Job Vacancy Trend Daily Rate Trend Daily Rate Histogram Hourly Rate Trend Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 12 April 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 12 April 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
12 Apr 2021		 Same period 2020 Same period 2019
Rank 336 326 338
Rank change year-on-year -10 +12 +115
Contract jobs citing Virtual Machines 245 387 692
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.59% 0.72% 0.78%
As % of the System Software category 4.00% 4.65% 5.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 139 288 483
10th Percentile £335 £297 £313
25th Percentile £400 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £586 £545 £600
90th Percentile £651 £600 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 4 20
10th Percentile " £12.50 £15.34
25th Percentile £41.25 £14.75 £16.04
Median hourly rate £44.00 £18.50 £36.67
Median % change year-on-year +137.84% -49.55% -23.33%
75th Percentile £48.38 £21.69 £41.00
90th Percentile £53.10 £22.93 £46.52
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £21.00 £36.67
% change year-on-year +102.38% -42.73% -23.33%

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 6,118 8,324 13,736
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 14.73% 15.53% 15.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,234 5,656 9,373
10th Percentile £225 £170 £191
25th Percentile £363 £325 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% +5.56%
75th Percentile £573 £569 £575
90th Percentile £650 £638 £638
UK median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 229 440 573
10th Percentile £11.23 £11.25 £10.78
25th Percentile £13.00 £13.07 £12.76
Median hourly rate £18.27 £16.50 £16.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.73% +3.13% +0.88%
75th Percentile £35.75 £20.81 £23.75
90th Percentile £56.50 £43.83 £47.50
UK median hourly rate £20.00 £17.00 £16.00
% change year-on-year +17.65% +6.25% +3.23%

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 12 April 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
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 12 April 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 +18 118 £515 +9.57% 27
South East +35 56 £475 -5.00% 17
Midlands +23 18 £350 -22.22% 9
North of England +17 17 £506 +35.00% 15
West Midlands +10 16 £350 -22.22% 5
East of England +30 13 £500 +24.88% 5
South West +27 13 £475 -7.32% 11
North West +1 7 £360 -2.04% 9
Yorkshire +20 6 £488 +12.39% 4
North East +35 4 £575 +4.55% 2
East Midlands +27 2 £306 -0.41% 4
Virtual Machines
UK

For the 6 months to 12 April 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 99 (40.41%) Linux
2 96 (39.18%) Windows
3 80 (32.65%) DevOps
4 79 (32.24%) VMware
5 73 (29.80%) Azure
6 63 (25.71%) VMware Infrastructure
7 54 (22.04%) Microsoft
7 54 (22.04%) Kubernetes
8 49 (20.00%) Python
9 48 (19.59%) Active Directory
9 48 (19.59%) Security Cleared
10 47 (19.18%) AWS
10 47 (19.18%) Ansible
11 46 (18.78%) Terraform
11 46 (18.78%) Migration
12 45 (18.37%) Agile Software Development
13 43 (17.55%) Java
14 41 (16.73%) Firewall
15 37 (15.10%) PowerShell
16 36 (14.69%) Windows Server
16 36 (14.69%) Jenkins
17 35 (14.29%) GCP
18 34 (13.88%) Git (software)
18 34 (13.88%) Finance
18 34 (13.88%) DNS
19 33 (13.47%) SQL
19 33 (13.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
19 33 (13.47%) Docker
20 32 (13.06%) Oracle
21 31 (12.65%) VMware ESXi

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 17 (6.94%) nginx
2 14 (5.71%) SharePoint
3 12 (4.90%) Skype for Business
4 11 (4.49%) MS Exchange
5 7 (2.86%) IIS
6 6 (2.45%) Confluence
7 5 (2.04%) Apache
7 5 (2.04%) Cloud Foundry
7 5 (2.04%) MS Project Server
7 5 (2.04%) OpenStack
7 5 (2.04%) Tomcat
8 4 (1.63%) Elasticsearch
9 3 (1.22%) JBoss
10 1 (0.41%) Apache Spark
10 1 (0.41%) Exchange Server 2010
10 1 (0.41%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 5 (2.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.63%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.22%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.82%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (1.22%) Sentinel
2 1 (0.41%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.41%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.41%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 73 (29.80%) Azure
2 47 (19.18%) AWS
3 35 (14.29%) GCP
4 29 (11.84%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (8.98%) IaaS
6 19 (7.76%) PaaS
7 15 (6.12%) npm
8 14 (5.71%) Serverless
9 11 (4.49%) Cloud Computing
10 10 (4.08%) Azure Active Directory
11 7 (2.86%) Azure Data Factory
12 6 (2.45%) Amazon EC2
12 6 (2.45%) Azure Functions
13 5 (2.04%) OpenShift
14 4 (1.63%) Amazon ELB
14 4 (1.63%) AWS CloudFormation
14 4 (1.63%) Power Platform
15 3 (1.22%) AWS CodePipeline
15 3 (1.22%) GitHub
15 3 (1.22%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 41 (16.73%) Firewall
2 34 (13.88%) DNS
3 15 (6.12%) DHCP
4 14 (5.71%) WAN
5 13 (5.31%) HTTP
5 13 (5.31%) LAN
5 13 (5.31%) VPN
6 12 (4.90%) Internet
6 12 (4.90%) Network Security
6 12 (4.90%) Skype
6 12 (4.90%) TCP/IP
7 11 (4.49%) Ethernet
7 11 (4.49%) SAN
7 11 (4.49%) VSAN
8 10 (4.08%) NAS
8 10 (4.08%) Unified Communications
9 8 (3.27%) SSL
10 5 (2.04%) VLAN
11 4 (1.63%) iSCSI
11 4 (1.63%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (6.53%) MySQL
1 16 (6.53%) SQL Server
2 14 (5.71%) BigQuery
3 9 (3.67%) Big Data
4 8 (3.27%) Amazon Aurora
4 8 (3.27%) MongoDB
5 7 (2.86%) Azure SQL Database
5 7 (2.86%) Oracle Database
6 6 (2.45%) Redis
7 5 (2.04%) MariaDB
8 4 (1.63%) Power BI
8 4 (1.63%) Relational Database
8 4 (1.63%) SAP HANA
8 4 (1.63%) SQL Server Reporting Services
9 3 (1.22%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.82%) RDBMS
10 2 (0.82%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 1 (0.41%) Oracle Database 11g
11 1 (0.41%) SQL Server 2008
11 1 (0.41%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 36 (14.69%) Jenkins
2 34 (13.88%) Git (software)
3 19 (7.76%) Maven
4 16 (6.53%) Gradle
5 15 (6.12%) JIRA
6 14 (5.71%) CircleCI
6 14 (5.71%) gulp
6 14 (5.71%) Travis CI
7 6 (2.45%) SonarQube
7 6 (2.45%) Subversion
8 5 (2.04%) Bitbucket
8 5 (2.04%) GitLab
8 5 (2.04%) JMeter
8 5 (2.04%) Octopus Deploy
8 5 (2.04%) TeamCity
9 4 (1.63%) Artifactory
9 4 (1.63%) Sonatype Nexus
10 3 (1.22%) ClearQuest
10 3 (1.22%) MSI
10 3 (1.22%) Rational DOORS
General
1 34 (13.88%) Finance
2 9 (3.67%) Public Sector
2 9 (3.67%) Telecoms
3 6 (2.45%) Back Office
3 6 (2.45%) Banking
3 6 (2.45%) Law
4 5 (2.04%) Front Office
5 3 (1.22%) French Language
5 3 (1.22%) Legal
6 2 (0.82%) Manufacturing
6 2 (0.82%) Publishing
6 2 (0.82%) Retail
7 1 (0.41%) Aerospace
7 1 (0.41%) Billing
7 1 (0.41%) Financial Institution
7 1 (0.41%) Investment Banking
7 1 (0.41%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 39 (15.92%) Architect
2 37 (15.10%) DevOps Engineer
3 17 (6.94%) Administrator
3 17 (6.94%) Azure Engineer
3 17 (6.94%) Consultant
4 11 (4.49%) Cloud Architect
4 11 (4.49%) Cloud Engineer
4 11 (4.49%) Kubernetes Engineer
5 10 (4.08%) Developer
5 10 (4.08%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 10 (4.08%) Voice Engineer
6 8 (3.27%) Azure DevOps Engineer
6 8 (3.27%) Build Engineer
6 8 (3.27%) Infrastructure Architect
7 7 (2.86%) Azure Architect
7 7 (2.86%) DBA
7 7 (2.86%) Network Engineer
7 7 (2.86%) Systems Administrator
7 7 (2.86%) VMWare Administrator
7 7 (2.86%) VMware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (8.98%) Node.js
2 18 (7.35%) XML
3 14 (5.71%) .NET
4 11 (4.49%) Web Services
5 8 (3.27%) J2EE
5 8 (3.27%) JSP
5 8 (3.27%) Middleware
5 8 (3.27%) Servlets
5 8 (3.27%) SOAP
6 7 (2.86%) AngularJS
6 7 (2.86%) RESTful
6 7 (2.86%) XML Schema
6 7 (2.86%) XSLT
7 6 (2.45%) .NET Core
7 6 (2.45%) ASP.NET
8 5 (2.04%) Elastic Stack
9 4 (1.63%) REST
10 3 (1.22%) HTML
10 3 (1.22%) JSON
10 3 (1.22%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 31 (12.65%) Data Centre
2 18 (7.35%) Analytical Skills
3 17 (6.94%) Hybrid Cloud
4 16 (6.53%) Clustering
5 14 (5.71%) Self-Motivation
6 11 (4.49%) Private Cloud
7 10 (4.08%) Video Conferencing
8 9 (3.67%) Replication
8 9 (3.67%) Tandem
9 5 (2.04%) iPad
9 5 (2.04%) Linux Command Line
9 5 (2.04%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.63%) Cloud Native
10 4 (1.63%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (1.63%) User Experience
11 3 (1.22%) CMDB
11 3 (1.22%) Device Driver
11 3 (1.22%) Enterprise Software
11 3 (1.22%) PMI
12 2 (0.82%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 99 (40.41%) Linux
2 96 (39.18%) Windows
3 36 (14.69%) Windows Server
4 33 (13.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 22 (8.98%) Unix
6 20 (8.16%) Windows Server 2008
7 19 (7.76%) Windows 10
8 16 (6.53%) Windows Server 2012
9 12 (4.90%) Windows Server 2016
10 7 (2.86%) VMS
10 7 (2.86%) Windows Server 2003
10 7 (2.86%) Windows Server 2019
11 6 (2.45%) Windows XP
12 5 (2.04%) Oracle Linux
12 5 (2.04%) Windows Vista
13 4 (1.63%) CentOS
13 4 (1.63%) Windows 7
14 3 (1.22%) AIX
14 3 (1.22%) HPUX
14 3 (1.22%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (32.65%) DevOps
2 46 (18.78%) Migration
3 45 (18.37%) Agile Software Development
4 25 (10.20%) Capacity Planning
4 25 (10.20%) High Availability
5 24 (9.80%) Infrastructure as Code
5 24 (9.80%) ITIL
6 23 (9.39%) Problem-Solving
7 21 (8.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 20 (8.16%) Continuous Integration
9 17 (6.94%) Disaster Recovery
10 16 (6.53%) Configuration Management
10 16 (6.53%) Mentoring
10 16 (6.53%) Microservices
11 15 (6.12%) Software Engineering
12 12 (4.90%) Open Source
12 12 (4.90%) Resource Management
12 12 (4.90%) Scrum
13 11 (4.49%) Project Management
13 11 (4.49%) Site Reliability Engineering
Programming Languages
1 49 (20.00%) Python
2 43 (17.55%) Java
3 37 (15.10%) PowerShell
4 33 (13.47%) SQL
5 14 (5.71%) Bash Shell
6 12 (4.90%) C#
7 11 (4.49%) Groovy
8 10 (4.08%) Shell Script
9 7 (2.86%) Perl
10 5 (2.04%) C++
10 5 (2.04%) VBScript
11 4 (1.63%) C
11 4 (1.63%) JavaScript
11 4 (1.63%) PHP
11 4 (1.63%) T-SQL
12 3 (1.22%) Ruby
12 3 (1.22%) VB
13 2 (0.82%) Go
13 2 (0.82%) Java 8
13 2 (0.82%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 48 (19.59%) Security Cleared
2 30 (12.24%) SC Cleared
3 20 (8.16%) DV Cleared
4 7 (2.86%) Degree
5 5 (2.04%) Cisco Certification
6 4 (1.63%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (1.22%) CISM
7 3 (1.22%) CISSP
7 3 (1.22%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (1.22%) PMI Certification
8 2 (0.82%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 2 (0.82%) CAPM
8 2 (0.82%) CCNP
8 2 (0.82%) DBS Check
8 2 (0.82%) MCSE
8 2 (0.82%) PMP
8 2 (0.82%) VCAP
9 1 (0.41%) ISSAP
9 1 (0.41%) ISTQB
9 1 (0.41%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (2.45%) QA
2 4 (1.63%) SLA
3 3 (1.22%) Government Security Classifications
4 2 (0.82%) HMG Security Policy Framework
4 2 (0.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.41%) COBIT
5 1 (0.41%) NIST
5 1 (0.41%) PMO
System Software
1 63 (25.71%) VMware Infrastructure
2 48 (19.59%) Active Directory
3 33 (13.47%) Docker
4 31 (12.65%) VMware ESXi
5 20 (8.16%) vSphere
6 18 (7.35%) Hyper-V
7 17 (6.94%) NFS
7 17 (6.94%) VMware NSX
8 7 (2.86%) Virtual Servers
9 6 (2.45%) Firmware
9 6 (2.45%) Veritas Cluster Server
9 6 (2.45%) Virtual Desktop
9 6 (2.45%) VMFS
10 5 (2.04%) Microsoft App-V
10 5 (2.04%) VirtualBox
10 5 (2.04%) VMware Server
11 4 (1.63%) Veritas Volume Manager
12 3 (1.22%) GPFS
12 3 (1.22%) UAG
12 3 (1.22%) vCloud
Systems Management
1 54 (22.04%) Kubernetes
2 47 (19.18%) Ansible
3 46 (18.78%) Terraform
4 25 (10.20%) Opscode Chef
5 21 (8.57%) Puppet
5 21 (8.57%) vCenter Server
6 17 (6.94%) vRealize
7 16 (6.53%) SCCM
8 12 (4.90%) Argo
9 11 (4.49%) SCOM
9 11 (4.49%) vRealize Orchestrator
10 10 (4.08%) Cisco CUCM
11 8 (3.27%) Istio
11 8 (3.27%) vMotion
12 7 (2.86%) Microsoft Clustering
12 7 (2.86%) Microsoft Intune
13 6 (2.45%) SCVMM
14 5 (2.04%) Red Hat Satellite
14 5 (2.04%) Red Hat Spacewalk
14 5 (2.04%) WSUS
Vendors
1 79 (32.24%) VMware
2 54 (22.04%) Microsoft
3 32 (13.06%) Oracle
4 28 (11.43%) Google
5 27 (11.02%) Red Hat
6 19 (7.76%) Cisco
7 12 (4.90%) Citrix
7 12 (4.90%) HP
7 12 (4.90%) Palo Alto
8 11 (4.49%) Dell
9 9 (3.67%) CheckPoint
9 9 (3.67%) Sonus
10 8 (3.27%) Atlassian
11 7 (2.86%) SAP
11 7 (2.86%) Veritas
12 6 (2.45%) IBM
12 6 (2.45%) Ivanti
12 6 (2.45%) ServiceNow
12 6 (2.45%) SolarWinds
13 5 (2.04%) New Relic