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 9 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 5 5 4
Rank change year-on-year 0 -1 +10
Contract jobs citing Problem-Solving 246 222 260
As % of all contract jobs in Berkshire 16.91% 16.01% 15.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 19.52% 17.54% 17.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 153 112 180
10th Percentile £219 £251 £205
25th Percentile £406 £465 £213
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £400
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +37.50% -20.00%
75th Percentile £550 £638 £575
90th Percentile £650 £650 £638
South East median daily rate £475 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 2 9
10th Percentile £14.50 £26.18 £30.33
25th Percentile £16.00 £26.44 -
Median hourly rate £20.79 £27.75 £48.40
Median % change year-on-year -25.08% -42.67% -
75th Percentile £51.25 £28.94 £51.58
90th Percentile £98.00 £29.13 £63.60
South East median hourly rate £20.71 £26.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -20.35% -25.71% +9.68%

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 1,260 1,266 1,526
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Berkshire 86.60% 91.28% 91.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 853 700 923
10th Percentile £300 £300 £213
25th Percentile £413 £409 £368
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £638 £608
90th Percentile £650 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £500 £511 £515
% change year-on-year -2.12% -0.81% +1.48%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 35 67
10th Percentile £15.27 £26.85 £28.00
25th Percentile £19.38 £41.88 £48.40
Median hourly rate £58.00 £59.00 £61.65
Median % change year-on-year -1.69% -4.29% +12.08%
75th Percentile £82.00 £64.73 £67.50
90th Percentile £98.50 £71.72 £77.57
South East median hourly rate £23.58 £42.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year -44.53% -22.73% +29.67%

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 9 January 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 9 January 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 9 January 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 +15 93 £445 -23.74% 6
Reading -6 84 £525 -4.55% 54
Windsor 0 17 £475 +5.56% 5
Bracknell 0 17 £650 +8.33% 14
Slough 0 14 £475 +59.66% 152
Thatcham - 4 £535 - 1
Hungerford - 1 - - 3
Maidenhead - 1 - - 6
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 15 (6.10%) SharePoint
2 14 (5.69%) Confluence
3 7 (2.85%) CMS
4 3 (1.22%) Anypoint
4 3 (1.22%) Apache
4 3 (1.22%) Apache Spark
4 3 (1.22%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.41%) Camunda
5 1 (0.41%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.41%) Smallworld
Applications
1 13 (5.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (3.25%) Microsoft Project
3 7 (2.85%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (1.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.81%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (1.63%) SAP MDG
2 2 (0.81%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.81%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.81%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.81%) SAP SD
3 1 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.41%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
3 1 (0.41%) Maximo
3 1 (0.41%) Oracle BRM
3 1 (0.41%) SAP WM
Cloud Services
1 95 (38.62%) Azure
2 82 (33.33%) AWS
3 52 (21.14%) GCP
4 15 (6.10%) Azure DevOps
4 15 (6.10%) Entra ID
4 15 (6.10%) Power Platform
5 11 (4.47%) Microsoft 365
5 11 (4.47%) SaaS
6 10 (4.07%) GitHub
7 9 (3.66%) Serverless
8 5 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (1.63%) AWS CloudFormation
10 3 (1.22%) Amazon Cognito
10 3 (1.22%) Amazon S3
10 3 (1.22%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (1.22%) Azure API Management
10 3 (1.22%) Azure Functions
10 3 (1.22%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.22%) Boomi
10 3 (1.22%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 22 (8.94%) Network Security
2 17 (6.91%) DNS
3 16 (6.50%) TCP/IP
4 14 (5.69%) DHCP
5 11 (4.47%) Firewall
5 11 (4.47%) VLAN
6 5 (2.03%) MPLS
6 5 (2.03%) WAN
7 4 (1.63%) Internet
7 4 (1.63%) Intranet
8 3 (1.22%) 5G
8 3 (1.22%) VPN
9 2 (0.81%) BGP
9 2 (0.81%) Broadband
9 2 (0.81%) Mobile Backhaul
9 2 (0.81%) NaaS
9 2 (0.81%) SD-WAN
9 2 (0.81%) SNMP
9 2 (0.81%) SSL
9 2 (0.81%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (5.28%) Relational Database
2 10 (4.07%) Power BI
3 7 (2.85%) MongoDB
3 7 (2.85%) NoSQL
4 6 (2.44%) MySQL
4 6 (2.44%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (2.03%) RDBMS
5 5 (2.03%) SQL Server
6 4 (1.63%) Amazon RDS
6 4 (1.63%) Oracle BI Publisher
6 4 (1.63%) Oracle Reports
6 4 (1.63%) Tableau
7 3 (1.22%) Big Data
7 3 (1.22%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (1.22%) Hadoop
7 3 (1.22%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.81%) Elasticsearch
8 2 (0.81%) SAP HANA
9 1 (0.41%) Azure SQL Database
9 1 (0.41%) Redis
Development Applications
1 22 (8.94%) JIRA
2 11 (4.47%) Git
3 7 (2.85%) Jenkins
4 3 (1.22%) GitLab
4 3 (1.22%) HP UFT
5 2 (0.81%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.81%) Cypress.io
6 1 (0.41%) Appium
6 1 (0.41%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.41%) Gradle
6 1 (0.41%) Maven
6 1 (0.41%) Mocha
6 1 (0.41%) Selenium
General
1 132 (53.66%) Social Skills
2 107 (43.50%) Analytical Skills
3 24 (9.76%) Documentation Skills
4 23 (9.35%) Public Sector
5 15 (6.10%) Telecoms
6 14 (5.69%) Influencing Skills
7 13 (5.28%) Finance
8 11 (4.47%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (2.44%) Manufacturing
9 6 (2.44%) Retail
10 4 (1.63%) Billing
11 3 (1.22%) Automotive
12 2 (0.81%) Aerospace
12 2 (0.81%) Electronics
12 2 (0.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.81%) Legal
12 2 (0.81%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.41%) Advertising
13 1 (0.41%) French Language
13 1 (0.41%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 21 (8.54%) Support Engineer
2 20 (8.13%) Analyst
3 19 (7.72%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 18 (7.32%) Architect
4 18 (7.32%) Senior
5 17 (6.91%) Consultant
5 17 (6.91%) Infrastructure Support
5 17 (6.91%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
6 16 (6.50%) Lead
7 15 (6.10%) Project Manager
8 10 (4.07%) Developer
9 9 (3.66%) SIEM Engineer
10 7 (2.85%) Delivery Manager
10 7 (2.85%) IT Support
10 7 (2.85%) Support Analyst
10 7 (2.85%) Technical Leader
11 6 (2.44%) AWS Engineer
11 6 (2.44%) Cloud Consultant
11 6 (2.44%) DevOps Engineer
11 6 (2.44%) Technology Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (8.94%) REST
2 18 (7.32%) LDAP
2 18 (7.32%) SOAP
3 7 (2.85%) GraphQL
3 7 (2.85%) Node.js
3 7 (2.85%) OAuth
4 6 (2.44%) Pandas
5 5 (2.03%) NumPy
5 5 (2.03%) scikit-learn
6 4 (1.63%) JSON
6 4 (1.63%) OAuth2
6 4 (1.63%) OpenID
6 4 (1.63%) React
6 4 (1.63%) Web Services
7 3 (1.22%) .NET
7 3 (1.22%) .NET Core
7 3 (1.22%) ARM Templates
7 3 (1.22%) SAML
8 2 (0.81%) OpenAPI
8 2 (0.81%) Plotly
Miscellaneous
1 17 (6.91%) Analytical Mindset
2 10 (4.07%) Management Information System
3 9 (3.66%) Algorithms
3 9 (3.66%) Cloud Native
4 8 (3.25%) Cyber Security Posture
4 8 (3.25%) Enterprise Software
4 8 (3.25%) Mobile App
4 8 (3.25%) Security Posture
4 8 (3.25%) Self-Motivation
5 7 (2.85%) CMDB
5 7 (2.85%) Onboarding
6 6 (2.44%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (2.44%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (2.44%) Hybrid Cloud
7 5 (2.03%) PKI
8 3 (1.22%) Cloud Security Posture
8 3 (1.22%) Distributed Computing
8 3 (1.22%) Product Ownership
8 3 (1.22%) Public Cloud
8 3 (1.22%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 32 (13.01%) Linux
2 31 (12.60%) Windows
3 12 (4.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 3 (1.22%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.81%) Unix
5 2 (0.81%) VMS
6 1 (0.41%) Kali Linux
6 1 (0.41%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.41%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 58 (23.58%) CI/CD
2 56 (22.76%) DevOps
2 56 (22.76%) ITIL
3 54 (21.95%) Agile
4 45 (18.29%) Cybersecurity
5 37 (15.04%) DevSecOps
5 37 (15.04%) Stakeholder Management
6 35 (14.23%) SIEM
7 33 (13.41%) Continuous Improvement
8 32 (13.01%) Service Management
9 30 (12.20%) Change Management
10 29 (11.79%) ITSM
10 29 (11.79%) Project Management
11 28 (11.38%) Test Automation
12 24 (9.76%) Disaster Recovery
13 22 (8.94%) PRINCE2
13 22 (8.94%) Root Cause Analysis
13 22 (8.94%) Validation
14 21 (8.54%) Decision-Making
15 20 (8.13%) Analytical Thinking
Programming Languages
1 67 (27.24%) Python
2 37 (15.04%) PowerShell
3 23 (9.35%) JavaScript
4 21 (8.54%) SQL
5 19 (7.72%) Java
6 9 (3.66%) Kusto Query Language
7 6 (2.44%) Bash
7 6 (2.44%) C#
7 6 (2.44%) Go
8 5 (2.03%) TypeScript
9 3 (1.22%) DataWeave
9 3 (1.22%) PHP
9 3 (1.22%) VBScript
10 2 (0.81%) Groovy
10 2 (0.81%) R
10 2 (0.81%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.41%) Jython
11 1 (0.41%) Magik
11 1 (0.41%) Perl
11 1 (0.41%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 86 (34.96%) Security Cleared
2 72 (29.27%) SC Cleared
3 35 (14.23%) CISSP
4 26 (10.57%) Degree
5 18 (7.32%) CISM
6 15 (6.10%) Azure Certification
7 14 (5.69%) AWS Certification
7 14 (5.69%) Microsoft Certification
8 12 (4.88%) Computer Science Degree
9 11 (4.47%) CEH
9 11 (4.47%) GIAC
9 11 (4.47%) Network+ Certification
9 11 (4.47%) PMI Certification
9 11 (4.47%) PMP
9 11 (4.47%) Server+ Certification
10 10 (4.07%) Cisco Certification
11 7 (2.85%) ISTQB
12 6 (2.44%) Master's Degree
13 5 (2.03%) A+ Certification
13 5 (2.03%) ISTQB Advanced Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (11.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 28 (11.38%) NIST
2 28 (11.38%) QA
3 26 (10.57%) GDPR
4 7 (2.85%) PMO
5 6 (2.44%) GRC
6 3 (1.22%) Data Quality
6 3 (1.22%) PCI DSS
6 3 (1.22%) PSD2
6 3 (1.22%) SLA
7 2 (0.81%) Actionable Recommendations
7 2 (0.81%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.41%) NIST 800
System Software
1 30 (12.20%) Active Directory
2 16 (6.50%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (5.69%) Hyper-V
4 7 (2.85%) Docker
5 5 (2.03%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.81%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.41%) NFS
7 1 (0.41%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 20 (8.13%) Ansible
2 16 (6.50%) Kubernetes
3 12 (4.88%) Red Hat Satellite
4 11 (4.47%) Terraform
5 9 (3.66%) Kibana
6 3 (1.22%) CloudHub
6 3 (1.22%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.22%) SCCM
7 2 (0.81%) BMC PATROL
7 2 (0.81%) Nessus
7 2 (0.81%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.41%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.41%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.41%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.41%) Grafana
8 1 (0.41%) Nmap
8 1 (0.41%) Puppet
8 1 (0.41%) QRadar
8 1 (0.41%) vRealize
8 1 (0.41%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 50 (20.33%) Microsoft
2 29 (11.79%) VMware
3 21 (8.54%) ServiceNow
4 20 (8.13%) CyberArk
4 20 (8.13%) Google
5 19 (7.72%) Oracle
6 18 (7.32%) BeyondTrust
7 12 (4.88%) Red Hat
8 9 (3.66%) FireEye
8 9 (3.66%) Tanium
9 8 (3.25%) Workday
10 6 (2.44%) Cisco
10 6 (2.44%) Remedy
10 6 (2.44%) SAP
11 4 (1.63%) BMC
11 4 (1.63%) Fortinet
11 4 (1.63%) Juniper
11 4 (1.63%) Salesforce
11 4 (1.63%) Splunk
12 3 (1.22%) ArcSight