Job Vacancy Trend Daily Rate Trend Daily Rate Histogram Hourly Rate Trend Hourly Rate Histogram Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 25 June 2021

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for Virtual Machines skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Virtual Machines over the 6 months to 25 June 2021 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

Note that daily and hourly rates are treated separately in these statistics. When calculating contractor rate percentiles, daily rates are never derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

Virtual Machine (VM)
UK > England
6 months to
25 Jun 2021		 Same period 2020 Same period 2019
Rank 420 335 365
Rank change year-on-year -85 +30 +59
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 252 236 579
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.50% 0.64% 0.70%
As % of the System Software category 3.46% 4.10% 4.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 158 161 383
10th Percentile £338 £288 £300
25th Percentile £388 £375 £404
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £471 £475 £490
Median % change year-on-year -0.79% -3.06% +3.16%
75th Percentile £550 £538 £580
90th Percentile £675 £575 £685
UK median daily rate £498 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +4.84% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 4 15
10th Percentile £46.85 £17.43 £19.12
25th Percentile £49.25 £19.58 £31.13
Median hourly rate £54.00 £21.64 £36.67
Median % change year-on-year +149.51% -40.98% -14.72%
75th Percentile £59.25 £23.20 £43.56
90th Percentile £61.95 £23.56 £47.25
UK median hourly rate £54.00 £22.29 £36.67
% change year-on-year +142.32% -39.23% -14.72%

Virtual Machines is in the System Software category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies advertised in England with a requirement for system software skills.

All System Software Skills
England
Contract vacancies with a requirement for system software skills 7,280 5,762 12,943
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 14.31% 15.57% 15.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,067 3,945 8,810
10th Percentile £220 £194 £190
25th Percentile £380 £356 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £580 £575 £575
90th Percentile £675 £640 £638
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 231 251 498
10th Percentile £11.25 £11.13 £11.00
25th Percentile £13.50 £13.00 £13.00
Median hourly rate £18.55 £17.00 £16.74
Median % change year-on-year +9.12% +1.54% +3.25%
75th Percentile £39.50 £22.13 £29.31
90th Percentile £63.75 £47.25 £47.50
UK median hourly rate £20.00 £17.50 £16.81
% change year-on-year +14.29% +4.14% +5.49%

Virtual Machines
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing Virtual Machines as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Virtual Machines in England.

Daily rate trend for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Virtual Machines in England over the 6 months to 25 June 2021.

Daily rate histogram for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Virtual Machines in England.

Hourly rate trend for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Virtual Machines in England over the 6 months to 25 June 2021.

Hourly rate histogram for Virtual Machines in England

Virtual Machines
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Virtual Machines within the England region over the 6 months to 25 June 2021. 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
Job
Vacancies
London -60 112 £544 +15.69% 41
South East -13 53 £425 -15.00% 15
Midlands -18 22 £363 -19.44% 11
South West -1 18 £450 -14.29% 7
North of England -1 17 £495 +41.43% 16
West Midlands -22 17 £350 -22.22% 8
East of England +2 14 £499 +24.69% 9
Yorkshire +5 9 £470 +44.62% 7
East Midlands +2 5 £388 +11.51% 3
North East +18 4 £575 +4.55%
North West -5 4 £375 +7.14% 9
Virtual Machines
UK

For the 6 months to 25 June 2021, IT contractor jobs citing Virtual Machines also mentioned the following skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region with a requirement for Virtual Machines.

1 104 (41.27%) Windows
2 89 (35.32%) VMware
2 89 (35.32%) Azure
3 86 (34.13%) Linux
4 78 (30.95%) DevOps
5 74 (29.37%) VMware Infrastructure
6 68 (26.98%) Security Cleared
7 66 (26.19%) Microsoft
8 64 (25.40%) Active Directory
9 55 (21.83%) Kubernetes
10 51 (20.24%) Windows Server
11 49 (19.44%) Ansible
12 47 (18.65%) SQL
13 46 (18.25%) Agile Software Development
14 45 (17.86%) Python
15 41 (16.27%) SC Cleared
16 40 (15.87%) AWS
16 40 (15.87%) Terraform
17 39 (15.48%) Firewall
17 39 (15.48%) Finance
18 38 (15.08%) ITIL
19 37 (14.68%) Migration
20 36 (14.29%) DNS
21 35 (13.89%) Social Skills
22 34 (13.49%) Data Centre
22 34 (13.49%) VMware ESXi
22 34 (13.49%) PowerShell
23 32 (12.70%) Oracle
24 31 (12.30%) Java
25 30 (11.90%) Clustering

Virtual Machines
Co-occurring IT Skills in England by Category

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

Application Platforms
1 25 (9.92%) SharePoint
2 17 (6.75%) MS Exchange
3 16 (6.35%) nginx
4 12 (4.76%) MS Project Server
5 9 (3.57%) Skype for Business
6 6 (2.38%) Apache
6 6 (2.38%) JBoss
7 4 (1.59%) Confluence
7 4 (1.59%) Tomcat
8 2 (0.79%) IIS
8 2 (0.79%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
9 1 (0.40%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.40%) SharePoint Server
9 1 (0.40%) WebLogic
9 1 (0.40%) WebSphere
Applications
1 1 (0.40%) GIMP
1 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
1 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
1 1 (0.40%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 3 (1.19%) Sentinel
2 1 (0.40%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 89 (35.32%) Azure
2 40 (15.87%) AWS
3 27 (10.71%) GCP
3 27 (10.71%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (7.14%) IaaS
5 17 (6.75%) PaaS
6 14 (5.56%) Azure Active Directory
7 13 (5.16%) npm
8 10 (3.97%) Serverless
9 8 (3.17%) Azure Data Factory
9 8 (3.17%) Azure Service Bus
9 8 (3.17%) dbt
10 6 (2.38%) Azure Key Vault
11 5 (1.98%) Amazon EKS
11 5 (1.98%) Azure App Service
11 5 (1.98%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 5 (1.98%) SaaS
12 4 (1.59%) Amazon ELB
12 4 (1.59%) Cloud Computing
12 4 (1.59%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 39 (15.48%) Firewall
2 36 (14.29%) DNS
3 20 (7.94%) DHCP
4 16 (6.35%) Network Security
5 15 (5.95%) VSAN
6 13 (5.16%) WAN
7 12 (4.76%) VPN
8 11 (4.37%) LAN
9 10 (3.97%) Ethernet
9 10 (3.97%) Internet
9 10 (3.97%) Skype
9 10 (3.97%) Unified Communications
10 9 (3.57%) TCP/IP
11 8 (3.17%) HTTP
11 8 (3.17%) SAN
12 7 (2.78%) NAS
12 7 (2.78%) SSL
13 4 (1.59%) Cisco ICM
13 4 (1.59%) VLAN
14 3 (1.19%) iSCSI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (10.32%) SQL Server
2 10 (3.97%) BigQuery
2 10 (3.97%) MySQL
3 7 (2.78%) Azure SQL Database
4 6 (2.38%) MongoDB
4 6 (2.38%) Oracle Database
5 5 (1.98%) MariaDB
6 4 (1.59%) NoSQL
7 3 (1.19%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (1.19%) RDBMS
7 3 (1.19%) Relational Database
7 3 (1.19%) SAP HANA
8 2 (0.79%) Amazon Aurora
8 2 (0.79%) Amazon RDS
8 2 (0.79%) Big Data
8 2 (0.79%) Power BI
8 2 (0.79%) PowerCenter
8 2 (0.79%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 1 (0.40%) Oracle Database 11g
9 1 (0.40%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 29 (11.51%) Jenkins
2 27 (10.71%) Git (software)
3 14 (5.56%) Maven
4 13 (5.16%) Gradle
4 13 (5.16%) gulp
5 10 (3.97%) CircleCI
5 10 (3.97%) JIRA
5 10 (3.97%) Travis CI
6 7 (2.78%) GitLab
7 5 (1.98%) SonarQube
8 4 (1.59%) Bitbucket
8 4 (1.59%) Visual Studio
9 3 (1.19%) JUnit
9 3 (1.19%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.79%) Artifactory
10 2 (0.79%) CppUnit
10 2 (0.79%) Jasmine
10 2 (0.79%) PVCS
10 2 (0.79%) Subversion
10 2 (0.79%) Vagrant
General
1 39 (15.48%) Finance
2 35 (13.89%) Social Skills
3 13 (5.16%) Documentation Skills
4 12 (4.76%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (3.97%) Telecoms
6 9 (3.57%) Public Sector
7 6 (2.38%) Banking
8 5 (1.98%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (1.59%) Law
9 4 (1.59%) Legal
9 4 (1.59%) Retail
10 2 (0.79%) Back Office
10 2 (0.79%) French Language
10 2 (0.79%) Front Office
10 2 (0.79%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (0.79%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.79%) Publishing
11 1 (0.40%) Investment Banking
11 1 (0.40%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.40%) Police
Job Titles
1 38 (15.08%) DevOps Engineer
2 33 (13.10%) Architect
3 22 (8.73%) Azure Engineer
4 20 (7.94%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 16 (6.35%) Build Engineer
5 16 (6.35%) Developer
6 14 (5.56%) Azure Architect
6 14 (5.56%) Consultant
7 11 (4.37%) Azure DevOps Engineer
7 11 (4.37%) Kubernetes Engineer
7 11 (4.37%) Systems Engineer
8 10 (3.97%) Hyper-V Engineer
8 10 (3.97%) Voice Engineer
9 9 (3.57%) 3rd Line Engineer
9 9 (3.57%) Support Engineer
9 9 (3.57%) Virtualisation Engineer
10 8 (3.17%) AWS DevOps
10 8 (3.17%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (3.17%) Network Engineer
10 8 (3.17%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (7.94%) XML
2 18 (7.14%) Node.js
3 14 (5.56%) JSON
3 14 (5.56%) Web Services
4 9 (3.57%) .NET
5 8 (3.17%) RESTful
6 7 (2.78%) SOAP
7 6 (2.38%) AngularJS
7 6 (2.38%) Django
7 6 (2.38%) HTML
7 6 (2.38%) React
8 5 (1.98%) HTML5
9 4 (1.59%) Flask
9 4 (1.59%) Kafka
9 4 (1.59%) REST
10 3 (1.19%) Elastic Stack
10 3 (1.19%) Middleware
10 3 (1.19%) OpenCL
10 3 (1.19%) Pyramid
10 3 (1.19%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 34 (13.49%) Data Centre
2 30 (11.90%) Clustering
3 11 (4.37%) Self-Motivation
3 11 (4.37%) User Experience
4 10 (3.97%) Video Conferencing
5 9 (3.57%) Replication
5 9 (3.57%) Tandem
6 7 (2.78%) Public Cloud
7 5 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (1.98%) Hybrid Cloud
7 5 (1.98%) Virtual Team
8 4 (1.59%) Cloud Native
8 4 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.59%) Linux Command Line
8 4 (1.59%) Mobile App
9 3 (1.19%) CMDB
9 3 (1.19%) Management Information System
9 3 (1.19%) PKI
9 3 (1.19%) PMI
10 2 (0.79%) HACMP
Operating Systems
1 104 (41.27%) Windows
2 86 (34.13%) Linux
3 51 (20.24%) Windows Server
4 23 (9.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 23 (9.13%) Windows Server 2012
5 21 (8.33%) Windows 10
6 18 (7.14%) Windows Server 2016
7 15 (5.95%) Windows Server 2008
8 10 (3.97%) Unix
8 10 (3.97%) Windows Server 2003
9 7 (2.78%) VMS
9 7 (2.78%) Windows XP
10 6 (2.38%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (2.38%) Windows Vista
11 5 (1.98%) CentOS
12 3 (1.19%) Android
12 3 (1.19%) Mac OS
12 3 (1.19%) SUSE
12 3 (1.19%) Ubuntu
12 3 (1.19%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (30.95%) DevOps
2 46 (18.25%) Agile Software Development
3 38 (15.08%) ITIL
4 37 (14.68%) Migration
5 27 (10.71%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 22 (8.73%) Configuration Management
7 20 (7.94%) High Availability
7 20 (7.94%) Problem-Solving
8 19 (7.54%) Data Protection
9 18 (7.14%) Infrastructure as Code
10 15 (5.95%) Microservices
11 14 (5.56%) Integration Testing
11 14 (5.56%) Open Source
11 14 (5.56%) Storage Management
12 13 (5.16%) Capacity Planning
13 12 (4.76%) Asset Management
13 12 (4.76%) Resource Management
14 11 (4.37%) Analytics
14 11 (4.37%) Change Management
14 11 (4.37%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 47 (18.65%) SQL
2 45 (17.86%) Python
3 34 (13.49%) PowerShell
4 31 (12.30%) Java
5 18 (7.14%) Shell Script
6 12 (4.76%) Bash Shell
6 12 (4.76%) Groovy
7 9 (3.57%) C
7 9 (3.57%) C++
8 7 (2.78%) C#
8 7 (2.78%) JavaScript
9 5 (1.98%) Ruby
10 4 (1.59%) Perl
10 4 (1.59%) PHP
11 3 (1.19%) T-SQL
11 3 (1.19%) VBScript
12 2 (0.79%) Embedded C
12 2 (0.79%) Embedded C++
12 2 (0.79%) Java 8
12 2 (0.79%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 68 (26.98%) Security Cleared
2 41 (16.27%) SC Cleared
3 28 (11.11%) DV Cleared
4 6 (2.38%) Cisco Certification
5 5 (1.98%) Degree
5 5 (1.98%) ISTQB
6 4 (1.59%) CISM
6 4 (1.59%) CISSP
6 4 (1.59%) PMP
7 3 (1.19%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 3 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (1.19%) PMI Certification
8 2 (0.79%) CCNP
8 2 (0.79%) MCSE
9 1 (0.40%) CAPM
9 1 (0.40%) CCNA
9 1 (0.40%) CISA
9 1 (0.40%) ISSAP
9 1 (0.40%) ISSEP
9 1 (0.40%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (4.37%) QA
2 4 (1.59%) Data Quality
3 3 (1.19%) Accessibility
4 2 (0.79%) SLA
5 1 (0.40%) COBIT
5 1 (0.40%) GDPR
5 1 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.40%) NIST
System Software
1 74 (29.37%) VMware Infrastructure
2 64 (25.40%) Active Directory
3 34 (13.49%) VMware ESXi
4 29 (11.51%) Hyper-V
5 25 (9.92%) Docker
6 15 (5.95%) Virtual Desktop
6 15 (5.95%) vSphere
7 11 (4.37%) Microsoft App-V
7 11 (4.37%) VMware NSX
8 10 (3.97%) DFS Replication
9 9 (3.57%) NFS
10 7 (2.78%) Virtual Servers
11 6 (2.38%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 5 (1.98%) vCloud
13 4 (1.59%) Firmware
13 4 (1.59%) Veritas Volume Manager
14 3 (1.19%) LXC
15 2 (0.79%) Gluster
15 2 (0.79%) GlusterFS
15 2 (0.79%) VirtualBox
Systems Management
1 55 (21.83%) Kubernetes
2 49 (19.44%) Ansible
3 40 (15.87%) Terraform
4 24 (9.52%) SCCM
5 22 (8.73%) SCVMM
6 17 (6.75%) Opscode Chef
6 17 (6.75%) WSUS
7 16 (6.35%) Microsoft Clustering
7 16 (6.35%) vCenter Server
8 14 (5.56%) SCOM
8 14 (5.56%) vRealize
9 12 (4.76%) Puppet
10 11 (4.37%) Failover Clustering
10 11 (4.37%) Istio
11 10 (3.97%) Cisco CUCM
11 10 (3.97%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
11 10 (3.97%) OpenView Configuration Management
11 10 (3.97%) SCDPM
11 10 (3.97%) SCSM
12 8 (3.17%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 89 (35.32%) VMware
2 66 (26.19%) Microsoft
3 32 (12.70%) Oracle
4 25 (9.92%) Dell
5 22 (8.73%) Cisco
6 21 (8.33%) Google
7 20 (7.94%) Red Hat
8 19 (7.54%) HP
9 14 (5.56%) CheckPoint
10 10 (3.97%) ArcSight
10 10 (3.97%) Borland
10 10 (3.97%) Lumension
10 10 (3.97%) Palo Alto
10 10 (3.97%) SAP
10 10 (3.97%) Sonus
11 9 (3.57%) F5
12 8 (3.17%) Citrix
13 7 (2.78%) Fortinet
14 6 (2.38%) Veritas
15 5 (1.98%) Ericsson