Edinburgh is a beautiful city. It’s a place that strikes the balance between nature and urban activity, friendliness and business. We are lucky enough to have a combination of heritage centres, world class universities, record breaking arts festivals and substantial business support all spread out round Scotland’s leading tourist attraction. I have travelled round the world (literally), visited many countries, and I always look forward to coming home.

Business, whilst often hidden in town house buildings or behind historical facades, is booming and also varied. Edinburgh is home to HQs of worldwide banks (RBS, Standard Life), engineering hubs for huge games companies (like Rockstar), home to Scotland’s only two Unicorns (FanDuel and Skyscanner) and boasts the UK’s largest technology incubator (CodeBase).

Whether you’re a graduate, job-seeker or seasoned professional looking for the next challenge there are technology opportunities galore. You don’t have to attend too many job fairs or recruitment events to see that companies are keen to snap up more skilled people than there are currently available. In fact there is a well documented skills shortage, particularly in the technology sector – something that ScotlandIS, CodeClan and others are working hard to fix.

Another factor here is the great startup communities that exist around Edinburgh and central Scotland. A huge number of businesses are being successful in starting up and staying in business by beating the odds. Not only are these companies adding to the requirement for staff but they are also often started by ex-employees of larger companies that would have otherwise filled a gap in another company. Whilst this adds to the significant challenge of finding enough people to staff these growing companies it’s fantastic that there are opportunities to pursue whatever career path you choose. It also shows that there’s plenty of opportunity to bring your own idea to life and keep that Scottish inventive spirit alive.

So where else can we go to encourage more people to join us in Edinburgh and be part of this eclectic mix of business, technology, culture and fun? That’s exactly the question that the StartEDIN collective have set out to solve. Scotland has a history of not promoting itself widely and this group believe it’s time to change that. They want to let everyone know what opportunities are available in Edinburgh and the lifestyle improvements you could just get at the same time!

In such a beautiful city with a vibrant, growing tech sector don’t we owe it to those unaware to let them know of all the opportunities here?

(image by Kim Traynor)