The first table below looks at the demand for knowledge and experience of Microsoft products and/or services in IT contracts advertised for the Cheshire region. Included is a guide to the average contractor rates offered in IT contracts that have cited Microsoft over the 3 months to 19 June 2013 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years. The second table is for comparison and provides aggregates for all Vendors for the Cheshire region.

Note that daily contractor rates and hourly contractor rates are treated separately. When calculating average contractor rates, daily rates are not derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are NOT representative of contractor rates within the Microsoft Corporation.

Location
3 months to
19 Jun 2013
Same period 2012 Same period 2011
Microsoft
Rank 16 16 12
Rank change year-on-year
0 -4
Contract jobs citing Microsoft 59 64 89
As % of all contract IT jobs located in Cheshire 8.138% 7.853% 9.549%
As % of the Vendors category 15.57% 13.88% 19.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 21 25 48
Average daily rate £350 £301 £290
Average daily rate % change year-on-year
+16.47% +3.62%
90% offered a daily rate of more than £123 £220 £214
10% offered a daily rate of more than £500 £455 £400
UK excluding London average daily rate £325 £325 £325
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 6 7
Average hourly rate £19.00 £22.41 £12.50
Average hourly rate % change year-on-year
-15.21% +79.28%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than £15.40 £16.71 £9.40
10% offered a hourly rate of more than £39.72 £36.25 £32.50
UK excluding London average hourly rate £14.98 £15.00 £15.00
% change year-on-year
-0.13% -
All Vendors
Cheshire
Contract IT job ads with a match in the
Vendors category
379 461 454
As % of all contract IT jobs located in Cheshire 52.28% 56.56% 48.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 138 226 239
Average daily rate £360 £350 £351
Average daily rate % change year-on-year
+2.85% -0.14%
90% offered a daily rate of more than £225 £263 £250
10% offered a daily rate of more than £475 £457 £425
UK excluding London average daily rate £350 £350 £350
Number of hourly rates quoted 27 17 13
Average hourly rate £37.50 £15.50 £22.50
Average hourly rate % change year-on-year
+141.93% -31.11%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than £14.48 £11.00 £10.00
10% offered a hourly rate of more than £45.00 £27.69 £41.00
UK excluding London average hourly rate £19.26 £19.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year
+1.36% -5.00%
Microsoft
North West

Microsoft
Jobs Demand Trend

This chart provides a 3-month moving total of IT contractor jobs citing Microsoft across the Cheshire region as a proportion of the total demand within the Vendors category.

Cheshire Microsoft Jobs Demand Trend

Microsoft
Daily Rate Trend

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in IT contract jobs citing Microsoft across the Cheshire region.

Cheshire Microsoft Daily Rate Trend

Microsoft
Daily Rate Histogram

This chart provides a histogram of daily rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing Microsoft across the Cheshire region over the 3 months to 19 June 2013.

Cheshire Microsoft Daily Rate Histogram

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Trend

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for hourly rates quoted in IT contractor jobs citing Microsoft across the Cheshire region.

Cheshire Microsoft Hourly Rate Trend

Microsoft
Hourly Rate Histogram

This chart provides a histogram of hourly rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing Microsoft across the Cheshire region over the 3 months to 19 June 2013.

Cheshire Microsoft Hourly Rate Histogram

Microsoft
Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the average contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the Cheshire region over the 3 months to 19 June 2013. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year.

Location
(Click each for more statistics)
Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Average
Daily Rate
Last 3 Months
Average Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Find
Job
Vacancies
Warrington +6 13 £410 +21.03% 4
Chester -4 6 £123 -74.21% 3
Macclesfield +2 5 £80 - 6
Knutsford -4 4 £280 - 3
Wilmslow - - - - 1
Daresbury - - - -
Nantwich - - - -
Northwich - - - - 2
Runcorn - - - - 2
Crewe - - - - 3
Ellesmere Port - - - - 1
Frodsham - - - - 1
Microsoft
North West

Microsoft
Top 30 Related IT Skills

For the 6 months to 19 June 2013, IT contractor jobs across the Cheshire region citing Microsoft also mentioned the following IT skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled that cited Microsoft.

1 68 (50.75%) Windows
2 64 (47.76%) MS Excel
3 37 (27.61%) Active Directory
4 33 (24.63%) MS Office
5 28 (20.90%) .NET
6 27 (20.15%) SQL Server
7 26 (19.40%) Security Cleared
8 24 (17.91%) SC Cleared
8 24 (17.91%) SQL
9 23 (17.16%) ITIL
9 23 (17.16%) Microsoft Certification
10 22 (16.42%) SAP
10 22 (16.42%) C#
10 22 (16.42%) MS Exchange
11 20 (14.93%) Windows XP
11 20 (14.93%) Citrix
12 19 (14.18%) MS Visio
12 19 (14.18%) SharePoint
12 19 (14.18%) ASP.NET
12 19 (14.18%) Windows Server 2008
13 18 (13.43%) Windows 7
13 18 (13.43%) ISO 9000
13 18 (13.43%) Incident Management
14 17 (12.69%) Migration
14 17 (12.69%) VMware
14 17 (12.69%) JavaScript
14 17 (12.69%) SLA
14 17 (12.69%) SQL Server 2008
14 17 (12.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
15 16 (11.94%) .NET Framework

Microsoft
Top Related IT Skills by Category

For the 6 months to 19 June 2013, IT contractor jobs across the Cheshire region citing Microsoft also mentioned the following IT skills grouped by category. The figures indicate the number of jobs and their proportion against the total number of contract IT job ads sampled that cited Microsoft. Up to 20 skills are shown per category.

Application Development
1 28 (20.90%) .NET
2 19 (14.18%) ASP.NET
3 16 (11.94%) .NET Framework
4 14 (10.45%) HTML
5 13 (9.701%) WCF
6 12 (8.955%) CSS
7 11 (8.209%) ADO.NET Entity Framework
8 7 (5.224%) Application Packaging
8 7 (5.224%) Microsoft Enterprise Library
9 6 (4.478%) Software Packaging
9 6 (4.478%) WPF
10 5 (3.731%) WebSphere
10 5 (3.731%) XML
11 4 (2.985%) Windows SharePoint Services
11 4 (2.985%) Java EE
11 4 (2.985%) jQuery
11 4 (2.985%) Unity DI Container
12 3 (2.239%) LINQ to SQL
12 3 (2.239%) Ninject
12 3 (2.239%) SAP PI
Application Platforms
1 22 (16.42%) MS Exchange
2 19 (14.18%) SharePoint
3 12 (8.955%) IBM Notes
3 12 (8.955%) IIS
4 9 (6.716%) Exchange Server 2010
5 7 (5.224%) Exchange Server 2003
6 6 (4.478%) Exchange Server 2007
7 5 (3.731%) LiveLink
8 3 (2.239%) SharePoint 2010
8 3 (2.239%) Exchange Server 5.5
8 3 (2.239%) CMS
8 3 (2.239%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
8 3 (2.239%) NetWeaver
9 2 (1.493%) SharePoint Server
10 1 (0.746%) FileNet
10 1 (0.746%) eRoom
10 1 (0.746%) Documentum
Applications
1 64 (47.76%) MS Excel
2 33 (24.63%) MS Office
3 19 (14.18%) MS Visio
4 16 (11.94%) MS Project
4 16 (11.94%) MS PowerPoint
5 1 (0.746%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.746%) Acrobat
Business Applications
1 11 (8.209%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (2.985%) Maximo
3 3 (2.239%) SAP GRC
4 2 (1.493%) Dynamics NAV
4 2 (1.493%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.746%) SAP R/3
Communications & Networking
1 14 (10.45%) VPN
2 7 (5.224%) LAN
2 7 (5.224%) WAN
3 6 (4.478%) TCP/IP
3 6 (4.478%) SAN
4 4 (2.985%) Intranet
4 4 (2.985%) DNS
5 3 (2.239%) 3G
5 3 (2.239%) Broadband
5 3 (2.239%) DHCP
6 2 (1.493%) SMTP
6 2 (1.493%) Wireless
7 1 (0.746%) NAS
7 1 (0.746%) VLAN
7 1 (0.746%) Firewall
7 1 (0.746%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (0.746%) SSL
7 1 (0.746%) Internet
7 1 (0.746%) HTTP
7 1 (0.746%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (20.15%) SQL Server
2 17 (12.69%) SQL Server 2008
3 7 (5.224%) SQL Server 2005
4 6 (4.478%) Oracle 8/8i
4 6 (4.478%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 5 (3.731%) SQL Server Analysis Services
5 5 (3.731%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 3 (2.239%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (1.493%) MS Access
7 2 (1.493%) PerformancePoint
8 1 (0.746%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.746%) BusinessObjects
8 1 (0.746%) EDMS
8 1 (0.746%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 15 (11.19%) Visual Studio
2 7 (5.224%) Visual Studio Team System
2 7 (5.224%) MSI
3 6 (4.478%) InstallShield
3 6 (4.478%) AdminStudio
3 6 (4.478%) Wise Package Studio
4 5 (3.731%) Team Foundation Server
5 2 (1.493%) Subversion
5 2 (1.493%) Git (software)
6 1 (0.746%) LoadRunner
General
1 13 (9.701%) Finance
2 9 (6.716%) Telecoms
2 9 (6.716%) Banking
3 3 (2.239%) Legal
4 2 (1.493%) Financial Institution
4 2 (1.493%) Local Government
5 1 (0.746%) German Language
5 1 (0.746%) Billing
5 1 (0.746%) Law
Job Titles
1 40 (29.85%) Analyst
2 17 (12.69%) Consultant
3 16 (11.94%) Developer
4 13 (9.701%) IT Support
5 12 (8.955%) Support Analyst
6 11 (8.209%) Help Desk Support
7 10 (7.463%) Help Desk Analyst
8 9 (6.716%) Infrastructure Analyst
9 8 (5.970%) CRM Developer
10 7 (5.224%) Project Manager
11 6 (4.478%) .NET Developer
11 6 (4.478%) Applications Packager
11 6 (4.478%) Microsoft Developer
11 6 (4.478%) Infrastructure Support Analyst
11 6 (4.478%) Dynamics CRM Developer
12 5 (3.731%) SAP Consultant
12 5 (3.731%) Project Coordinator
12 5 (3.731%) Coordinator
12 5 (3.731%) Architect
13 4 (2.985%) Desktop Support
Miscellaneous
1 11 (8.209%) Statistics
2 7 (5.224%) Management Information System
2 7 (5.224%) Blackberry
3 5 (3.731%) NHS
4 3 (2.239%) Digital Media
4 3 (2.239%) Client/Server
5 2 (1.493%) EPoS
5 2 (1.493%) Thin Client
5 2 (1.493%) Fat Client
6 1 (0.746%) Inversion of Control
6 1 (0.746%) Hedge funds
6 1 (0.746%) iPad
6 1 (0.746%) Clustering
6 1 (0.746%) Handset
6 1 (0.746%) N-Tier
Operating Systems
1 68 (50.75%) Windows
2 20 (14.93%) Windows XP
3 19 (14.18%) Windows Server 2008
4 18 (13.43%) Windows 7
5 14 (10.45%) Windows Server 2003
6 10 (7.463%) Windows NT
7 6 (4.478%) UNIX
8 4 (2.985%) Linux
9 3 (2.239%) Solaris
10 2 (1.493%) Windows 2000
10 2 (1.493%) AIX
11 1 (0.746%) Windows 8
11 1 (0.746%) Windows Vista
11 1 (0.746%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (17.16%) ITIL
2 18 (13.43%) Incident Management
3 17 (12.69%) Migration
4 14 (10.45%) CRM
5 12 (8.955%) Business Intelligence
6 11 (8.209%) MVC
7 6 (4.478%) Service Management
8 5 (3.731%) Continuous Improvement
8 5 (3.731%) Data Migration
8 5 (3.731%) Project Management
9 4 (2.985%) PRINCE2
9 4 (2.985%) Scrum
9 4 (2.985%) Agile Software Development
9 4 (2.985%) Logistics
9 4 (2.985%) Asset Management
9 4 (2.985%) Data Management
9 4 (2.985%) Feature Driven Development
9 4 (2.985%) Dependency Injection
10 3 (2.239%) Risk Analysis
10 3 (2.239%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 24 (17.91%) SQL
2 22 (16.42%) C#
3 17 (12.69%) JavaScript
4 11 (8.209%) C
5 7 (5.224%) Java
6 3 (2.239%) T-SQL
6 3 (2.239%) VB
6 3 (2.239%) ABAP
7 2 (1.493%) VBScript
8 1 (0.746%) XPath
8 1 (0.746%) PowerShell
8 1 (0.746%) Perl
8 1 (0.746%) C++
8 1 (0.746%) VBA
8 1 (0.746%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 26 (19.40%) Security Cleared
2 24 (17.91%) SC Cleared
3 23 (17.16%) Microsoft Certification
4 11 (8.209%) MCITP
5 10 (7.463%) DV Cleared
5 10 (7.463%) MCTS
5 10 (7.463%) MCSE
6 9 (6.716%) MCP
7 7 (5.224%) Degree
7 7 (5.224%) MCPD
7 7 (5.224%) MCDST
7 7 (5.224%) MCAD
7 7 (5.224%) MCSD
8 2 (1.493%) CCNA
8 2 (1.493%) PRINCE2 Certification
8 2 (1.493%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (1.493%) CISSP
8 2 (1.493%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (1.493%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 1 (0.746%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (13.43%) ISO 9000
2 17 (12.69%) SLA
2 17 (12.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (5.224%) BS25999
4 3 (2.239%) QA
System Software
1 37 (27.61%) Active Directory
2 9 (6.716%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (5.970%) XenApp
4 7 (5.224%) Microsoft App-V
5 3 (2.239%) Hyper-V
6 2 (1.493%) Citrix Presentation Server
6 2 (1.493%) Forefront TMG
6 2 (1.493%) vSphere
6 2 (1.493%) UAG
7 1 (0.746%) Postfix
7 1 (0.746%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 9 (6.716%) OpenView
2 7 (5.224%) ServiceCenter
3 4 (2.985%) SCCM
4 3 (2.239%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 1 (0.746%) AppDNA
5 1 (0.746%) Symantec Enterprise Vault
5 1 (0.746%) HP Quality Center
5 1 (0.746%) SCVMM
5 1 (0.746%) NetBackup
5 1 (0.746%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 22 (16.42%) SAP
2 20 (14.93%) Citrix
3 17 (12.69%) VMware
4 13 (9.701%) HP
5 12 (8.955%) Lotus
5 12 (8.955%) Oracle
6 5 (3.731%) Dell
6 5 (3.731%) IBM
7 4 (2.985%) NetApp
8 3 (2.239%) Open Text
9 2 (1.493%) Remedy
9 2 (1.493%) Cisco
9 2 (1.493%) AppSense
9 2 (1.493%) BT
10 1 (0.746%) ArcSight
10 1 (0.746%) Twitter
10 1 (0.746%) PlateSpin
10 1 (0.746%) IronPort
10 1 (0.746%) Telerik
10 1 (0.746%) SolidWorks