... time to change 😉

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Launch Group just published a blog that’s well worth a read 👇 AI is changing the game for software engineers, and not just at the senior level. Imogen Hough, our Senior Consultant for software engineering, shares what she’s hearing from clients: - They’re not asking for “typical” developers anymore. - They want engineers who bring system design, architecture, and judgment to the table. From my side, I’m seeing the same shift: ✨ AI literacy is becoming essential — even for juniors 💡 Problem-solving and initiative are standing out more than routine coding 📈 Continuous upskilling isn’t optional anymore If you’re hiring in tech or thinking about your next move as an engineer, this blog is a great pulse-check on where things are heading. Would love to hear your take, are you seeing this shift too? #LaunchRecruitment #SoftwareEngineering #AI #TechHiring #HiringTrends #Recruitment

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Tech salaries are shifting fast in 2025. We’ve seen a clear trend across the UK: - Mid-level engineers are flatlining - Seniors and specialists (AI, data, platform) are surging - London pay is no longer outpacing the rest of the UK by default Hiring managers: If your salary bands are based on 2022 numbers, you're probably missing out on great people - or losing them at offer stage. Get the full breakdown in our 2025 UK Tech Salary Report (link in comments) 👇

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UK Software Engineers saved from the AI jobs carnage. At least, based on my reasoning. Follow me on this. You pay for £100 worth of code. For arguments sake, it's a CRUD service. Similar have already been created for the project. For £100 a UK Software Engineer gets 25% complete for £100 an overseas Software Engineer gets 50% complete for £100 UK Software Engineer AI assisted gets 75% complete For £100 overseas Software Engineer AI assisted gets 100% complete Result without AI: Overseas is 50% cheaper for the same work. Result with AI: Overseas is 25% cheaper for the same work. More AI = less advantage to Offshoring AI brings home Software Engineering and Testing which was previously outsourced or offshored. #recruitment #jobs #AIdoomsterschokeontheirflawedargument

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👻 Kiro 👻 has had a whole host of great new features recently. There are the really big ones like Skills support and the constant evolution with new models like Opus and Sonnet 4.6, but one of my favourites is ACP... The Agent Client Protocol lets you take advantage of one of the best coding assistants 💪 around and use the underlying agent in a variety of different clients. I've been exploring how you can take advantage of Kiro for use cases that aren't all about writing code 💻 and how you and your teams can all reap the benefits from its huge capability. I've got my latest post in the comments on some of my favourite new ways to use Kiro with ACP. Let me know what you think. 🚀 #kiro #genai #kirocli

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Some companies are cutting Senior Engineering staff and banking on Juniors & Mids armed with AI to take over... I think this is a catastrophic mistake. Why? Because they are the minority - and a majority of businesses are doing the complete opposite, and banking on Junior-Mid roles being replaced by AI. This ultimately means that unless something changes, we are going to reach the peak amount of Senior Engineering talent in ~5 or so years, as very few new Junior & Mid level engineers are being trained and up skilled at all. When we reach this peak, hiring Senior Engineers is genuinely going to become unfathomably difficult for most businesses, as well as insanely expensive. Senior Engineers will become a finite resource - not one that is continually replenished. But why are those businesses I mentioned making a catastrophic mistake? Let me put it this way: In letting go of your Senior talent today, you're disposing of all the food you currently have before famine strikes tomorrow. To survive, you'll need to do one of two things: 1) Get exceptionally good at staff retention, as in, 5% churn levels good. 2) Be incredible at poaching the best people from your competitors. My bold bet is that innovative tech product businesses who struggle with both of these things will stall, stagnate, go stale, and eventually go under. (PS - I actually think this is the biggest issue that tech businesses face over the next decade, and believe government intervention will be needed, but that's for another post).

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Following on from Stripe and Circle, Google Cloud are now building their own Layer 1! Circle’s Arc puts USDC at the centre as the gas token, Stripe’s Tempo is tailored for instant stablecoin payments, and now Google’s Universal Ledger (GCUL) is stepping in as a permissioned chain for global institutions. This isn’t just about launching another blockchain, it’s about owning the settlement layer, the rails that future payments will run on. The question now is, will crypto native chains, fintech giants, or global tech giants ultimately dominate the L1 wars? #layer1 #blockchain #web3 #google #stripe #circle #web3

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🎙️ “Landing your first dev job isn’t just about getting hired, it’s about finding the right environment to grow.” I recently filmed a podcast episode with Amber Wilson & in this clip, we talk about what really makes a difference for junior developers starting out: ✅ Supportive teams ✅ Access to mentors ✅ Environments that invest in your growth Whether it’s a start-up or a big corporate, the key is finding a place where someone takes ownership of helping you level up. Check out the full episode here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/ep9Bmbdk What do you think matters most for juniors in their first role? 👇 Share your thoughts in the comments! #TechCareers #JuniorDev #Hiring #SoftwareEngineering #Podcast

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