1) Technology was the most popular choice of future career for young men at 36% of responses, whilst Creative and design (26%) and Professions (36%) was most popular for young women.
Part 3: Future Talent /
Key Findings
In this, part 3 of 4 of the Tech Nation Talent series, we investigate young people’s perceptions of tech as a future career.
This research is critical to build an understanding of young people’s career preferences, and those aspects of tech that might lead to an alternative career choice. In doing so, we highlight opportunities for tech companies, founders and CEOs to move the UK towards a more inclusive and diverse future tech workforce.
1) Technology was the most popular choice of future career for young men at 36% of responses, whilst Creative and design (26%) and Professions (36%) was most popular for young women.
Careers that young men wanted to work in future
| Proportion of respondents (%) | Proportion of respondents (%) |
| Technology | 36% |
| Start my own business | 26% |
| Professions | 20% |
| Creative and design | 18% |
| Sports and entertainment | 18% |
| Financial services | 13% |
| Other | 12% |
| Construction | 10% |
| Retail | 9% |
| Uniformed services | 9% |
| Manufacturing | 6% |
Careers that young women wanted to work in future
| Proportion of respondents (%) | |
| Professions | 36% |
| Creative and design | 26% |
| Start my own business | 24% |
| Other | 21% |
| Technology | 13% |
| Retail | 13% |
| Uniformed services | 11% |
| Financial services | 10% |
| Sport and entertainment | 9% |
| Construction | 2% |
| Manufacturing | 2% |
2) Technology was the fifth most mentioned career for all Reddit users. The young people discussing careers tended to mention sectors like ‘Finance’ and ‘Energy’ more often when talking about careers.
3) But for UK careers discussions, Technology was slightly lower down the rankings. It was the sixth most mentioned career behind ‘Finance’, ‘Energy’, ‘Industrials’, ‘Cyclical consumer goods and services’, and ‘Healthcare’.
4) The difference in preference for a tech career based on gender highlights a concerning trend. Of those young people who wanted to work in tech, 70% were young men, whilst only 30% were young women.
Gender of young people who want to work in Technology
| Proportion of respondents (%) | |
| Male | 69.7% |
| Female | 28.2% |
| Other | 2.1% |
5) Young people aged 16 are more likely to want to work in tech than other age groups surveyed (21%). On the other hand young people aged 19 and older expressed a preference to start their own business and work in Retail.
6) Those who wanted to work in technology cited ‘the fast moving and exciting nature’ of the sector (55%), ‘interesting jobs’ (54%) and ‘good pay’ (50%) as reasons for wanting to work in the sector
Reasons stated by young people (who want to work in Technology) for wanting to work in Technology in the future
| Proportion of young people who want to work in technology (%) | Proportion of young people who want to work in technology (%) |
| Fast moving sector | 55 |
| Interesting jobs | 54 |
| Well paying jobs | 50 |
| Big tech company profile | 45 |
| Good use of STEM skills | 36 |
| I know people in tech | 18 |
| Tech companies at a careers fair | 18 |
| Friends/parents recommend | 14 |
| Other | 3 |
7) Young people cited job security as the most important aspect of future work (93%) followed by Salary (92%)
Perceptions of career factors of young people who want to work in Technology
| Proportion of young people who want to work in Technology (%) | Not at all important | Not very important | Fairly important | Very important |
| Job security | 1 | 6 | 49 | 44 |
| Salary | 2 | 6 | 52 | 40 |
| Work-life balance | 1 | 8 | 39 | 52 |
| Career progression | 1 | 9 | 44 | 45 |
| Working with diverse people | 6 | 28 | 42 | 24 |
| Working with the latest technology | 7 | 43 | 37 | 13 |
9) Many young people in our survey felt that work experience was crucial to getting their first job (65%), and that they would consider an apprenticeship instead of a university degree if it offered a way into a professional career (60%).
Young people’s perceptions of career paths
| Proportion of young people (%) | Strongly disagree | Disagree | Neither agree nor disagree | Agree | Strongly agree |
| Work experience crucial | 3% | 10% | 22% | 43% | 22% |
| App’ship over uni for career | 5% | 15% | 20% | 38% | 22% |
| Too few training opportunities | 3% | 13% | 25% | 40% | 19% |
| Earn more with uni education | 6% | 15% | 35% | 29% | 15% |
10) Of those young people who did not want to work in tech, young men felt that ‘other areas were more appealing (50%), while young women felt that ‘they did not have the skills to work in technology (45%).
Reasons for young men no wanting to work in technology
| Proportion of young men (%) | Proportion of young men (%) |
| Other areas more appealing | 46% |
| I won’t have the skills | 32% |
| I don’t know anything about it | 22% |
| It’s not for people like me | 21% |
| Not many tech jobs | 15% |
| Poor working conditions | 14% |
| Other | 7% |
| Friends’/parents’ negative opinion | 6% |
Reasons for young women no wanting to work in technology
| Proportion of young women (%) | Proportion of young women (%) |
| Other areas more appealing | 50% |
| I won’t have the skills | 45% |
| I don’t know anything about it | 38% |
| It’s not for people like me | 24% |
| Not many tech jobs | 13% |
| Poor working conditions | 8% |
| Other | 4% |
| Friends’/parents’ negative opinion | 4% |