TonerGiant analysed the path from education to employment to find out which universities are more likely to set you up for a career at the world’s biggest and most valuable tech companies.

Using LinkedIn, we discovered where more than 500,000 employees of the world's most valuable tech companies studied at university to find out which universities are more likely to get you hired by a tech giant. Our analysis looked at 26 of the biggest tech giants including Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Key findings: 

• The University of Leeds alumni are most likely to get hired by one of the big tech giants than any other university in Yorkshire and the Humber. 
• Amazon has hired more graduates from universities in Yorkshire and the Humber than any other giant tech company - 1,314 graduates from universities in Yorkshire and the Humber work there.
• Our analysis showed that Yorkshire and the Humber is the 7th most likely to produce alumni for the world's biggest tech companies in the UK, with 6,557 graduates of those universities now working for a tech giant. 
• We also spoke to Misha Yurchenko at Carrus.io to find out more about the hiring process at tech companies. You can find the Q&A at the end of this email.

If you use this information, credit TonerGiant with a link to the project page: https://www.tonergiant.co.uk/insights/big-tech-blueprints/#home

The universities in Yorkshire and the Humber where you are most likely to get hired from a tech giant 

• The university in Yorkshire and the Humber where graduates are most likely to get hired to work in tech companies is The University of Leeds, with 1,676 alumni now working in one of the big tech giants.  

• The University of Sheffield came in 2nd place with 1,138 graduates now working in a tech giant and Sheffield Hallam University ranked in 3rd place with 921 alumni.  

Amazon hires more alumni from universities in Yorkshire and the Humber than any other giant tech company 

• According to our study, Amazon has hired more graduates from the universities in our analysis than any other major tech company. In total, 1,314 graduates from universities in Yorkshire and the Humber are working there. 

• Accenture comes in second place - 939 graduates from universities in Yorkshire and the Humber work there. 

• You can find the full breakdown of which universities each tech giant is most likely to hire from here.  

Which UK regions are most likely to produce alumni for the world's biggest tech companies? 

• Our analysis showed that Yorkshire and the Humber is the 7th most likely to produce alumni for the world's biggest tech companies with 6,557 graduates of universities now working for a tech giant.  

• London reigned in the number one position with a colossal 27,678 alumni now working for one of the 26 biggest tech companies.  

Q&A with Carrus.io

We spoke to Misha Yurchenko at Carrus.io to find out more about the hiring process at tech companies. Carrus.io is a platform that connects job seekers to career and interview coaches experienced in hiring for tech companies such as Facebook, Amazon, and Google.

Q: In the hiring process, is it likely that a Big Tech company would show a preference for a graduate of a prestigious university, for example those in the Russell Group or Ivy League, over an applicant that has attended a non-prestigious university?

A: This still happens, but your alma mater is a lot less of a priority than it was 10 years ago. There's a huge push for diversity and inclusion at most tech companies right now; they have quotas to meet. Market research company Link Humans created this ranking and summary of some of the top tech companies and their diversity initiatives. There's still a long way to go, but I think we'll continue to see the floodgates opening for people from all sorts of different backgrounds.

Q: Is elitism more or less likely to exist in the hiring process or the career progression of big tech companies vs the most prestigious companies in other industries, such as finance or media?

A: It can go both ways and the lines aren't always so clear. We actually find a lot of elitism in traditional industries outside of tech that are ingrained in old ways of thinking (think Mad Men-esque workplaces). I worked in the recruitment industry, for example, which isn't always the most welcoming towards women. Tech companies can definitely fall into their own traps and groupthink, too, but generally do a better job, partly because they face more external and internal pressure to be inclusive.

All that said, most companies nowadays are actually evolving to have a strong tech focus and pulling people from tech to join their companies. For example, the New York Times has more focus on digital and mobile than offline. Starbucks sells coffee, but they're actually turning into a huge data company. Home Depot hired over 1,000 tech professionals with the goal to move most sales online and revamp their retail experience. There are tons of examples like this of ongoing digital transformation that will very likely bring a big shift in the culture of these companies!