How to Find Tech Jobs in Vienna

In 2023, the symphonious Austrian capital of Vienna is a bona-fide, legitimate European tech hub: Almost 3000 startups were founded in the past fifteen years, and more than ten scale-up businesses already employ at least a hundred people. The fine city by the Danube River is so tech-focused — earning a rep as a small-market-yet-booming tech ecosystem — that even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart might have grabbed an espresso and convened at a coworking space had he been born two centuries later. He’d probably be building the backend of a learn-to-code site using the elegant Oz language.

As the world evolves into the digital age and people started to listen to Mozart on their Nuclear apps, Vienna evidently took up the challenge of embracing the future while preserving its soul. A city once renowned for its classical artistry is now quietly cultivating a reputation as a blossoming tech hub — and thus a great place to find work and make a living. In this blog post, we'll uncover the melodies of change that are transforming Vienna into a vibrant stage of the tech industry for developers, programmers, and IT jobseekers.

Where to start the search for tech jobs in Vienna

Billy Joel said it first: “Why don't you realise, Vienna waits for you?”, and even more so if you are seeking employment in the tech industry. With its central location, superb quality of life, top-notch universities, and well-educated workforce, the city is brewing an emerging and promising ecosystem that lures entrepreneurs and tech companies in.

According to Eurostat, there are an estimated 300,000 tech professionals in Austria, accounting for around 4.5% of the total workforce, meaning that the demand for software developers often outpaces the available talent pool, leading to a shortage of skilled professionals. Companies in Vienna are actively seeking developers to fill these gaps.

Being familiar with the ecosystem and its key players is essential for success when seeking employment in any city. So, when it comes to Vienna, here are some recommendations on how to go about it:

1. IT Meetups in Vienna

Meetups offer focused interactions with like-minded professionals — and leave the Zoom calls for once. Vienna, often named-dropped alongside gatherings at coffee houses, hosts tech meetups that vary from frontend development to data engineering to game design and occur both monthly and weekly.

So it’s not to make yet another coffee joke, but getting near a tech meetup — and socialising a bit — might provide the caffeine boost to your career that you need to get a tech job in Vienna. We’re listing the best ones, so you can carry out some research and find out if anyone’s already looking for a software engineer. To spark a conversation, you can low-key introduce your counterpart to your contributions to trending open-source projects.

Read our comp to learn more about the 7 great tech meetups in Vienna in 2023.

2. Reaching out via Networking Sites

We already went through this advice for different cities across the DACH — and it stands true for, practically, every city in the globe. The difference between seeking employment in Vienna or in London is that, in Austria, you’ll want to check LinkedIn, but also check out XING. XING is centred in the DACH region and might require you dust off your Austrian German spelling game.

Keep your profile and information updated, and don’t be afraid to reach out to recruiters, and colleagues, and connect with professionals who might offer valuable insight and eventual opportunities in their field. LinkedIn has well over 900 million members with over 58 million registered companies.

When reaching out to someone via LinkedIn, remember to:

Send a personalised message alongside the connection request. You should write the reason you’re asking to connect and point out mutual connections, groups you have in common, or other personal touches.
Be assertive and precise with what you can offer the other person
Be kind and polite (a little kindness goes a long way!)

Success stories have been built around LinkedIn’s messaging widget. Take advantage of the small room for text that the platform offers you each time you send an invitation, and don’t feel bittersweet if you don’t get a reply. It’s a numbers game, and you got what it takes to win it.

3. Job Sites

Seeking employment via a job site offers several benefits that can streamline the search process and increase your chances of finding the right opportunity. Whether you want to work from home or the office, you can narrow your options and search for the job listing that best suits your needs via platforms such as Startup. Jobs, Jobs in Vienna, or Freelancer, which has a page especially for Austria.

We won’t bring in information which won’t genuinely help you. Even though we recommend those sites, these platforms might not have a curated set of jobs for your skill set as WeAreDevelopers does. We encourage you to check out our job board and localise it to Vienna. To further focus your application process into a golden cluster of companies, you can check out our analyses explaining which are the best companies to work for in Austria in 2023. We’ll also be compiling the best sites to find remote jobs out there — so keep an eye out for that write-up. It may help you land a Vienna tech job while you’re enjoying a promenade in Salzburg.

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What programmers need to know about working in Vienna in 2023

It’s common not to know where to start. Loads of questions, few answers. Enlisted, below, are the most common inquiries one has when looking for a job in the tech industry in Austria’s capital:

Can foreigners find jobs in Vienna?

Although it may take some work to find employment in Vienna as a foreign worker, there are many resources available to assist you. Positions are available in Vienna on numerous online job boards. Job fairs and networking events are also excellent places to meet employers and find out about open positions.

It's important to note that being able to speak German can be advantageous when looking for work in Vienna, as many employers demand at least a basic understanding of the language. English-speaking professionals can still find employment in large numbers, especially in the IT and finance sectors.

Can I work as a freelancer in Austria?

According to Expatica, in 2019, there were 482,700 self-employed people in Austria. In order to work as a freelancer in Austria, you must have residency rights as a citizen of an EU or EEA country and be at least 18 years old. However, obtaining a work visa is a possibility, or registering a business in the country and applying for the Red-White-Red Cards.

What is the average salary for a developer in Austria?

The average salary for a software developer in Austria is €57,000. While the average median salary in Austria, according to Statistik Austria, is €31,407. This is an estimated net income of €1,968 per month.