Permanent IT Jobs Contract IT Jobs

The first part of the table below looks at the demand for Microsoft Certification in IT contracts advertised across the UK. Included is a guide to the average contractor rates offered in IT contracts that have cited Microsoft Certification over the 3 months to 9 February 2010 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years. The second part of the table is for comparison and provides aggregates for all Qualifications currently tracked.

LinkMicrosoft Certification
Location
3 months to
9 Feb 2010
Same period 2009Same period 2008
Rank1449075
Rank change year-on-year
Down-54Down-15
Matching contract IT job ads4927671564
As % of all contract IT jobs located in the UK1.124 %1.668 %1.911 %
As % of the Qualifications category7.887 %9.402 %12.82 %
Daily rates quoted188211377
Average daily rate£300£300£325
Average daily rate % change year-on-year
--7.690 %
90% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£166£141£140
10% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£425£404£475
UK excluding London average daily rate£275£300£320
% change year-on-year
-8.330 %-6.250 %
Hourly rates quoted104167375
Average hourly rate£18.00£19.00£20.00
Average hourly rate % change year-on-year
-5.260 %-5.000 %
90% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£11.65£11.72£13.00
10% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£25.00£30.94£35.00
UK excluding London average hourly rate£16.25£17.00£19.00
% change year-on-year
-4.410 %-10.52 %
IT Contractor Job Market, Qualifications CategoryAll Qualifications
UK
Contract IT job ads with a match in the
Qualifications category
6238815812200
As % of all contract IT jobs located in the UK14.25 %17.74 %14.90 %
Daily rates quoted265025843748
Average daily rate£359£375£375
Average daily rate % change year-on-year
-4.260 %-
90% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£225£225£220
10% of contracts offered a daily rate of more than£525£550£525
UK excluding London average daily rate£325£360£350
% change year-on-year
-9.720 %+2.850 %
Hourly rates quoted5489661399
Average hourly rate£20.50£27.00£25.00
Average hourly rate % change year-on-year
-24.07 %+8.000 %
90% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£12.50£13.50£13.00
10% of contracts offered a hourly rate of more than£38.00£40.00£40.00
UK excluding London average hourly rate£20.00£29.00£25.50
% change year-on-year
-31.03 %+13.72 %

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.

Microsoft Certification
Demand Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving total beginning in 2004 of IT contractor jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the UK as a proportion of the total demand within the Qualifications category.

Microsoft Certification Demand Trend

Microsoft Certification
Daily Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in IT contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the UK.

Microsoft Certification Daily Rate Trend

Microsoft Certification
Daily Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of daily rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the UK over the 3 months to 9 February 2010.

Microsoft Certification Daily Rate Histogram

Microsoft Certification
Hourly Rate Trend

The chart provides the 3-month moving average for hourly rates quoted in IT contractor jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the UK.

Microsoft Certification Hourly Rate Trend

Microsoft Certification
Hourly Rate Histogram

The chart provides a histogram of hourly rates quoted in contract IT jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the UK over the 3 months to 9 February 2010.

Microsoft Certification Hourly Rate Histogram

Microsoft Certification
Top 30 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the average contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the UK over the 3 months to 9 February 2010. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year.

LocationRank 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
EnglandDown-58459£300-
LondonDown-64220£315-0.39 %
South EastDown-3784£330+5.43 %
City of LondonDown-6360£325+7.43 %
North WestUp+2131£280+31.76 %
East of EnglandDown-431£235+57.19 %
ScotlandDown-1630£245+5.37 %
South WestUp+628£208-44.66 %
YorkshireUp+626£135-53.04 %
BerkshireUp+624£375-10.17 %
West YorkshireUp+720£193-38.40 %
West MidlandsUp+1419£298-30.00 %
LeedsUp+1817£193-40.76 %
GlasgowUp+516£225-3.22 %
MiddlesexUp+515£525+64.06 %
East MidlandsDown-714£230+21.85 %
SurreyDown-1313£306-12.50 %
ManchesterDown-512£350+21.73 %
EssexDown-1112£224+86.45 %
SomersetUp+1511£221-4.13 %
MerseysideUp+1511--
BuckinghamshireDown-1411£165-43.87 %
HertfordshireUp+189£235+95.83 %
TauntonUp+129£223-
West SussexDown-39£325-
Milton KeynesDown-148--
HampshireUp+37£300+44.57 %
BracknellUp+17--
WiltshireUp+116£200-
CambridgeshireUp+26£220-29.60 %

Microsoft Certification
Top 30 Related IT Skills

For the 6 months to 9 February 2010, IT contractor jobs within the UK citing Microsoft Certification 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 Certification.

1697 (64.24 %)MCSE
2647 (59.63 %)Windows
3550 (50.69 %)Microsoft
4373 (34.38 %)MCP
4373 (34.38 %)Active Directory
5340 (31.34 %)Windows Server 2003
6235 (21.66 %)ITIL
7227 (20.92 %)SQL Server
8224 (20.65 %)MS Exchange
9182 (16.77 %)Citrix
10177 (16.31 %)SQL
11162 (14.93 %)MS Office
11162 (14.93 %)MS Excel
11162 (14.93 %)VMware
12154 (14.19 %)Security Cleared
13152 (14.01 %)Finance
14145 (13.36 %)Windows XP
15142 (13.09 %)Cisco
16141 (13.00 %)Windows 2000
17140 (12.90 %)MCSA
18137 (12.63 %).NET
19129 (11.89 %)Exchange Server 2003
20128 (11.80 %)Windows Server 2008
21121 (11.15 %)Cisco Certification
22114 (10.51 %)TCP/IP
23111 (10.23 %)CCNA
24109 (10.05 %)SC Cleared
25103 (9.493 %)Banking
25103 (9.493 %)SharePoint
26101 (9.309 %)HP

Microsoft Certification
Top Related IT Skills by Category

For the 6 months to 9 February 2010, IT contractor jobs within the UK citing Microsoft Certification 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 Certification. Up to 20 skills are shown per category.

IT Contractor Job Market, Application Development CategoryApplication Development
1137 (12.63 %).NET
256 (5.161 %)ASP.NET
341 (3.779 %)Web Services
341 (3.779 %)XML
421 (1.935 %)CSS
520 (1.843 %)HTML
619 (1.751 %).NET Framework
717 (1.567 %)Application Packaging
813 (1.198 %)WPF
813 (1.198 %)Windows SharePoint Services
912 (1.106 %)WCF
1010 (0.922 %)ASP
119 (0.829 %)COM
119 (0.829 %)Software Packaging
128 (0.737 %)XSLT
137 (0.645 %)AJAX
146 (0.553 %)Silverlight
146 (0.553 %)ASP.NET 2.0
146 (0.553 %)WinForms
155 (0.461 %)jQuery
IT Contractor Job Market, Application Platforms CategoryApplication Platforms
1224 (20.65 %)MS Exchange
2129 (11.89 %)Exchange Server 2003
3103 (9.493 %)SharePoint
465 (5.991 %)Exchange Server 2007
561 (5.622 %)IIS
638 (3.502 %)SharePoint Server 2007
733 (3.041 %)Lotus Notes
829 (2.673 %)Exchange Server 2000
914 (1.290 %)Blackberry Enterprise Server
914 (1.290 %)BizTalk Server
1013 (1.198 %)Office Communications Server
1110 (0.922 %)CMS
128 (0.737 %)SharePoint Portal Server
137 (0.645 %)Lotus Domino
137 (0.645 %)Exchange Server 5.5
146 (0.553 %)Content Management Server
155 (0.461 %)Documentum
164 (0.369 %)WebLogic
173 (0.276 %)Umbraco
182 (0.184 %)Commerce Server 2007
IT Contractor Job Market, Applications CategoryApplications
1162 (14.93 %)MS Office
1162 (14.93 %)MS Excel
212 (1.106 %)MS Project
311 (1.014 %)MS PowerPoint
47 (0.645 %)MS Visio
56 (0.553 %)InfoPath
62 (0.184 %)Acrobat
71 (0.092 %)PrintSoft PReS
71 (0.092 %)Spreadsheet
IT Contractor Job Market, Business Applications CategoryBusiness Applications
115 (1.382 %)assyst
24 (0.369 %)Dynamics CRM
24 (0.369 %)Oracle Applications
33 (0.276 %)Microsoft CRM
33 (0.276 %)Axapta
33 (0.276 %)SoftGrid
33 (0.276 %)3000 Xtra
33 (0.276 %)Dynamics AX
42 (0.184 %)Navision
51 (0.092 %)Great Plains
51 (0.092 %)WebTrends
51 (0.092 %)Oracle EBS
51 (0.092 %)Academy Housing
51 (0.092 %)arcHouse
IT Contractor Job Market, Communications & Networking CategoryCommunications & Networking
1114 (10.51 %)TCP/IP
291 (8.387 %)DNS
386 (7.926 %)SAN
469 (6.359 %)LAN
469 (6.359 %)WAN
568 (6.267 %)Firewall
665 (5.991 %)DHCP
742 (3.871 %)VPN
841 (3.779 %)Internet
922 (2.028 %)Wireless
1021 (1.935 %)Network Security
1118 (1.659 %)VoIP
1215 (1.382 %)Intranet
1311 (1.014 %)Extranet
1410 (0.922 %)SMTP
159 (0.829 %)MPLS
159 (0.829 %)VLAN
168 (0.737 %)NAS
168 (0.737 %)SSL
177 (0.645 %)HTTP
IT Contractor Job Market, Database & Business Intelligence CategoryDatabase & Business Intelligence
1227 (20.92 %)SQL Server
289 (8.203 %)SQL Server 2005
349 (4.516 %)SQL Server 2000
431 (2.857 %)SQL Server Reporting Services
529 (2.673 %)SQL Server Integration Services
621 (1.935 %)SQL Server 2008
720 (1.843 %)DTS
814 (1.290 %)ETL
913 (1.198 %)SQL Server Analysis Services
108 (0.737 %)Datawarehouse
116 (0.553 %)RDBMS
125 (0.461 %)MS Access
125 (0.461 %)OLAP
134 (0.369 %)Oracle 8/8i
134 (0.369 %)BusinessObjects
143 (0.276 %)Oracle 10g
143 (0.276 %)Microsoft Analysis Services
152 (0.184 %)PerformancePoint
152 (0.184 %)Essbase
152 (0.184 %)Crystal Reports
IT Contractor Job Market, Development Applications CategoryDevelopment Applications
116 (1.475 %)Visual Studio
211 (1.014 %)ClearCase
310 (0.922 %)NUnit
45 (0.461 %)VSS/SourceSafe
52 (0.184 %)FrontPage
52 (0.184 %)Subversion
61 (0.092 %)WinRunner
61 (0.092 %)QuickTest Pro
61 (0.092 %)LoadRunner
61 (0.092 %)InstallShield
61 (0.092 %)Oracle Forms
61 (0.092 %)Expression Blend
61 (0.092 %)Selenium
61 (0.092 %)ReSharper
IT Contractor Job Market, General CategoryGeneral
1152 (14.01 %)Finance
2103 (9.493 %)Banking
380 (7.373 %)Government
425 (2.304 %)Investment Banking
519 (1.751 %)Education
618 (1.659 %)Health
618 (1.659 %)Retail
717 (1.567 %)Telecoms
814 (1.290 %)Law
913 (1.198 %)Legal
913 (1.198 %)Back Office
1011 (1.014 %)Financial Institution
1011 (1.014 %)Insurance
119 (0.829 %)Front Office
126 (0.553 %)Retail Banking
126 (0.553 %)Automotive
135 (0.461 %)Electronics
135 (0.461 %)Manufacturing
144 (0.369 %)Publishing
144 (0.369 %)Pharmaceutical
IT Contractor Job Market, Job Titles CategoryJob Titles
1193 (17.79 %)Analyst
2138 (12.72 %)Support Engineer
3109 (10.05 %)Developer
487 (8.018 %)Support Analyst
566 (6.083 %)Consultant
664 (5.899 %)Desktop Support
757 (5.253 %)Server Engineer
855 (5.069 %)Architect
947 (4.332 %)Service Desk Analyst
947 (4.332 %)Administrator
1046 (4.240 %)3rd Line Support
1145 (4.147 %)Desktop Engineer
1243 (3.963 %)Service Analyst
1341 (3.779 %)2nd Line Support
1440 (3.687 %).NET Developer
1537 (3.410 %)Server Support
1634 (3.134 %)DBA
1634 (3.134 %)Systems Engineer
1634 (3.134 %)Helpdesk Support
1730 (2.765 %)IT Support
IT Contractor Job Market, Miscellaneous CategoryMiscellaneous
150 (4.608 %)Blackberry
236 (3.318 %)Clustering
322 (2.028 %)Fixed Income
420 (1.843 %)PDA
519 (1.751 %)Derivative
617 (1.567 %)NHS
712 (1.106 %)PKI
712 (1.106 %)Computer Science
811 (1.014 %)Thin Client
811 (1.014 %)Client/Server
811 (1.014 %)Fat Client
99 (0.829 %)Replication
108 (0.737 %)CLARiiON
117 (0.645 %)PMI
117 (0.645 %)EMC Centera
117 (0.645 %)Celerra
126 (0.553 %)French Language
126 (0.553 %)Video Conferencing
135 (0.461 %)German Language
143 (0.276 %)Chip and PIN
IT Contractor Job Market, Operating Systems CategoryOperating Systems
1647 (59.63 %)Windows
2340 (31.34 %)Windows Server 2003
3145 (13.36 %)Windows XP
4141 (13.00 %)Windows 2000
5128 (11.80 %)Windows Server 2008
675 (6.912 %)Windows 2000 Server
773 (6.728 %)Windows Vista
843 (3.963 %)UNIX
942 (3.871 %)Linux
1011 (1.014 %)Solaris
1110 (0.922 %)Windows NT
129 (0.829 %)Windows 7
129 (0.829 %)Windows Mobile
136 (0.553 %)NetWare
145 (0.461 %)Red Hat Linux
153 (0.276 %)AIX
162 (0.184 %)Red Hat Enterprise Linux
162 (0.184 %)Mac OS X
171 (0.092 %)Windows CE
171 (0.092 %)HPUX
IT Contractor Job Market, Processes & Methodologies CategoryProcesses & Methodologies
1235 (21.66 %)ITIL
273 (6.728 %)Migration
368 (6.267 %)Service Management
447 (4.332 %)Project Management
544 (4.055 %)PRINCE2
636 (3.318 %)Service Delivery
729 (2.673 %)ITSM
825 (2.304 %)Change Management
919 (1.751 %)OO
1017 (1.567 %)UML
1017 (1.567 %)Workflow
1115 (1.382 %)Incident Management
1213 (1.198 %)Quality Management
1213 (1.198 %)Content Management
1213 (1.198 %)Requirements Analysis
1312 (1.106 %)Load Balancing
1312 (1.106 %)Data Protection
1312 (1.106 %)Release Management
1312 (1.106 %)Validation
1312 (1.106 %)Agile Software Development
IT Contractor Job Market, Programming Languages CategoryProgramming Languages
1177 (16.31 %)SQL
296 (8.848 %)C#
341 (3.779 %)VB
435 (3.226 %)C
534 (3.134 %)T-SQL
631 (2.857 %)VB.NET
725 (2.304 %)VBScript
725 (2.304 %)JavaScript
811 (1.014 %)Java
811 (1.014 %)PowerShell
94 (0.369 %)XAML
94 (0.369 %)VBA
103 (0.276 %)Shell Script
103 (0.276 %)Perl
103 (0.276 %)X++
112 (0.184 %)VB6
121 (0.092 %)Tcl
121 (0.092 %)PL/SQL
121 (0.092 %)C++
121 (0.092 %)Jython
IT Contractor Job Market, Qualifications CategoryQualifications
1697 (64.24 %)MCSE
2373 (34.38 %)MCP
3154 (14.19 %)Security Cleared
4140 (12.90 %)MCSA
5121 (11.15 %)Cisco Certification
6111 (10.23 %)CCNA
7109 (10.05 %)SC Cleared
878 (7.189 %)MCDST
958 (5.346 %)Degree
1057 (5.253 %)MCITP
1156 (5.161 %)MCTS
1245 (4.147 %)MCSD
1340 (3.687 %)Novell Certification
1340 (3.687 %)A+ Certification
1340 (3.687 %)MCDBA
1340 (3.687 %)MCAD
1436 (3.318 %)VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
1533 (3.041 %)Citrix Certification
1628 (2.581 %)CISSP
1727 (2.488 %)CNA
IT Contractor Job Market, Quality Assurance & Compliance CategoryQuality Assurance & Compliance
142 (3.871 %)SLA
29 (0.829 %)Sarbanes-Oxley
37 (0.645 %)ISO27001
46 (0.553 %)PCI DSS
54 (0.369 %)QA
54 (0.369 %)ISO17799
62 (0.184 %)ISO9001
62 (0.184 %)BS7799
71 (0.092 %)Basel II
71 (0.092 %)WAI
IT Contractor Job Market, System Software CategorySystem Software
1373 (34.38 %)Active Directory
256 (5.161 %)VMware Infrastructure
338 (3.502 %)VMware ESX
426 (2.396 %)Terminal Services
524 (2.212 %)ISA Server
622 (2.028 %)XenApp
721 (1.935 %)Hyper-V
820 (1.843 %)Backup Exec
916 (1.475 %)Terminal Server
1013 (1.198 %)Citrix Presentation Server
1112 (1.106 %)vSphere
126 (0.553 %)MetaFrame
135 (0.461 %)NetBackup
135 (0.461 %)XenServer
144 (0.369 %)VMware Server
144 (0.369 %)VMware Workstation
153 (0.276 %)XenDesktop
162 (0.184 %)WebMarshal
162 (0.184 %)RACF
171 (0.092 %)SRDF
IT Contractor Job Market, Systems Management CategorySystems Management
150 (4.608 %)Systems Management Server (SMS)
245 (4.147 %)SCCM
331 (2.857 %)SCOM
418 (1.659 %)OpenView Configuration Management
516 (1.475 %)OpenView
612 (1.106 %)WSUS
711 (1.014 %)Norton AntiVirus
89 (0.829 %)MOM
89 (0.829 %)McAfee ePO
97 (0.645 %)Tivoli
97 (0.645 %)OVSD
106 (0.553 %)MSI
115 (0.461 %)Legato
124 (0.369 %)OVOW
124 (0.369 %)MAILsweeper
133 (0.276 %)MIMEsweeper
133 (0.276 %)Cisco IPCC
133 (0.276 %)OVPA
142 (0.184 %)Nessus
142 (0.184 %)Tivoli Identity Manager
IT Contractor Job Market, Vendors CategoryVendors
1550 (50.69 %)Microsoft
2182 (16.77 %)Citrix
3162 (14.93 %)VMware
4142 (13.09 %)Cisco
5101 (9.309 %)HP
657 (5.253 %)Remedy
740 (3.687 %)Lotus
831 (2.857 %)Novell
831 (2.857 %)McAfee
831 (2.857 %)Oracle
930 (2.765 %)Altiris
1028 (2.581 %)IBM
1127 (2.488 %)Symantec
1221 (1.935 %)Compaq
1221 (1.935 %)Dell
1319 (1.751 %)CheckPoint
1418 (1.659 %)Juniper
1515 (1.382 %)NetApp
1612 (1.106 %)EMC
1710 (0.922 %)Sophos