Visual Studio Contract Job Trends in England

Microsoft Visual Studio
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Visual Studio skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 512 430 316
Rank change year-on-year -82 -114 +126
Contract jobs citing Visual Studio 102 78 229
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.22% 0.28% 0.69%
As % of the Development Applications category 1.91% 1.95% 5.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 48 36 144
10th Percentile £363 £356 £363
25th Percentile £413 £387 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £500 £514
Median % change year-on-year -3.90% -2.72% -2.10%
75th Percentile £553 £619 £619
90th Percentile £600 £750 £674
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £515
% change year-on-year - -2.91% -0.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 20 34
10th Percentile £56.53 £64.68 £57.50
25th Percentile £62.19 - -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile - £65.94 -
90th Percentile £68.00 £67.00 -
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - - +20.93%

All Development Application Skills
England

Visual Studio falls under the Development Applications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring development application skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for development application skills 5,330 4,001 4,279
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 11.69% 14.45% 12.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,401 2,773 2,835
10th Percentile £353 £319 £350
25th Percentile £413 £404 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £599 £600 £631
90th Percentile £688 £700 £725
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 244 94 198
10th Percentile £35.38 £40.68 £35.30
25th Percentile £56.25 £51.02 £52.88
Median hourly rate £67.75 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.23% - -
75th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £82.99 £73.83
UK median hourly rate £67.47 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +3.80% - +4.00%

Visual Studio
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Visual Studio relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Visual Studio job vacancy trend in England

Visual Studio
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Visual Studio.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Visual Studio

Visual Studio
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Visual Studio in England over the 6 months to 12 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Visual Studio in England

Visual Studio
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Visual Studio.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Visual Studio

Visual Studio
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Visual Studio in England over the 6 months to 12 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Visual Studio in England

Visual Studio
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 Visual Studio within the England region over the 6 months to 12 August 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
London -48 42 £525 -16.00% 41
East of England -28 15 £510 +2.00% 8
South East -59 14 £500 +2.04% 17
West Midlands -35 13 £421 +8.71% 6
Midlands -42 13 £421 +9.42% 9
South West -33 12 £294 -17.54% 9
North of England -81 5 £494 +10.96% 9
Yorkshire -47 4 £494 +26.60% 1
North West -51 1 - - 7
Visual Studio
UK

Visual Studio
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 6 (5.88%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.96%) Confluence
2 2 (1.96%) IIS
2 2 (1.96%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.98%) CMS
3 1 (0.98%) Umbraco
Applications
1 8 (7.84%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (2.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (1.96%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (1.96%) MS Visio
3 2 (1.96%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (2.94%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (1.96%) Dynamics GP
3 1 (0.98%) Maximo
Cloud Services
1 37 (36.27%) Azure
2 27 (26.47%) Azure DevOps
3 23 (22.55%) Dynamics 365
3 23 (22.55%) Power Platform
4 19 (18.63%) Power Automate
4 19 (18.63%) PowerApps
5 11 (10.78%) GitHub
5 11 (10.78%) Microsoft Copilot
6 9 (8.82%) Copilot Studio
7 6 (5.88%) Entra ID
7 6 (5.88%) SaaS
7 6 (5.88%) Serverless
8 5 (4.90%) Azure Functions
9 4 (3.92%) Azure API Management
9 4 (3.92%) Azure App Service
9 4 (3.92%) Azure Data Factory
9 4 (3.92%) Azure Monitor
9 4 (3.92%) IaaS
9 4 (3.92%) PaaS
10 3 (2.94%) AWS
Communications & Networking
1 14 (13.73%) Ethernet
1 14 (13.73%) TCP/IP
2 4 (3.92%) Network Security
3 2 (1.96%) Wireshark
4 1 (0.98%) DHCP
4 1 (0.98%) DNS
4 1 (0.98%) Firewall
4 1 (0.98%) LAN
4 1 (0.98%) RS-232
4 1 (0.98%) RS-422
4 1 (0.98%) Unified Communications
4 1 (0.98%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 26 (25.49%) SQL Server
2 9 (8.82%) Relational Database
3 6 (5.88%) Azure SQL Database
4 5 (4.90%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 4 (3.92%) Power BI
5 4 (3.92%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (2.94%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.98%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.98%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.98%) DynamoDB
7 1 (0.98%) GIS
7 1 (0.98%) MS Access
7 1 (0.98%) MySQL
7 1 (0.98%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.98%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.98%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.98%) SSDT
7 1 (0.98%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 24 (23.53%) Git
2 15 (14.71%) Team Foundation Server
3 14 (13.73%) Eclipse
4 5 (4.90%) Jenkins
4 5 (4.90%) JIRA
4 5 (4.90%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
5 4 (3.92%) JetBrains Rider
5 4 (3.92%) MSBuild
5 4 (3.92%) Sonatype Nexus
6 3 (2.94%) GitLab
6 3 (2.94%) Rational DOORS
6 3 (2.94%) Visual Studio Code
7 2 (1.96%) Fiddler
7 2 (1.96%) MSI
7 2 (1.96%) Postman
7 2 (1.96%) Selenium
8 1 (0.98%) ClearCase
8 1 (0.98%) Rational Robot
8 1 (0.98%) REST Assured
8 1 (0.98%) Visual Studio Coded UI
General
1 28 (27.45%) Finance
2 27 (26.47%) Social Skills
3 13 (12.75%) Military
4 8 (7.84%) Analytical Skills
4 8 (7.84%) Presentation Skills
5 6 (5.88%) Banking
6 5 (4.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (3.92%) General Ledger
8 3 (2.94%) Public Sector
9 2 (1.96%) Aerospace
9 2 (1.96%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.96%) Health Technology
9 2 (1.96%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.96%) Pharmaceutical
9 2 (1.96%) Retail
10 1 (0.98%) Back Office
10 1 (0.98%) Law
10 1 (0.98%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.98%) Marketing
10 1 (0.98%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 61 (59.80%) Developer
2 18 (17.65%) Software Engineer
3 13 (12.75%) C# Software Engineer
4 12 (11.76%) Software Developer
5 11 (10.78%) Dynamics 365 Developer
6 9 (8.82%) C# Developer
6 9 (8.82%) C++ Software Engineer
7 8 (7.84%) Full-Stack Developer
8 7 (6.86%) Microsoft Developer
9 6 (5.88%) .NET Developer
10 5 (4.90%) DevOps Engineer
10 5 (4.90%) VB Developer
10 5 (4.90%) VB6 Developer
11 4 (3.92%) Lecturer
12 3 (2.94%) C# .NET Developer
12 3 (2.94%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
12 3 (2.94%) SQL Developer
13 2 (1.96%) Analyst
13 2 (1.96%) SQL Server Developer
13 2 (1.96%) Tester
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (49.02%) .NET
2 19 (18.63%) Web Services
3 18 (17.65%) .NET Framework
4 16 (15.69%) XML
5 15 (14.71%) RESTful
6 13 (12.75%) ActiveX
6 13 (12.75%) Node.js
6 13 (12.75%) SOAP
7 12 (11.76%) REST
8 10 (9.80%) Entity Framework
8 10 (9.80%) WinForms
9 9 (8.82%) React
10 8 (7.84%) .NET Core
11 6 (5.88%) ASP.NET
12 5 (4.90%) Middleware
12 5 (4.90%) WPF
13 4 (3.92%) JSON
14 3 (2.94%) ASP.NET Web API
14 3 (2.94%) WCF
14 3 (2.94%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 8 (7.84%) Low-Code
2 5 (4.90%) Cloud Native
2 5 (4.90%) Self-Motivation
3 3 (2.94%) Data Structures
3 3 (2.94%) Enterprise Software
4 2 (1.96%) AI Agents
4 2 (1.96%) BYOD
4 2 (1.96%) Data Protection Act
4 2 (1.96%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 1 (0.98%) Credit Derivative
5 1 (0.98%) Derivative
5 1 (0.98%) Driving Licence
5 1 (0.98%) Legacy Applications
5 1 (0.98%) Legacy Systems
5 1 (0.98%) Management Information System
5 1 (0.98%) Replication
5 1 (0.98%) Team-Oriented Environment
5 1 (0.98%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 32 (31.37%) Windows
2 15 (14.71%) Linux
3 4 (3.92%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.98%) Unix
4 1 (0.98%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.98%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (51.96%) Agile
2 39 (38.24%) CI/CD
3 31 (30.39%) DevOps
3 31 (30.39%) Unit Testing
4 25 (24.51%) Software Engineering
5 21 (20.59%) Scrum
6 18 (17.65%) Continuous Integration
7 16 (15.69%) Continuous Improvement
7 16 (15.69%) SDLC
7 16 (15.69%) Validation
8 15 (14.71%) AI
8 15 (14.71%) Continuous Delivery
8 15 (14.71%) TDD
9 14 (13.73%) Digital Twin
9 14 (13.73%) Problem-Solving
9 14 (13.73%) Synthetic Environment
10 13 (12.75%) Verification and Validation
10 13 (12.75%) Visualisation
11 12 (11.76%) Data Management
11 12 (11.76%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 70 (68.63%) C#
2 30 (29.41%) SQL
3 28 (27.45%) C++
4 22 (21.57%) JavaScript
5 15 (14.71%) X++
6 14 (13.73%) Java
6 14 (13.73%) VB
6 14 (13.73%) VB6
6 14 (13.73%) VBA
7 11 (10.78%) Python
8 9 (8.82%) TypeScript
9 8 (7.84%) PowerShell
10 7 (6.86%) T-SQL
11 6 (5.88%) VB.NET
12 5 (4.90%) C
13 4 (3.92%) PL/SQL
14 2 (1.96%) Bicep
14 2 (1.96%) XAML
15 1 (0.98%) Ada 95
15 1 (0.98%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 42 (41.18%) Security Cleared
2 35 (34.31%) SC Cleared
3 17 (16.67%) Degree
4 10 (9.80%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (6.86%) DV Cleared
6 4 (3.92%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (3.92%) DBS Check
7 3 (2.94%) ISTQB
8 2 (1.96%) Master's Degree
8 2 (1.96%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (1.96%) PhD
9 1 (0.98%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.98%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.98%) ISEB
9 1 (0.98%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 1 (0.98%) Numerate Degree
9 1 (0.98%) PMI Certification
9 1 (0.98%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (4.90%) QA
2 4 (3.92%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.94%) SLA
4 1 (0.98%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.98%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 1 (0.98%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (9.80%) Single Sign-On
2 4 (3.92%) Ansible
2 4 (3.92%) Terraform
3 3 (2.94%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.98%) PTC Integrity
4 1 (0.98%) SCCM
Vendors
1 55 (53.92%) Microsoft
2 7 (6.86%) Oracle
3 3 (2.94%) Citrix
4 2 (1.96%) IBM
4 2 (1.96%) ServiceNow
5 1 (0.98%) Atlassian
5 1 (0.98%) CrowdStrike
5 1 (0.98%) Databricks
5 1 (0.98%) F5
5 1 (0.98%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.98%) MuleSoft
5 1 (0.98%) PTC
5 1 (0.98%) Salesforce