I slowly cleared out my LinkedIn inbox the other day and whilst doing so kept some tallies and notes about the roles and job specs I received. Please note that I've rounded the numbers because I was being hasty rather than accurate!

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Numbers: In the last 12 months I received messages from ~220 different people for ~240 roles. Some messages were for the same role but I didn't discount these. I received ~100 full job specs and ~20 were just reaching out.

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When: January is hiring season; last year I received messages from ~100 people but 2021 is quieter and I have received messages from ~35 people so far.

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Industries: >50% of roles were for FinTech, InsurTech, and comparison companies. This country relies heavily on service industries so I guess that tallies. A high proportion of these had some element of AI involved. ~10 roles were "Tech for Good" but some felt a stretch!

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Benefits: Annual leave on specs ranged from 24-30 days and two companies advertised "unlimited" leave. Only a few specs offered double digit and/or salary sacrifice pension arrangements. One company offered to pay for all travel (easy to say in 2020!)

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Culture: ~50 specs advertised company socials. ~40 mentioned being inclusive and ~10 said they already had diverse workforce. 5 specs advertised company trips away. I noted a significant decline in beers or ping-pong being advertised as a benefit.

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Wellbeing: Full health insurance was very common and listed on ~75 specs. ~20 specs advertised mental health services and even some small startups did too. A handful promised a healthy work/life balance. Several mentioned yoga but only 2 allowed dogs at work.

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Flexibility: I saw a huge increase in flexible working being advertised and most roles from the last 6 months stated they would be flexible into the future. ~10 roles stated fully remote was an option. A number of people messaged to tell me a role was now more flexible.

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Experience: One spec asked for 2+ years, one said 8-10+, but most asked for 3-4+. Almost all senior specs said previous team leadership was preferred. Most lead/principal/staff/eng manager specs didn't ask for that much more experience than senior ones.

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Responsibility: ~150 roles were full stack but requests for front-end increased over the year. Most senior specs included mentoring and team leadership but a few were individual contributors. Most lead specs said people management was expected but a few were tech only.

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Compensation: Top end salaries are skewed by FinTech but overall I think advertised salaries have increased ~5% over the last 12 months. A number of people messaged to tell me a role now offered more money.

- Senior: £60-100k
- Lead: £80-160k

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Conclusions: I think the definitions of seniority and responsibilities expected as a developer varied wildly. The advertised salaries usually indicate this but not always. Flexibility and wellbeing support is on the up and beers are down, obviously.

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