Microsoft Contracts in the North West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the North West with a requirement for knowledge and experience of Microsoft products and/or services. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Microsoft over the 3 months to 27 June 2017 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.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within the Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft England / North West
Location	3 months to 27 Jun 2017	Same period 2016	Same period 2015
Rank	7	11	4
Rank change year-on-year	+4	-7
Contract jobs citing Microsoft	322	373	549
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West	10.93%	9.83%	15.09%
As % of the Vendors category	24.36%	21.65%	32.95%
Number of daily rates quoted	172	209	272
Median daily rate	£375	£388	£348
Median daily rate % change year-on-year	-3.22%	+11.51%
90% offered a daily rate of more than	£168	£209	£174
10% offered a daily rate of more than	£525	£526	£550
UK excluding London median daily rate	£363	£350	£338
% change year-on-year	+3.57%	+3.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted	54	37	70
Median hourly rate	£13.00	£14.34	£15.77
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year	-9.34%	-9.06%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than	£11.00	£10.00	£11.50
10% offered a hourly rate of more than	£44.00	£21.00	£42.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate	£14.45	£16.50	£15.00
% change year-on-year	-12.42%	+10.00%

Microsoft is in the vendor products and services category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all vendor product and service related skills in contract job vacancies advertised in the North West.

Contract Vendor Product & Service Skills North West
Contract job vacancies with a requirement for skills associated with vendor products and/or services	1322	1723	1666
As % of all contract IT job vacancies advertised in the North West	44.89%	45.39%	45.79%
Number of daily rates quoted	722	1011	845
Median daily rate	£413	£400	£368
Median daily rate % change year-on-year	+3.12%	+8.84%
90% offered a daily rate of more than	£240	£275	£207
10% offered a daily rate of more than	£550	£525	£550
UK excluding London median daily rate	£400	£375	£363
% change year-on-year	+6.66%	+3.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted	87	60	107
Median hourly rate	£16.00	£20.39	£18.75
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year	-21.53%	+8.74%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than	£11.00	£11.00	£12.00
10% offered a hourly rate of more than	£68.00	£43.00	£42.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate	£17.50	£20.92	£18.50
% change year-on-year	-16.32%	+13.05%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

The job posting trend of jobs advertised in the North West citing Microsoft as a proportion of all contract or permanent IT jobs with a match in the Vendors category.

Job vacancy trend for Microsoft in the North West

Microsoft
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the North West

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in contract jobs citing Microsoft in the North West.

Contractor daily rate trend for Microsoft in the North West

Microsoft
Contractor Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

The daily rate distribution of IT jobs citing Microsoft in the North West over the 3 months to 27 June 2017.

Contractor daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the North West

Microsoft
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for contractor hourly rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft in the North West.

Contractor hourly rate trend for Microsoft in the North West

Microsoft
Contractor Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

The hourly rate distribution of IT jobs citing Microsoft in the North West over the 3 months to 27 June 2017.

Contractor hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the North West

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the North West region over the 3 months to 27 June 2017. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year.

Location	Rank Change on Same Period Last Year	Matching Contract IT Job Ads	Median Daily Rate Last 3 Months	Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year	Live Job Vacancies
Manchester	+5	163	£388	+3.33%	129
Cheshire	+5	78	£331	-22.05%	53
Lancashire	-1	35	£450	+20.00%	19
Merseyside	-9	30	£338	+12.03%	14
Cumbria	-3	5	£325	-	2
Microsoft England

Microsoft
Top 30 Co-occurring IT Skills in the North West

For the 6 months to 27 June 2017, IT contractor jobs citing Microsoft also mentioned the following skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number co-occurrences and its proportion to all contract ads across the North West region with a requirement for Microsoft.

1	195 (30.90%)	Windows
2	138 (21.87%)	Active Directory
3	127 (20.13%)	Microsoft Office
4	121 (19.18%)	SQL Server
4	121 (19.18%)	SQL
5	97 (15.37%)	.NET
6	90 (14.26%)	Finance
7	89 (14.10%)	CRM
8	85 (13.47%)	Dynamics CRM
9	82 (13.00%)	Agile Software Development
9	82 (13.00%)	MS Exchange
9	82 (13.00%)	ITIL
10	79 (12.52%)	C#
11	78 (12.36%)	Security Cleared
12	77 (12.20%)	Office 365

12	77 (12.20%)	VMware
13	70 (11.09%)	Migration
14	68 (10.78%)	SC Cleared
14	68 (10.78%)	Windows Server
15	67 (10.62%)	Microsoft Excel
16	63 (9.98%)	Citrix
17	60 (9.51%)	Windows 7
18	58 (9.19%)	Microsoft Azure
18	58 (9.19%)	PowerShell
19	53 (8.40%)	Analytical Skills
19	53 (8.40%)	DNS
20	52 (8.24%)	SCCM
21	51 (8.08%)	Exchange Server 2010
22	49 (7.77%)	Project Management
23	48 (7.61%)	Business Intelligence

Microsoft
Co-occurring IT Skills in the North West 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
Applications
Business Applications
Cloud Services
Communications & Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
Development Applications
General
Job Titles
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
Miscellaneous
Operating Systems
Processes & Methodologies
Programming Languages
Qualifications
Quality Assurance & Compliance
System Software
Systems Management
Vendors

Application Platforms
1	82 (13.00%)	MS Exchange
2	51 (8.08%)	Exchange Server 2010
3	39 (6.18%)	SharePoint
4	24 (3.80%)	Exchange Server 2013
5	22 (3.49%)	IIS
5	22 (3.49%)	Skype for Business
6	18 (2.85%)	Blackberry Enterprise Server
7	17 (2.69%)	SAS
8	15 (2.38%)	Exchange Server 2007
9	11 (1.74%)	IBM Notes
10	10 (1.58%)	BizTalk Server
11	8 (1.27%)	Tomcat
12	7 (1.11%)	Apache
12	7 (1.11%)	CMS
12	7 (1.11%)	WebSphere
13	6 (0.95%)	SharePoint 2013
14	5 (0.79%)	Confluence
15	4 (0.63%)	Jetty
15	4 (0.63%)	nginx
15	4 (0.63%)	Sitecore CMS

Applications
1	127 (20.13%)	Microsoft Office
2	67 (10.62%)	Microsoft Excel
3	29 (4.60%)	Microsoft PowerPoint
4	18 (2.85%)	Microsoft Project
5	12 (1.90%)	MS Visio
6	3 (0.48%)	Spreadsheet
7	2 (0.32%)	SPSS
8	1 (0.16%)	3ds Max
8	1 (0.16%)	Adobe Captivate
8	1 (0.16%)	Adobe Creative Suite

Business Applications
1	85 (13.47%)	Dynamics CRM
2	16 (2.54%)	Dynamics AX
3	4 (0.63%)	Dynamics NAV
3	4 (0.63%)	SAP CO
3	4 (0.63%)	SAP FI
3	4 (0.63%)	SAP FI/CO
4	3 (0.48%)	Maximo
5	2 (0.32%)	Unit4 Business World
6	1 (0.16%)	CA PPM
6	1 (0.16%)	Dynamics SL
6	1 (0.16%)	Magento
6	1 (0.16%)	Oracle EBS
6	1 (0.16%)	Payment Gateway
6	1 (0.16%)	Primavera
6	1 (0.16%)	SAP Oil and Gas

Cloud Services
1	77 (12.20%)	Office 365
2	58 (9.19%)	Microsoft Azure
3	17 (2.69%)	Amazon AWS
4	15 (2.38%)	IaaS
5	11 (1.74%)	Azure Active Directory
6	10 (1.58%)	Dynamics 365
7	8 (1.27%)	PaaS
8	7 (1.11%)	OneDrive
8	7 (1.11%)	Yammer
9	5 (0.79%)	Amazon EC2
9	5 (0.79%)	SaaS
10	4 (0.63%)	Google App Engine
10	4 (0.63%)	Google Cloud Platform
11	2 (0.32%)	G Suite
11	2 (0.32%)	Google Analytics
12	1 (0.16%)	Amazon Kinesis
12	1 (0.16%)	Amazon S3
12	1 (0.16%)	Amazon SQS
12	1 (0.16%)	Cloud Computing
12	1 (0.16%)	GitHub

Communications & Networking
1	53 (8.40%)	DNS
2	35 (5.55%)	LAN
3	33 (5.23%)	DHCP
3	33 (5.23%)	Internet
4	29 (4.60%)	Firewall
5	27 (4.28%)	WAN
6	20 (3.17%)	TCP/IP
7	19 (3.01%)	SAN
8	18 (2.85%)	VPN
9	14 (2.22%)	Skype
10	12 (1.90%)	Remote Desktop
10	12 (1.90%)	VoIP
11	9 (1.43%)	Wi-Fi
12	8 (1.27%)	NAS
13	7 (1.11%)	FTP
13	7 (1.11%)	SSL
13	7 (1.11%)	Unified Communications
13	7 (1.11%)	VLAN
14	6 (0.95%)	Cisco ASA
15	5 (0.79%)	Network Security

Database & Business Intelligence
1	121 (19.18%)	SQL Server
2	43 (6.81%)	SQL Server Integration Services
3	42 (6.66%)	SQL Server Reporting Services
4	31 (4.91%)	SQL Server Analysis Services
5	27 (4.28%)	Data Warehouse
6	23 (3.65%)	SQL Server 2012
7	19 (3.01%)	SQL Server 2014
8	18 (2.85%)	Oracle Database
9	17 (2.69%)	Relational Database
10	15 (2.38%)	SQL Server 2008
11	13 (2.06%)	Power BI
12	12 (1.90%)	NoSQL
13	11 (1.74%)	SQL Server 2016
13	11 (1.74%)	TKPROF
14	10 (1.58%)	SQL Server 2005
15	8 (1.27%)	MongoDB
15	8 (1.27%)	MS Access
16	7 (1.11%)	Oracle Database 12c
17	6 (0.95%)	RDBMS
18	5 (0.79%)	DB2

Development Applications
1	24 (3.80%)	Visual Studio
2	15 (2.38%)	JIRA
3	11 (1.74%)	Toad
4	8 (1.27%)	Team Foundation Server
5	7 (1.11%)	Visual Studio Team System
6	6 (0.95%)	Git (software)
6	6 (0.95%)	Jenkins
7	5 (0.79%)	AccuRev
7	5 (0.79%)	AdminStudio
7	5 (0.79%)	Mercurial
8	4 (0.63%)	MSI
8	4 (0.63%)	Travis CI
9	3 (0.48%)	Gradle
9	3 (0.48%)	ProC
10	2 (0.32%)	Ant
10	2 (0.32%)	Maven
10	2 (0.32%)	Rational DOORS
10	2 (0.32%)	Rational Rhapsody
10	2 (0.32%)	SpecFlow
10	2 (0.32%)	TeamCity

General
1	90 (14.26%)	Finance
2	22 (3.49%)	Manufacturing
3	19 (3.01%)	Banking
3	19 (3.01%)	Retail
3	19 (3.01%)	Telecoms
4	14 (2.22%)	Local Government
4	14 (2.22%)	Marketing
5	12 (1.90%)	Legal
6	11 (1.74%)	Games
7	10 (1.58%)	Advertising
7	10 (1.58%)	Automotive
8	8 (1.27%)	Pharmaceutical
9	7 (1.11%)	Law
10	4 (0.63%)	Avionics
11	3 (0.48%)	Back Office
12	2 (0.32%)	Electronics
12	2 (0.32%)	French Language
12	2 (0.32%)	General Ledger
12	2 (0.32%)	German Language
12	2 (0.32%)	Swedish Language

Job Titles
1	119 (18.86%)	Developer
2	91 (14.42%)	Analyst
3	52 (8.24%)	Architect
4	47 (7.45%)	Consultant
5	37 (5.86%)	CRM Developer
6	36 (5.71%)	Project Manager
7	32 (5.07%)	DBA
8	31 (4.91%)	Support Analyst
9	30 (4.75%)	Administrator
9	30 (4.75%)	Microsoft Developer
10	27 (4.28%)	.NET Developer
10	27 (4.28%)	Desktop Support
10	27 (4.28%)	Dynamics CRM Developer
11	25 (3.96%)	2nd Line Support
12	21 (3.33%)	SQL DBA
13	19 (3.01%)	1st Line Support
14	18 (2.85%)	Support Engineer
15	17 (2.69%)	Business Analyst
16	16 (2.54%)	Technical Support
17	14 (2.22%)	Service Analyst

Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1	97 (15.37%)	.NET
2	37 (5.86%)	HTML
3	36 (5.71%)	ASP.NET
4	28 (4.44%)	CSS
5	23 (3.65%)	.NET Framework
6	21 (3.33%)	Web Services
7	17 (2.69%)	ASP.NET MVC
8	16 (2.54%)	jQuery
9	15 (2.38%)	WCF
10	13 (2.06%)	XML
11	11 (1.74%)	ASP.NET Web API
11	11 (1.74%)	HTML5
11	11 (1.74%)	Oracle GoldenGate
12	10 (1.58%)	AngularJS
13	8 (1.27%)	JSON
14	7 (1.11%)	Ajax
14	7 (1.11%)	Entity Framework
15	6 (0.95%)	MDX
15	6 (0.95%)	REST
15	6 (0.95%)	Software Packaging

Miscellaneous
1	53 (8.40%)	Analytical Skills
2	30 (4.75%)	Data Centre
3	27 (4.28%)	Blackberry
4	22 (3.49%)	Management Information System
5	15 (2.38%)	PKI
6	10 (1.58%)	Clustering
6	10 (1.58%)	Replication
6	10 (1.58%)	Video Conferencing
7	8 (1.27%)	Computer Science
7	8 (1.27%)	Enterprise Software
7	8 (1.27%)	Life Science
8	6 (0.95%)	Greenfield Project
8	6 (0.95%)	iPhone
8	6 (0.95%)	Mainframe
9	5 (0.79%)	BYOD
9	5 (0.79%)	Private Cloud
9	5 (0.79%)	User Experience
10	4 (0.63%)	Algorithms
10	4 (0.63%)	Smartphone
11	3 (0.48%)	RSA SecurID

Operating Systems
1	195 (30.90%)	Windows
2	68 (10.78%)	Windows Server
3	60 (9.51%)	Windows 7
4	42 (6.66%)	Windows Server 2012
5	41 (6.50%)	Windows 10
5	41 (6.50%)	Windows Server 2008
6	33 (5.23%)	Linux
7	29 (4.60%)	Windows XP
8	24 (3.80%)	Unix
9	16 (2.54%)	Apple iOS
10	15 (2.38%)	Windows 8
11	12 (1.90%)	Windows Server 2003
12	10 (1.58%)	AIX
13	9 (1.43%)	Android
14	3 (0.48%)	Solaris
14	3 (0.48%)	Windows 2000
14	3 (0.48%)	Windows Phone
14	3 (0.48%)	zOS
15	2 (0.32%)	HPUX
15	2 (0.32%)	Mac OS

Processes & Methodologies
1	89 (14.10%)	CRM
2	82 (13.00%)	Agile Software Development
2	82 (13.00%)	ITIL
3	70 (11.09%)	Migration
4	49 (7.77%)	Project Management
5	48 (7.61%)	Business Intelligence
6	29 (4.60%)	MVC
7	25 (3.96%)	Service Management
8	22 (3.49%)	Change Management
8	22 (3.49%)	Stakeholder Management
9	21 (3.33%)	High Availability
10	20 (3.17%)	PRINCE2
10	20 (3.17%)	Problem Management
11	18 (2.85%)	ETL
11	18 (2.85%)	Process Improvement
11	18 (2.85%)	Scrum
12	17 (2.69%)	Disaster Recovery
12	17 (2.69%)	Incident Management
13	16 (2.54%)	DevOps
14	15 (2.38%)	SDLC

Programming Languages
1	121 (19.18%)	SQL
2	79 (12.52%)	C#
3	58 (9.19%)	PowerShell
4	40 (6.34%)	JavaScript
5	20 (3.17%)	T-SQL
6	19 (3.01%)	Java
7	15 (2.38%)	C++
8	12 (1.90%)	PL/SQL
9	11 (1.74%)	Perl
10	8 (1.27%)	VBA
10	8 (1.27%)	VBScript
11	6 (0.95%)	R
11	6 (0.95%)	VB.NET
12	4 (0.63%)	PHP
12	4 (0.63%)	Shell Script
13	3 (0.48%)	Apple Swift
13	3 (0.48%)	C
13	3 (0.48%)	PROC SQL
13	3 (0.48%)	VB
13	3 (0.48%)	X++

Qualifications
1	78 (12.36%)	Security Cleared
2	68 (10.78%)	SC Cleared
3	40 (6.34%)	Microsoft Certification
4	30 (4.75%)	Degree
5	18 (2.85%)	MCP
6	13 (2.06%)	Cisco Certification
7	10 (1.58%)	CCNA
7	10 (1.58%)	ISEB
8	9 (1.43%)	MCSA
8	9 (1.43%)	MCSE
9	6 (0.95%)	ITIL Certification
9	6 (0.95%)	VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10	5 (0.79%)	BPSS Clearance
10	5 (0.79%)	ISTQB
11	4 (0.63%)	CCNP
11	4 (0.63%)	HNC
11	4 (0.63%)	HND
12	3 (0.48%)	CISSP
12	3 (0.48%)	Network+ Certification
12	3 (0.48%)	PRINCE2 Certification

Quality Assurance & Compliance
1	15 (2.38%)	SLA
2	9 (1.43%)	QA
3	5 (0.79%)	ISO/IEC 27001
4	4 (0.63%)	PCI DSS
4	4 (0.63%)	PMO
5	3 (0.48%)	COBIT
5	3 (0.48%)	COSHH
5	3 (0.48%)	HMG Security Policy Framework
6	2 (0.32%)	Cyber Essentials
6	2 (0.32%)	Data Quality
6	2 (0.32%)	Disclosure Scotland
6	2 (0.32%)	GMP
7	1 (0.16%)	Cyber Essentials PLUS
7	1 (0.16%)	ISO 9000
7	1 (0.16%)	MIL-STD-498

System Software
1	138 (21.87%)	Active Directory
2	40 (6.34%)	VMware Infrastructure
3	14 (2.22%)	XenApp
4	13 (2.06%)	Hyper-V
5	11 (1.74%)	Microsoft App-V
6	10 (1.58%)	vSphere
7	8 (1.27%)	Virtual Desktop
8	4 (0.63%)	Virtual Machines
8	4 (0.63%)	VMware ESXi
8	4 (0.63%)	Xen
9	3 (0.48%)	UAG
9	3 (0.48%)	XenDesktop
10	2 (0.32%)	BitLocker
10	2 (0.32%)	Firmware
11	1 (0.16%)	Citrix Presentation Server
11	1 (0.16%)	Docker

Systems Management
1	52 (8.24%)	SCCM
2	12 (1.90%)	Oracle RMAN
3	11 (1.74%)	Symantec Enterprise Vault
4	8 (1.27%)	SCOM
5	7 (1.11%)	Forefront Identity Manager
6	6 (0.95%)	Puppet
6	6 (0.95%)	SCOrch
6	6 (0.95%)	SCSM
7	4 (0.63%)	Failover Clustering
7	4 (0.63%)	Oracle Enterprise Manager
8	3 (0.48%)	Microsoft Data Protection Manager
8	3 (0.48%)	SmoothWall
8	3 (0.48%)	Tivoli
8	3 (0.48%)	Tivoli Storage Manager
8	3 (0.48%)	vMotion
8	3 (0.48%)	WSUS
9	2 (0.32%)	AirWatch
9	2 (0.32%)	BladeLogic
9	2 (0.32%)	Microsoft Intune
9	2 (0.32%)	Opscode Chef

Vendors
1	77 (12.20%)	VMware
2	63 (9.98%)	Citrix
3	37 (5.86%)	Oracle
4	33 (5.23%)	HP
5	30 (4.75%)	Cisco
6	18 (2.85%)	SAP
7	15 (2.38%)	Apple
8	14 (2.22%)	IBM
8	14 (2.22%)	Symantec
9	12 (1.90%)	Google
10	11 (1.74%)	Lotus
11	10 (1.58%)	Dell
12	9 (1.43%)	Tableau
13	8 (1.27%)	Adobe
13	8 (1.27%)	Juniper
13	8 (1.27%)	ServiceNow
14	7 (1.11%)	McAfee
14	7 (1.11%)	NetApp
14	7 (1.11%)	Polycom
15	6 (0.95%)	Altiris