Problem-Solving Contract Job Trends in Berkshire

Problem Solving
South East > Berkshire

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Berkshire requiring Problem-Solving skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 4 5
Rank change year-on-year -1 +1 +9
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 291 246 305
As % of all contract jobs in Berkshire 16.11% 19.62% 15.08%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 18.57% 21.06% 16.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 182 131 173
10th Percentile £303 £250 £205
25th Percentile £403 £400 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £513 £400
Median % change year-on-year -7.32% +28.13% -23.81%
75th Percentile £547 £628 £588
90th Percentile £650 £653 £638
South East median daily rate £492 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -1.60% +11.11% -13.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 5 13
10th Percentile £14.50 £22.35 £30.08
25th Percentile £17.13 £26.00 £41.25
Median hourly rate £20.79 £48.00 £51.06
Median % change year-on-year -56.69% -5.98% -37.26%
75th Percentile £57.19 £58.75 £61.50
90th Percentile £96.00 £75.73 £61.60
South East median hourly rate £20.71 £19.91 £19.38
% change year-on-year +4.02% +2.76% -62.92%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Berkshire

Problem-Solving falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in Berkshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,567 1,168 1,835
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire 86.77% 93.14% 90.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,024 654 1,000
10th Percentile £300 £300 £213
25th Percentile £401 £413 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% +4.00% -2.91%
75th Percentile £591 £630 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
South East median daily rate £500 £510 £500
% change year-on-year -1.96% +2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 116 34 100
10th Percentile £19.41 £26.08 £19.00
25th Percentile £54.94 £42.47 £41.25
Median hourly rate £82.50 £60.25 £58.65
Median % change year-on-year +36.94% +2.72% -9.32%
75th Percentile £88.00 £65.39 £67.58
90th Percentile £102.75 £84.25 £85.65
South East median hourly rate £28.75 £42.50 £41.25
% change year-on-year -32.35% +3.03% -8.33%

Problem-Solving
Job Vacancy Trend in Berkshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Problem-Solving relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire.

Problem-Solving job vacancy trend in Berkshire

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Trend in Berkshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Daily Rate Histogram in Berkshire

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Problem-Solving in Berkshire over the 6 months to 7 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Problem-Solving in Berkshire

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Trend in Berkshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing Problem-Solving.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Berkshire citing Problem-Solving

Problem-Solving
Hourly Rate Histogram in Berkshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Problem-Solving in Berkshire over the 6 months to 7 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Problem-Solving in Berkshire

Problem-Solving
Contract Job Locations in Berkshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Problem-Solving within the Berkshire region over the 6 months to 7 March 2026. 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
Wokingham -1 111 £429 -15.88% 14
Reading -10 101 £520 -7.56% 44
Bracknell -2 19 £625 +4.17% 6
Windsor +3 17 £494 -1.25% 2
Slough -1 13 £650 +172.04% 23
Thatcham -8 3 £535 -10.83%
Hungerford - 3 - -
Maidenhead - 2 - - 5
Problem-Solving
South East

Problem-Solving
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Berkshire by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 17 (5.84%) SharePoint
2 11 (3.78%) Confluence
3 7 (2.41%) CMS
4 4 (1.37%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (1.03%) Anypoint
6 2 (0.69%) Apache
6 2 (0.69%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.34%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.34%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.34%) Oracle Workflow
7 1 (0.34%) Smallworld
Applications
1 17 (5.84%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (3.44%) Microsoft Project
3 8 (2.75%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (2.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (2.75%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.34%) CPLEX
Business Applications
1 5 (1.72%) SAP MDG
2 4 (1.37%) Oracle EBS
2 4 (1.37%) Workday HCM
3 3 (1.03%) Remedy ITSM
3 3 (1.03%) SAP SD
4 2 (0.69%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.34%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.34%) Maximo
5 1 (0.34%) Oracle BRM
5 1 (0.34%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.34%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 94 (32.30%) Azure
2 80 (27.49%) AWS
3 54 (18.56%) GCP
4 17 (5.84%) Azure DevOps
5 16 (5.50%) Power Platform
6 15 (5.15%) Entra ID
7 11 (3.78%) Microsoft 365
8 10 (3.44%) SaaS
8 10 (3.44%) Serverless
9 8 (2.75%) GitHub
10 5 (1.72%) Azure Monitor
10 5 (1.72%) GitHub Actions
11 4 (1.37%) OCI
12 3 (1.03%) Amazon Cognito
12 3 (1.03%) Amazon S3
12 3 (1.03%) Azure AKS
12 3 (1.03%) Azure API Management
12 3 (1.03%) Azure Functions
12 3 (1.03%) Azure Key Vault
12 3 (1.03%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 25 (8.59%) DNS
2 24 (8.25%) Firewall
3 23 (7.90%) WAN
4 21 (7.22%) DHCP
4 21 (7.22%) Network Security
5 18 (6.19%) BGP
6 14 (4.81%) LAN
6 14 (4.81%) OSPF
7 12 (4.12%) BIG-IP
7 12 (4.12%) Ethernet VPN
7 12 (4.12%) Junos
7 12 (4.12%) TCP/IP
7 12 (4.12%) VXLAN
8 11 (3.78%) MPLS
9 8 (2.75%) Cisco ISE
10 6 (2.06%) SD-WAN
10 6 (2.06%) VPN
11 5 (1.72%) FTP
11 5 (1.72%) Internet
12 4 (1.37%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (4.12%) Relational Database
2 11 (3.78%) Power BI
3 10 (3.44%) SQL Server
4 8 (2.75%) MongoDB
5 7 (2.41%) NoSQL
5 7 (2.41%) Oracle Reports
6 6 (2.06%) Oracle Database
6 6 (2.06%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (1.72%) RDBMS
8 4 (1.37%) Data Warehouse
8 4 (1.37%) MySQL
8 4 (1.37%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 4 (1.37%) Tableau
9 3 (1.03%) Amazon RDS
9 3 (1.03%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (1.03%) Big Data
10 2 (0.69%) Elasticsearch
10 2 (0.69%) GIS
10 2 (0.69%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.69%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 20 (6.87%) JIRA
2 12 (4.12%) Git
3 11 (3.78%) Jenkins
4 5 (1.72%) HP UFT
5 2 (0.69%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.69%) Burp Suite
5 2 (0.69%) GitLab
6 1 (0.34%) Appium
6 1 (0.34%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.34%) Selenium
General
1 157 (53.95%) Social Skills
2 123 (42.27%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (10.31%) Documentation Skills
4 28 (9.62%) Public Sector
5 15 (5.15%) Influencing Skills
6 13 (4.47%) Organisational Skills
7 12 (4.12%) Telecoms
8 11 (3.78%) Finance
9 6 (2.06%) Billing
10 5 (1.72%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.37%) Retail
12 3 (1.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (1.03%) Legal
12 3 (1.03%) Marketing
12 3 (1.03%) Military
13 2 (0.69%) Automotive
13 2 (0.69%) Law
14 1 (0.34%) Advertising
14 1 (0.34%) General Ledger
14 1 (0.34%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 24 (8.25%) Analyst
1 24 (8.25%) Senior
2 22 (7.56%) Architect
3 20 (6.87%) Lead
4 19 (6.53%) Consultant
5 15 (5.15%) Project Manager
6 13 (4.47%) Developer
7 11 (3.78%) SIEM Engineer
8 9 (3.09%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 9 (3.09%) Network Engineer
8 9 (3.09%) Support Engineer
9 8 (2.75%) Senior Network Engineer
10 7 (2.41%) Delivery Manager
10 7 (2.41%) Infrastructure Support
10 7 (2.41%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
10 7 (2.41%) Service Manager
10 7 (2.41%) Support Analyst
10 7 (2.41%) Technical Leader
11 6 (2.06%) DevOps Engineer
11 6 (2.06%) ServiceNow Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (8.59%) LDAP
1 25 (8.59%) REST
2 20 (6.87%) SOAP
3 12 (4.12%) 802.1X
4 9 (3.09%) OAuth
5 7 (2.41%) Node.js
6 6 (2.06%) GraphQL
6 6 (2.06%) Oracle GoldenGate
6 6 (2.06%) SAML
6 6 (2.06%) Web Services
7 5 (1.72%) .NET
7 5 (1.72%) .NET Core
7 5 (1.72%) JSON
7 5 (1.72%) OpenID
7 5 (1.72%) Pandas
7 5 (1.72%) React
8 4 (1.37%) .NET Framework
8 4 (1.37%) Kafka
8 4 (1.37%) NumPy
8 4 (1.37%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 19 (6.53%) Data Centre
2 17 (5.84%) PKI
3 16 (5.50%) Analytical Mindset
4 13 (4.47%) Clustering
5 10 (3.44%) Cloud Native
5 10 (3.44%) Cyber Security Posture
5 10 (3.44%) Onboarding
6 9 (3.09%) Mobile App
7 8 (2.75%) Algorithms
7 8 (2.75%) CMDB
7 8 (2.75%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (2.41%) Management Information System
9 6 (2.06%) Distributed Systems
9 6 (2.06%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (2.06%) Product Ownership
9 6 (2.06%) Security Posture
10 5 (1.72%) Hybrid Cloud
10 5 (1.72%) Replication
10 5 (1.72%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (1.03%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 38 (13.06%) Windows
2 29 (9.97%) Linux
3 14 (4.81%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 6 (2.06%) Unix
5 3 (1.03%) Windows 10
5 3 (1.03%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.69%) Kali Linux
6 2 (0.69%) VMS
7 1 (0.34%) Android
7 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.34%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.34%) OpenVMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (24.74%) ITIL
2 65 (22.34%) CI/CD
3 61 (20.96%) DevOps
4 51 (17.53%) Cybersecurity
5 48 (16.49%) Agile
6 45 (15.46%) Continuous Improvement
7 43 (14.78%) Stakeholder Management
8 40 (13.75%) DevSecOps
9 39 (13.40%) ITSM
10 37 (12.71%) SIEM
11 35 (12.03%) Service Management
12 33 (11.34%) Project Management
13 29 (9.97%) Change Management
14 27 (9.28%) Test Automation
15 26 (8.93%) Decision-Making
15 26 (8.93%) High Availability
16 25 (8.59%) Root Cause Analysis
17 24 (8.25%) PRINCE2
18 22 (7.56%) Data Modelling
19 21 (7.22%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 77 (26.46%) Python
2 48 (16.49%) PowerShell
3 25 (8.59%) JavaScript
4 20 (6.87%) Java
4 20 (6.87%) SQL
5 11 (3.78%) Kusto Query Language
6 8 (2.75%) Bash
6 8 (2.75%) C#
7 7 (2.41%) TypeScript
8 5 (1.72%) Go
8 5 (1.72%) Korn
8 5 (1.72%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.72%) VBScript
9 3 (1.03%) DataWeave
9 3 (1.03%) PHP
10 2 (0.69%) Bicep
10 2 (0.69%) Groovy
10 2 (0.69%) R
10 2 (0.69%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.34%) Scala
Qualifications
1 115 (39.52%) Security Cleared
2 84 (28.87%) SC Cleared
3 38 (13.06%) CISSP
4 22 (7.56%) CISM
5 21 (7.22%) Degree
6 17 (5.84%) Cisco Certification
7 14 (4.81%) PMP
8 13 (4.47%) GIAC
9 12 (4.12%) DV Cleared
9 12 (4.12%) PMI Certification
10 11 (3.78%) CEH
11 8 (2.75%) AWS Certification
11 8 (2.75%) Computer Science Degree
11 8 (2.75%) ISTQB
11 8 (2.75%) JNCIA
11 8 (2.75%) JNCIP
11 8 (2.75%) JNCIS
12 7 (2.41%) CCIE
12 7 (2.41%) Microsoft Certification
13 6 (2.06%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (11.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 32 (11.00%) NIST
2 28 (9.62%) GDPR
3 26 (8.93%) QA
4 9 (3.09%) PMO
5 7 (2.41%) Data Quality
5 7 (2.41%) GRC
6 4 (1.37%) SLA
7 3 (1.03%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.34%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.34%) ISO 22301
8 1 (0.34%) NIST 800
System Software
1 41 (14.09%) Active Directory
2 13 (4.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (2.41%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.72%) Docker
4 5 (1.72%) Oracle RAC
5 2 (0.69%) Firmware
5 2 (0.69%) NFS
5 2 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.34%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 22 (7.56%) Ansible
2 14 (4.81%) FortiGate
2 14 (4.81%) Kubernetes
3 13 (4.47%) Red Hat Satellite
4 11 (3.78%) Kibana
5 9 (3.09%) Terraform
6 5 (1.72%) Nessus
6 5 (1.72%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 5 (1.72%) Oracle RMAN
7 4 (1.37%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (1.37%) SCCM
7 4 (1.37%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (1.03%) CloudHub
9 2 (0.69%) BMC PATROL
9 2 (0.69%) Nmap
9 2 (0.69%) OpenVAS
10 1 (0.34%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 1 (0.34%) Amdocs OSS
10 1 (0.34%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
Vendors
1 44 (15.12%) Microsoft
2 26 (8.93%) CyberArk
2 26 (8.93%) VMware
3 24 (8.25%) BeyondTrust
3 24 (8.25%) ServiceNow
4 20 (6.87%) Cisco
4 20 (6.87%) Oracle
5 19 (6.53%) Google
6 18 (6.19%) F5
6 18 (6.19%) Juniper
7 14 (4.81%) Red Hat
7 14 (4.81%) Splunk
8 12 (4.12%) SolarWinds
8 12 (4.12%) Workday
9 11 (3.78%) Extreme Networks
10 10 (3.44%) FireEye
10 10 (3.44%) SAP
10 10 (3.44%) Tanium
11 6 (2.06%) Fortinet
11 6 (2.06%) Salesforce