Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) formerly Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for MCSE qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months to 22 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
22 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 469 540 612
Rank change year-on-year +71 +72 -100
Contract jobs citing MCSE 109 142 239
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.26% 0.25% 0.27%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.86% 0.92% 1.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 84 115 166
10th Percentile £290 £106 £153
25th Percentile £313 £219 £252
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 £495 £425
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +16.47% -3.41%
75th Percentile £556 £575 £538
90th Percentile £584 £650 £595
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £475 £375
% change year-on-year -7.89% +26.67% -16.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 4 10
10th Percentile £11.98 - £15.38
25th Percentile £12.31 £16.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £16.25 £17.50 £23.22
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% -24.63% -68.41%
75th Percentile £18.75 £20.68 £40.94
90th Percentile £22.07 £24.16 £69.05
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.25 £17.50 £21.35
% change year-on-year -7.14% -18.03% -70.95%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

MCSE is in the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 12,704 15,401 18,909
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 29.94% 27.20% 21.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,909 10,274 12,536
10th Percentile £309 £331 £340
25th Percentile £425 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.64% +4.76% +7.14%
75th Percentile £645 £650 £630
90th Percentile £738 £743 £706
UK excluding London median daily rate £527 £525 £500
% change year-on-year +0.38% +5.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,059 768 775
10th Percentile £13.69 £15.25 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.80 £21.24 £19.62
Median hourly rate £40.00 £55.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -27.27% +23.60% +22.58%
75th Percentile £61.60 £68.56 £58.17
90th Percentile £75.24 £79.83 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.94 £50.75 £35.00
% change year-on-year -19.33% +45.00% +3.70%

MCSE
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing MCSE as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing MCSE.

Daily rate trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing MCSE over the 6 months to 22 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing MCSE.

Hourly rate trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing MCSE over the 6 months to 22 May 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Top 15 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MCSE within the UK over the 6 months to 22 May 2024. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
UK excluding London +44 89 £438 -7.89% 52
England +71 74 £438 -7.89% 56
Scotland +63 28 £340 +177.42% 7
South East +22 22 £538 +5.65% 9
Work from Home +90 20 £475 -8.65% 20
London +78 14 £325 -16.13% 11
North of England +18 14 £450 -25.00% 13
South West +14 13 £538 -2.27% 10
North West +5 10 £305 -53.08% 4
Midlands +12 5 £117 -47.53% 8
East of England +11 5 £425 +286.36% 3
North East +13 4 £488 +343.18% 1
East Midlands 0 3 £130 -41.70% 3
West Midlands +18 2 £117 -48.00% 5
Northern Ireland +5 2 - - 2

MCSE
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 32 (29.36%) Microsoft Exchange
2 17 (15.60%) Confluence
3 15 (13.76%) SharePoint
4 7 (6.42%) IIS
5 3 (2.75%) Skype for Business
6 2 (1.83%) Exchange Server 2007
6 2 (1.83%) Exchange Server 2010
7 1 (0.92%) Exchange Server 2003
7 1 (0.92%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 6 (5.50%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (3.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (1.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.92%) Adobe Creative Suite
Business Applications
1 4 (3.67%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (1.83%) Eikon
Cloud Services
1 24 (22.02%) Microsoft 365
2 23 (21.10%) Azure
3 11 (10.09%) AWS
4 10 (9.17%) Power Platform
5 2 (1.83%) IaaS
5 2 (1.83%) OneDrive
6 1 (0.92%) Amazon EC2
6 1 (0.92%) Azure DevOps
6 1 (0.92%) Cloud Computing
6 1 (0.92%) Dynamics 365
6 1 (0.92%) Entra ID
6 1 (0.92%) GCP
6 1 (0.92%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 30 (27.52%) DNS
2 25 (22.94%) DHCP
3 22 (20.18%) SAN
4 11 (10.09%) TCP/IP
4 11 (10.09%) VPN
5 10 (9.17%) Firewall
6 9 (8.26%) SSL
7 7 (6.42%) NAS
8 6 (5.50%) Fibre Channel
9 5 (4.59%) iSCSI
9 5 (4.59%) Skype
9 5 (4.59%) VLAN
10 4 (3.67%) VoIP
11 3 (2.75%) LAN
11 3 (2.75%) WAN
11 3 (2.75%) Wi-Fi
12 2 (1.83%) HTTP
12 2 (1.83%) NetScaler
12 2 (1.83%) Network Security
12 2 (1.83%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (12.84%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.83%) MySQL
2 2 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.92%) BusinessObjects
3 1 (0.92%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.92%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 17 (15.60%) JIRA
General
1 52 (47.71%) Social Skills
2 47 (43.12%) Analytical Skills
3 23 (21.10%) Public Sector
4 17 (15.60%) Military
5 13 (11.93%) Finance
6 9 (8.26%) Banking
7 8 (7.34%) Manufacturing
8 7 (6.42%) Marketing
9 6 (5.50%) Telecoms
10 4 (3.67%) Pharmaceutical
11 3 (2.75%) Electronics
12 2 (1.83%) Front Office
12 2 (1.83%) Investment Banking
13 1 (0.92%) Advertising
13 1 (0.92%) Automotive
13 1 (0.92%) French Language
13 1 (0.92%) Legal
13 1 (0.92%) Local Government
13 1 (0.92%) Spanish Language
13 1 (0.92%) Swedish Language
Job Titles
1 17 (15.60%) Test Engineer
2 16 (14.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 16 (14.68%) Integration Engineer
2 16 (14.68%) Test and Integration Engineer
3 13 (11.93%) Support Engineer
4 10 (9.17%) Field Engineer
4 10 (9.17%) IT Engineer
5 9 (8.26%) Field Service Engineer
5 9 (8.26%) Senior
6 7 (6.42%) 3rd Line Engineer
7 6 (5.50%) 3rd Line Support
7 6 (5.50%) DBA
7 6 (5.50%) Server Engineer
7 6 (5.50%) SQL DBA
8 5 (4.59%) Cybersecurity Specialist
8 5 (4.59%) Desktop Engineer
8 5 (4.59%) Security Specialist
8 5 (4.59%) VMware Engineer
9 4 (3.67%) 2nd Line Engineer
9 4 (3.67%) Infrastructure Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.83%) CSS
1 2 (1.83%) LDAP
1 2 (1.83%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 25 (22.94%) PKI
2 18 (16.51%) Data Centre
3 12 (11.01%) Clustering
4 9 (8.26%) Analytical Mindset
5 7 (6.42%) Cyber Threat
6 4 (3.67%) Public Cloud
6 4 (3.67%) Video Conferencing
7 3 (2.75%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.83%) Blackberry
8 2 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.83%) iPad
8 2 (1.83%) iPhone
8 2 (1.83%) Replication
9 1 (0.92%) Driving Licence
9 1 (0.92%) Freedom of Information
9 1 (0.92%) Freedom of Information Act
9 1 (0.92%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.92%) Management Information System
9 1 (0.92%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 80 (73.39%) Windows
2 59 (54.13%) Windows Server
3 27 (24.77%) Windows Server 2012
4 16 (14.68%) Windows 10
5 15 (13.76%) Linux
6 8 (7.34%) CentOS
7 7 (6.42%) Windows Server 2008
8 6 (5.50%) Debian
8 6 (5.50%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (3.67%) Mac OS
9 4 (3.67%) Unix
10 2 (1.83%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.92%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (41.28%) ITIL
2 28 (25.69%) Agile
3 26 (23.85%) Problem-Solving
4 19 (17.43%) Critical Thinking
4 19 (17.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 18 (16.51%) Customer Service
6 17 (15.60%) Regression Testing
6 17 (15.60%) Test Scripting
7 13 (11.93%) Disaster Recovery
8 11 (10.09%) Cybersecurity
8 11 (10.09%) High Availability
8 11 (10.09%) Service Management
8 11 (10.09%) Task Automation
9 9 (8.26%) Project Management
10 8 (7.34%) Break/Fix
10 8 (7.34%) Penetration Testing
10 8 (7.34%) Problem Management
10 8 (7.34%) Security Operations
11 7 (6.42%) Server Patching
11 7 (6.42%) Threat Modelling
Programming Languages
1 30 (27.52%) SQL
2 26 (23.85%) PowerShell
3 2 (1.83%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.92%) Bash
4 1 (0.92%) Bicep
4 1 (0.92%) Python
4 1 (0.92%) VB
Qualifications
1 109 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 36 (33.03%) MCSA
3 31 (28.44%) Degree
4 30 (27.52%) Security Cleared
5 28 (25.69%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 26 (23.85%) Cisco Certification
6 26 (23.85%) SC Cleared
7 23 (21.10%) CCNA
8 10 (9.17%) A+ Certification
8 10 (9.17%) ITIL Certification
8 10 (9.17%) Network+ Certification
9 8 (7.34%) MCP
10 6 (5.50%) DV Cleared
10 6 (5.50%) RHCT
11 5 (4.59%) CCNP
12 4 (3.67%) AWS Certification
12 4 (3.67%) MCTS
13 2 (1.83%) Azure Certification
13 2 (1.83%) BPSS Clearance
13 2 (1.83%) CESG Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (9.17%) SLA
2 3 (2.75%) Cyber Essentials
2 3 (2.75%) NCSC
2 3 (2.75%) NIST
3 2 (1.83%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 2 (1.83%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.92%) GDPR
System Software
1 59 (54.13%) Active Directory
2 37 (33.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (12.84%) Hyper-V
4 8 (7.34%) vSphere
5 6 (5.50%) KVM
6 4 (3.67%) Firmware
7 3 (2.75%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (1.83%) Microsoft App-V
8 2 (1.83%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (1.83%) XenApp
8 2 (1.83%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.92%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.92%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 16 (14.68%) SCCM
2 7 (6.42%) WSUS
3 4 (3.67%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (2.75%) vCenter Server
5 2 (1.83%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (1.83%) Backup Exec
6 1 (0.92%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.92%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 73 (66.97%) Microsoft
2 44 (40.37%) VMware
3 14 (12.84%) Citrix
4 12 (11.01%) Dell
5 10 (9.17%) ServiceNow
6 9 (8.26%) Red Hat
7 7 (6.42%) Cisco
8 4 (3.67%) Bloomberg
8 4 (3.67%) HP
9 3 (2.75%) Apple
9 3 (2.75%) SAP
10 2 (1.83%) CA
10 2 (1.83%) IronPort
10 2 (1.83%) Refinitiv
10 2 (1.83%) Reuters
11 1 (0.92%) Aruba
11 1 (0.92%) Okta
11 1 (0.92%) SolarWinds
11 1 (0.92%) Sophos
11 1 (0.92%) Zscaler