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 22 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 26 13
Rank change year-on-year -3 -13 +13
Contract jobs citing Degree 308 225 492
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.41% 7.09% 8.92%
As % of the Qualifications category 13.91% 18.96% 20.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 170 128 295
10th Percentile £256 £188 £197
25th Percentile £359 £336 £274
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - +3.46%
75th Percentile £572 £588 £608
90th Percentile £651 £685 £667
England median daily rate £500 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 13 50
10th Percentile £20.79 £20.25 £16.25
25th Percentile £22.50 £41.25 £25.90
Median hourly rate £29.61 £47.81 £54.25
Median % change year-on-year -38.06% -11.88% +20.56%
75th Percentile £82.00 £75.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £85.50 £79.75 £72.33
England median hourly rate £35.00 £47.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -26.32% +18.75% -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 2,215 1,187 2,450
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 46.10% 37.42% 44.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,485 753 1,388
10th Percentile £297 £263 £216
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -
75th Percentile £606 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £675 £700
England median daily rate £520 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 217 69 174
10th Percentile £15.47 £19.72 £18.32
25th Percentile £19.34 £31.25 £36.25
Median hourly rate £26.44 £56.75 £59.50
Median % change year-on-year -53.41% -4.63% +32.22%
75th Percentile £72.00 £64.73 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.09 £80.02 £83.32
England median hourly rate £25.15 £50.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -49.70% +11.11% -2.17%

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 22 February 2026.

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 22 February 2026.

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 22 February 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
Thames Valley -6 155 £435 -10.45% 179
Berkshire -3 111 £413 -13.61% 78
Hampshire +20 77 £510 -2.86% 116
Buckinghamshire +12 33 £463 +25.42% 48
Surrey -21 27 £500 - 67
West Sussex -6 17 £400 -15.79% 20
Kent -3 14 £445 -1.11% 29
Oxfordshire -10 11 £500 -28.57% 56
East Sussex +1 7 £565 -9.60% 14
Home Counties - 4 £700 -
Isle of Wight - 3 - - 2
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 19 (6.17%) Confluence
2 12 (3.90%) SharePoint
3 5 (1.62%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (1.30%) Apache Spark
4 4 (1.30%) GeoServer
4 4 (1.30%) Smallworld
5 3 (0.97%) Apache
5 3 (0.97%) MS Project Server
6 2 (0.65%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 2 (0.65%) CMS
6 2 (0.65%) Palantir Foundry
7 1 (0.32%) Apache Pulsar
7 1 (0.32%) SharePoint Server
7 1 (0.32%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 59 (19.16%) Microsoft Office
2 52 (16.88%) Microsoft Excel
3 36 (11.69%) Microsoft Project
4 21 (6.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (2.27%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.65%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.32%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 10 (3.25%) Primavera
2 5 (1.62%) SAP ERP
3 3 (0.97%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.65%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.32%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.32%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.32%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.32%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.32%) SAP Hybris
5 1 (0.32%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.32%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 53 (17.21%) Azure
2 37 (12.01%) AWS
3 17 (5.52%) Microsoft 365
3 17 (5.52%) Power Platform
4 13 (4.22%) GCP
4 13 (4.22%) GitHub
4 13 (4.22%) GitHub Actions
5 7 (2.27%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.95%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (1.62%) SaaS
8 4 (1.30%) IaaS
9 3 (0.97%) Amazon EKS
9 3 (0.97%) Amazon S3
9 3 (0.97%) AWS CloudFormation
9 3 (0.97%) Lucidchart
9 3 (0.97%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.65%) Amazon EC2
10 2 (0.65%) Amazon ECS
10 2 (0.65%) PaaS
10 2 (0.65%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 27 (8.77%) Firewall
2 16 (5.19%) WAN
3 15 (4.87%) Wireless
4 13 (4.22%) LAN
5 10 (3.25%) BGP
5 10 (3.25%) Network Security
5 10 (3.25%) OSPF
6 9 (2.92%) IPsec
6 9 (2.92%) Structured Cabling
7 7 (2.27%) TCP/IP
7 7 (2.27%) Unified Communications
8 6 (1.95%) DNS
9 5 (1.62%) WebEx
10 3 (0.97%) Ethernet
10 3 (0.97%) HTTP
10 3 (0.97%) SSH
10 3 (0.97%) VoIP
10 3 (0.97%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (0.65%) Internet
11 2 (0.65%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (4.87%) Power BI
2 13 (4.22%) Relational Database
3 10 (3.25%) MySQL
4 9 (2.92%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (2.92%) SQL Server
5 7 (2.27%) Data Warehouse
6 6 (1.95%) Big Data
6 6 (1.95%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
6 6 (1.95%) NoSQL
7 5 (1.62%) Apache Cassandra
7 5 (1.62%) Couchbase
7 5 (1.62%) Metadata
8 4 (1.30%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (1.30%) GIS
8 4 (1.30%) QGIS
8 4 (1.30%) Tableau
9 3 (0.97%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
11 1 (0.32%) Redis
Development Applications
1 25 (8.12%) JIRA
2 13 (4.22%) Burp Suite
2 13 (4.22%) Git
3 11 (3.57%) Metasploit
4 8 (2.60%) GitLab
5 7 (2.27%) CircleCI
5 7 (2.27%) Gradle
5 7 (2.27%) Jenkins
6 5 (1.62%) JUnit
7 4 (1.30%) Visual Studio
8 3 (0.97%) Selenium
9 2 (0.65%) Balsamiq
9 2 (0.65%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.65%) Rational DOORS
9 2 (0.65%) WebDriver
10 1 (0.32%) Maven
10 1 (0.32%) MLflow
10 1 (0.32%) Postman
10 1 (0.32%) SoapUI
10 1 (0.32%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 143 (46.43%) Social Skills
2 69 (22.40%) Analytical Skills
3 38 (12.34%) Finance
4 21 (6.82%) Public Sector
5 20 (6.49%) Manufacturing
6 15 (4.87%) Influencing Skills
7 14 (4.55%) Documentation Skills
8 12 (3.90%) Aerospace
8 12 (3.90%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (3.25%) Marketing
10 9 (2.92%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (2.27%) Legal
12 6 (1.95%) Law
12 6 (1.95%) Retail
13 5 (1.62%) Military
13 5 (1.62%) Telecoms
14 4 (1.30%) Advertising
14 4 (1.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 3 (0.97%) Banking
15 3 (0.97%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 38 (12.34%) Analyst
2 27 (8.77%) Senior
3 23 (7.47%) Project Manager
4 19 (6.17%) Developer
5 15 (4.87%) Architect
6 14 (4.55%) Lead
6 14 (4.55%) Technical Support
7 13 (4.22%) Penetration Tester
7 13 (4.22%) Project Planner
7 13 (4.22%) Tester
8 10 (3.25%) SC Cleared Project Manager
9 9 (2.92%) Network Engineer
10 8 (2.60%) IT Analyst
11 7 (2.27%) Business Analyst
11 7 (2.27%) Cisco Engineer
11 7 (2.27%) Delivery Manager
11 7 (2.27%) Trainer
12 6 (1.95%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 6 (1.95%) Consultant
12 6 (1.95%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.55%) REST
2 7 (2.27%) Kafka
2 7 (2.27%) RAML
3 5 (1.62%) Android Jetpack
3 5 (1.62%) Dagger
3 5 (1.62%) Jetpack Compose
3 5 (1.62%) OkHttp
3 5 (1.62%) RabbitMQ
3 5 (1.62%) RxJava
3 5 (1.62%) WireMock
4 4 (1.30%) React
5 3 (0.97%) ADO
5 3 (0.97%) HTML
5 3 (0.97%) Pandas
5 3 (0.97%) scikit-learn
5 3 (0.97%) Spring
5 3 (0.97%) Web Services
6 2 (0.65%) .NET
6 2 (0.65%) CSS
6 2 (0.65%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 27 (8.77%) Management Information System
2 19 (6.17%) Data Centre
3 14 (4.55%) Virtual Team
4 12 (3.90%) Data Protection Act
4 12 (3.90%) Security Posture
5 11 (3.57%) Product Ownership
6 10 (3.25%) Analytical Mindset
6 10 (3.25%) Driving Licence
6 10 (3.25%) Onboarding
6 10 (3.25%) Security Operations Centre
7 9 (2.92%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (2.60%) PMI
9 7 (2.27%) Algorithms
9 7 (2.27%) Legacy Code
10 6 (1.95%) Cloud Native
11 5 (1.62%) Handset
11 5 (1.62%) Legacy Systems
11 5 (1.62%) Mobile App
12 4 (1.30%) Digital Media
12 4 (1.30%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 54 (17.53%) Windows
2 31 (10.06%) Linux
3 14 (4.55%) Unix
4 7 (2.27%) Android
4 7 (2.27%) Windows 10
5 6 (1.95%) Windows Server
6 5 (1.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (1.30%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.97%) Ubuntu
9 2 (0.65%) Kali Linux
9 2 (0.65%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.65%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (37.66%) Computer Science
2 79 (25.65%) Problem-Solving
3 68 (22.08%) Agile
4 48 (15.58%) Cybersecurity
4 48 (15.58%) Project Management
5 37 (12.01%) Stakeholder Management
6 34 (11.04%) PRINCE2
7 32 (10.39%) Continuous Improvement
7 32 (10.39%) Information Security
8 30 (9.74%) Decision-Making
9 29 (9.42%) AI
10 27 (8.77%) DevOps
11 25 (8.12%) ITIL
11 25 (8.12%) Migration
12 23 (7.47%) Line Management
12 23 (7.47%) Project Delivery
13 22 (7.14%) Analytics
13 22 (7.14%) Business Intelligence
13 22 (7.14%) CI/CD
13 22 (7.14%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 40 (12.99%) Python
2 25 (8.12%) SQL
3 21 (6.82%) Java
4 15 (4.87%) JavaScript
5 11 (3.57%) PowerShell
6 9 (2.92%) Perl
7 7 (2.27%) Kotlin
8 6 (1.95%) Go
9 5 (1.62%) Bash
9 5 (1.62%) C#
10 4 (1.30%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.97%) C
12 2 (0.65%) Ada
12 2 (0.65%) Assembly Language
12 2 (0.65%) MATLAB
12 2 (0.65%) R
13 1 (0.32%) C++
13 1 (0.32%) Korn
13 1 (0.32%) Tcl
13 1 (0.32%) X++
Qualifications
1 107 (34.74%) Security Cleared
2 94 (30.52%) SC Cleared
3 81 (26.30%) Computer Science Degree
4 30 (9.74%) Master's Degree
5 20 (6.49%) CISSP
6 17 (5.52%) PMI Certification
6 17 (5.52%) PMP
7 16 (5.19%) Cisco Certification
8 15 (4.87%) CREST Certified
9 14 (4.55%) CCNP
10 13 (4.22%) DV Cleared
11 12 (3.90%) Postgraduate
12 11 (3.57%) CHECK Team Member
12 11 (3.57%) Cyber Scheme
13 10 (3.25%) CCNA
13 10 (3.25%) CISM
14 9 (2.92%) PhD
15 8 (2.60%) BPSS Clearance
16 6 (1.95%) CompTIA Security+
16 6 (1.95%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (13.64%) PMO
2 25 (8.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 24 (7.79%) QA
4 23 (7.47%) GDPR
5 17 (5.52%) NIST
6 15 (4.87%) PCI DSS
7 10 (3.25%) Data Quality
8 5 (1.62%) SLA
9 4 (1.30%) NCSC
9 4 (1.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.97%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.97%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.97%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.97%) P3O
11 2 (0.65%) DO-254
11 2 (0.65%) IEC 61508
11 2 (0.65%) ISO 26262
11 2 (0.65%) ISO 9001
11 2 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 19770
11 2 (0.65%) RMADS
System Software
1 14 (4.55%) Docker
2 13 (4.22%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.62%) Firmware
4 1 (0.32%) Citrix Hypervisor
Systems Management
1 15 (4.87%) Kubernetes
2 13 (4.22%) Nmap
3 9 (2.92%) Terraform
4 5 (1.62%) Ansible
5 4 (1.30%) Grafana
5 4 (1.30%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.97%) Nessus
6 3 (0.97%) Puppet
7 2 (0.65%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.65%) SCCM
8 1 (0.32%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.32%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.32%) Istio
8 1 (0.32%) Kubeflow
8 1 (0.32%) linkerd
8 1 (0.32%) Nagios
8 1 (0.32%) Podman
8 1 (0.32%) SCOM
Vendors
1 62 (20.13%) Microsoft
2 23 (7.47%) SAP
3 19 (6.17%) Oracle
4 17 (5.52%) Cisco
5 12 (3.90%) Palo Alto
6 11 (3.57%) Aruba
6 11 (3.57%) CheckPoint
7 9 (2.92%) ServiceNow
7 9 (2.92%) Splunk
8 7 (2.27%) PayPal
9 6 (1.95%) Atlassian
10 5 (1.62%) BeyondTrust
10 5 (1.62%) CyberArk
10 5 (1.62%) Google
10 5 (1.62%) Snow
11 4 (1.30%) Cellebrite
11 4 (1.30%) EMC
11 4 (1.30%) ESRI
11 4 (1.30%) Informatica
11 4 (1.30%) Intergraph