Degree Contract Job Trends in the South East

Academic Degree
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 23 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 27 29 13
Rank change year-on-year +2 -16 +11
Contract jobs citing Degree 287 259 465
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.50% 7.05% 9.37%
As % of the Qualifications category 14.95% 18.37% 21.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 162 155 308
10th Percentile £205 £189 £154
25th Percentile £358 £339 £215
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £569 £588 £614
90th Percentile £653 £681 £700
England median daily rate £513 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 18 40
10th Percentile £20.79 £24.69 £30.12
25th Percentile £22.25 £35.75 £48.80
Median hourly rate £29.61 £52.29 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.38% -12.85% +33.33%
75th Percentile £81.00 £74.69 £70.50
90th Percentile £89.63 £76.01 £77.59
England median hourly rate £37.58 £43.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year -12.60% -14.00% +11.11%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South East

Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the South East.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 1,920 1,410 2,190
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 43.46% 38.39% 44.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,277 935 1,303
10th Percentile £269 £263 £213
25th Percentile £415 £407 £402
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -
75th Percentile £600 £638 £638
90th Percentile £694 £700 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 77 139
10th Percentile £16.29 £20.80 £27.40
25th Percentile £18.94 £31.25 £49.84
Median hourly rate £25.15 £56.75 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -55.68% -5.43% +33.33%
75th Percentile £62.00 £64.73 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.09 £75.00 £78.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £46.18 £52.50
% change year-on-year -45.54% -12.04% +16.67%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Degree relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Degree job vacancy trend in the South East

Degree
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Degree.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Degree

Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Degree in the South East over the 6 months to 23 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Degree in the South East

Degree
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Degree.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Degree

Degree
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Degree in the South East over the 6 months to 23 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Degree in the South East

Degree
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Degree within the South East region over the 6 months to 23 December 2025. 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
Thames Valley +6 145 £450 -5.01% 479
Berkshire +2 104 £450 -10.00% 288
Hampshire +7 61 £480 -7.16% 229
Surrey -17 33 £500 +11.11% 142
Buckinghamshire +16 26 £375 -15.73% 94
West Sussex -3 17 £475 -5.00% 52
Oxfordshire -9 15 £469 +10.29% 97
East Sussex +4 7 £565 -9.60% 47
Kent +3 7 £450 -5.76% 113
Isle of Wight - 6 - - 30
Home Counties - 3 £625 -
Sussex -6 1 - - 4
Degree
England

Degree
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 17 (5.92%) Confluence
2 13 (4.53%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.09%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.39%) Apache
4 4 (1.39%) Apache Airflow
4 4 (1.39%) Apache Spark
4 4 (1.39%) GeoServer
4 4 (1.39%) Smallworld
5 2 (0.70%) nginx
6 1 (0.35%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.35%) CMS
6 1 (0.35%) Gunicorn
6 1 (0.35%) IIS
6 1 (0.35%) MS Project Server
6 1 (0.35%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.35%) Skype for Business
6 1 (0.35%) Tomcat
Applications
1 47 (16.38%) Microsoft Excel
2 43 (14.98%) Microsoft Office
3 32 (11.15%) Microsoft Project
4 15 (5.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (2.44%) Chatbot
6 5 (1.74%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.35%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 8 (2.79%) Primavera
2 5 (1.74%) SAP ERP
3 4 (1.39%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.70%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.35%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.35%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.35%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.35%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.35%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.35%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.35%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.35%) SAP PM
5 1 (0.35%) SAP WM
5 1 (0.35%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.35%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 40 (13.94%) Azure
2 35 (12.20%) AWS
3 22 (7.67%) Microsoft 365
3 22 (7.67%) Power Platform
4 17 (5.92%) GCP
5 9 (3.14%) GitHub
6 8 (2.79%) Entra ID
7 7 (2.44%) GitHub Actions
8 6 (2.09%) SaaS
9 5 (1.74%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.39%) Cloud Computing
10 4 (1.39%) dbt
10 4 (1.39%) IaaS
10 4 (1.39%) Lucidchart
11 3 (1.05%) Amazon ECS
11 3 (1.05%) Amazon S3
11 3 (1.05%) AWS CloudFormation
11 3 (1.05%) OCI
12 2 (0.70%) Amazon EKS
12 2 (0.70%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 19 (6.62%) Firewall
2 15 (5.23%) Wireless
3 12 (4.18%) Network Security
4 9 (3.14%) DNS
5 8 (2.79%) WAN
6 7 (2.44%) TCP/IP
7 6 (2.09%) LAN
7 6 (2.09%) Unified Communications
7 6 (2.09%) VPN
8 4 (1.39%) BGP
8 4 (1.39%) DHCP
8 4 (1.39%) IPsec
8 4 (1.39%) OSPF
8 4 (1.39%) Structured Cabling
8 4 (1.39%) WebEx
9 3 (1.05%) HTTP
9 3 (1.05%) VoIP
9 3 (1.05%) Wi-Fi
10 2 (0.70%) 5G
10 2 (0.70%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (6.97%) Power BI
2 18 (6.27%) Relational Database
3 11 (3.83%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (3.14%) Data Warehouse
4 9 (3.14%) MySQL
4 9 (3.14%) Tableau
5 6 (2.09%) Big Data
5 6 (2.09%) SQL Server
6 5 (1.74%) Apache Cassandra
6 5 (1.74%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
6 5 (1.74%) Couchbase
6 5 (1.74%) Metadata
6 5 (1.74%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.39%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (1.39%) GIS
7 4 (1.39%) Hadoop
7 4 (1.39%) QGIS
8 3 (1.05%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.70%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.70%) Redis
Development Applications
1 29 (10.10%) JIRA
2 19 (6.62%) Git
3 8 (2.79%) Burp Suite
3 8 (2.79%) GitLab
3 8 (2.79%) Jenkins
4 6 (2.09%) Metasploit
5 3 (1.05%) Rational DOORS
5 3 (1.05%) Selenium
5 3 (1.05%) Subversion
6 2 (0.70%) SoapUI
6 2 (0.70%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.35%) Appium
7 1 (0.35%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.35%) CircleCI
7 1 (0.35%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.35%) Gradle
7 1 (0.35%) HP UFT
7 1 (0.35%) JUnit
7 1 (0.35%) Katalon Studio
7 1 (0.35%) Postman
General
1 151 (52.61%) Social Skills
2 89 (31.01%) Analytical Skills
3 42 (14.63%) Finance
4 26 (9.06%) Manufacturing
5 19 (6.62%) Organisational Skills
6 13 (4.53%) Public Sector
7 11 (3.83%) Influencing Skills
8 10 (3.48%) Legal
9 9 (3.14%) Telecoms
10 7 (2.44%) Documentation Skills
10 7 (2.44%) Marketing
11 6 (2.09%) Aerospace
11 6 (2.09%) Law
12 5 (1.74%) Military
13 4 (1.39%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (1.05%) Advertising
14 3 (1.05%) Aviation
14 3 (1.05%) Banking
14 3 (1.05%) Electronics
14 3 (1.05%) Retail
Job Titles
1 40 (13.94%) Analyst
2 27 (9.41%) Senior
3 22 (7.67%) Developer
4 19 (6.62%) Project Manager
5 15 (5.23%) Architect
5 15 (5.23%) Lead
6 9 (3.14%) Technical Support
6 9 (3.14%) Tester
7 8 (2.79%) Business Analyst
7 8 (2.79%) IT Analyst
7 8 (2.79%) Network Engineer
7 8 (2.79%) Penetration Tester
7 8 (2.79%) Principal Engineer
7 8 (2.79%) Project Planner
7 8 (2.79%) SC Cleared Project Manager
8 7 (2.44%) Data Scientist
8 7 (2.44%) IT Support
8 7 (2.44%) Trainer
9 6 (2.09%) Delivery Manager
9 6 (2.09%) Design Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (3.83%) REST
2 7 (2.44%) HTML
2 7 (2.44%) Kafka
2 7 (2.44%) RabbitMQ
3 5 (1.74%) RESTful
4 4 (1.39%) CSS
4 4 (1.39%) Pandas
4 4 (1.39%) scikit-learn
4 4 (1.39%) XML
5 3 (1.05%) Material Design
5 3 (1.05%) NumPy
5 3 (1.05%) SOAP
5 3 (1.05%) Web Services
6 2 (0.70%) GraphQL
6 2 (0.70%) gRPC
6 2 (0.70%) JSON
6 2 (0.70%) Node.js
6 2 (0.70%) OAuth
6 2 (0.70%) OAuth2
7 1 (0.35%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 27 (9.41%) Management Information System
2 15 (5.23%) Analytical Mindset
3 11 (3.83%) Data Centre
3 11 (3.83%) Driving Licence
4 9 (3.14%) Data Protection Act
4 9 (3.14%) Security Operations Centre
5 8 (2.79%) Security Posture
5 8 (2.79%) Virtual Team
6 7 (2.44%) Algorithms
6 7 (2.44%) Legacy Systems
6 7 (2.44%) Mobile App
7 6 (2.09%) Life Science
7 6 (2.09%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.74%) Cloud Native
8 5 (1.74%) Handset
8 5 (1.74%) PMI
8 5 (1.74%) Product Ownership
9 4 (1.39%) Digital Media
9 4 (1.39%) Renewable Energy
10 3 (1.05%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 45 (15.68%) Windows
2 24 (8.36%) Linux
3 10 (3.48%) Mac OS
3 10 (3.48%) Unix
4 7 (2.44%) Windows 10
5 5 (1.74%) Android
5 5 (1.74%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.70%) Kali Linux
6 2 (0.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.35%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.35%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (35.19%) Computer Science
2 92 (32.06%) Problem-Solving
3 68 (23.69%) Agile
4 45 (15.68%) Stakeholder Management
5 42 (14.63%) Project Management
6 40 (13.94%) ITIL
7 37 (12.89%) Cybersecurity
8 31 (10.80%) PRINCE2
9 30 (10.45%) Continuous Improvement
9 30 (10.45%) Decision-Making
9 30 (10.45%) Migration
10 27 (9.41%) Line Management
11 26 (9.06%) DevOps
12 25 (8.71%) Business Intelligence
12 25 (8.71%) Change Management
13 22 (7.67%) Analytics
14 20 (6.97%) AI
14 20 (6.97%) Information Security
15 19 (6.62%) Service Management
16 18 (6.27%) Data Management
Programming Languages
1 45 (15.68%) Python
2 31 (10.80%) SQL
3 22 (7.67%) Java
4 15 (5.23%) JavaScript
5 9 (3.14%) Perl
6 8 (2.79%) PowerShell
7 7 (2.44%) Go
8 5 (1.74%) Bash
9 4 (1.39%) C#
9 4 (1.39%) Kotlin
9 4 (1.39%) Shell Script
10 3 (1.05%) C
10 3 (1.05%) Objective-C
10 3 (1.05%) Swift
11 2 (0.70%) Ada
11 2 (0.70%) Assembly Language
11 2 (0.70%) MATLAB
11 2 (0.70%) R
12 1 (0.35%) Tcl
12 1 (0.35%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 80 (27.87%) Computer Science Degree
2 75 (26.13%) Security Cleared
3 65 (22.65%) SC Cleared
4 38 (13.24%) Master's Degree
5 20 (6.97%) PMP
6 19 (6.62%) CISSP
7 18 (6.27%) PMI Certification
8 13 (4.53%) Cisco Certification
8 13 (4.53%) DV Cleared
8 13 (4.53%) Microsoft Certification
9 10 (3.48%) A+ Certification
9 10 (3.48%) CREST Certified
9 10 (3.48%) PhD
10 9 (3.14%) CCNP
10 9 (3.14%) CISM
11 7 (2.44%) CCNA
11 7 (2.44%) Postgraduate
12 6 (2.09%) CHECK Team Member
12 6 (2.09%) Cyber Scheme
12 6 (2.09%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (11.15%) PMO
2 26 (9.06%) GDPR
3 21 (7.32%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 21 (7.32%) QA
4 15 (5.23%) Data Quality
5 13 (4.53%) NIST
6 10 (3.48%) PCI DSS
7 6 (2.09%) SLA
8 4 (1.39%) HIPAA
8 4 (1.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 3 (1.05%) GRC
9 3 (1.05%) NCSC
9 3 (1.05%) P3O
10 2 (0.70%) Accessibility
10 2 (0.70%) Actionable Recommendations
10 2 (0.70%) ISO 9001
10 2 (0.70%) ISO/IEC 19770
10 2 (0.70%) RMADS
11 1 (0.35%) GxP
11 1 (0.35%) JSP 440
System Software
1 13 (4.53%) Active Directory
1 13 (4.53%) Docker
2 6 (2.09%) Firmware
3 4 (1.39%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.35%) VMware NSX
5 1 (0.35%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 9 (3.14%) Kubernetes
2 8 (2.79%) Nmap
3 6 (2.09%) Terraform
4 5 (1.74%) Ansible
4 5 (1.74%) SCCM
5 4 (1.39%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.05%) Puppet
7 2 (0.70%) Grafana
7 2 (0.70%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.35%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.35%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.35%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.35%) Nagios
8 1 (0.35%) Nessus
8 1 (0.35%) Podman
8 1 (0.35%) SCOM
8 1 (0.35%) vRealize
8 1 (0.35%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 69 (24.04%) Microsoft
2 24 (8.36%) SAP
3 16 (5.57%) Oracle
4 15 (5.23%) ServiceNow
5 13 (4.53%) Cisco
6 10 (3.48%) Palo Alto
7 9 (3.14%) CheckPoint
8 8 (2.79%) Splunk
9 7 (2.44%) EMC
9 7 (2.44%) PayPal
10 6 (2.09%) Atlassian
10 6 (2.09%) Google
11 5 (1.74%) Aruba
11 5 (1.74%) VMware
12 4 (1.39%) Cellebrite
12 4 (1.39%) ESRI
12 4 (1.39%) Informatica
12 4 (1.39%) Intergraph
13 3 (1.05%) Apple
13 3 (1.05%) Snow