New research has revealed the UK regions and cities offering the best opportunities for job hunters looking for a career in coding and software development.

The study, conducted by Code Institute, a provider of online coding courses, analysed the UK regions and cities with the most job opportunities for developers, ranking them by a variety of factors including the number of jobs, the percentage of total opportunities in software development, and average salary.

Findings suggest that Northern Ireland offers the best opportunities for coders, with the highest proportion of coding roles in the country, amounting to 6.2 per cent of available jobs.

Software developers in Northern Ireland do see lower salaries than other UK regions, but are still paid an average of 1.4 times more than other available roles in the country, with an average salary of £43,690.

When it comes to cities, Belfast tops the list, with developer roles amounting to 9 per cent of total jobs on offer, and paying an average of 1.4 times more than other roles.

Belfast is followed by Cambridge in 2nd place and Gloucester in 3rd place, where tech jobs take up 6.2 per cent of the overall job market in the city.

At the other end of the scale, Hull ranked as the fifth worst city for coding opportunities, and the worst large city. Only 0.7 per cent of jobs are developer roles, and these careers pay 1.1 times more than other jobs.

With software development salaries in the UK rising to meet the global ICT skills shortage, Code Institute believes there's never been a better time to learn how to code.

Jane Gormley, director of careers at Code Institute, said: "As the UK economy becomes more and more tech centric, we're seeing certain regions and cities transform themselves into booming tech hubs. This is fantastic news for software developers and those who are planning to learn how to code, and job hunters can target these regions for the best opportunities."