Degree Contracts 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 16 August 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 24 15 23
Rank change year-on-year -9 +8 -7
Contract jobs citing Degree 235 417 445
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 6.60% 8.58% 7.99%
As % of the Qualifications category 16.35% 19.16% 21.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 136 233 276
10th Percentile £208 £206 £205
25th Percentile £357 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £608 £638
90th Percentile £650 £638 £700
England median daily rate £500 £517 £535
% change year-on-year -3.29% -3.36% +1.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 76 30
10th Percentile £22.23 £18.35 £16.25
25th Percentile £32.31 £39.25 £46.69
Median hourly rate £60.00 £57.35 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.62% -4.42% +33.33%
75th Percentile £75.00 £61.30 £71.89
90th Percentile £88.30 £74.38 £77.50
England median hourly rate £42.50 £57.35 £50.00
% change year-on-year -25.89% +14.70% +11.96%

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 1,437 2,176 2,090
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 40.39% 44.76% 37.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 930 1,368 1,301
10th Percentile £244 £350 £280
25th Percentile £415 £438 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% +1.94%
75th Percentile £600 £644 £623
90th Percentile £664 £725 £700
England median daily rate £525 £538 £550
% change year-on-year -2.33% -2.27% +1.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 117 182 116
10th Percentile - £17.86 £19.13
25th Percentile £18.87 £35.75 £49.40
Median hourly rate £27.76 £57.35 £60.82
Median % change year-on-year -51.60% -5.70% +35.14%
75th Percentile £67.50 £70.39 £73.62
90th Percentile £81.00 £87.46 £75.67
England median hourly rate £25.15 £47.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year -47.05% -13.64% +22.22%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Job postings citing Degree as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Job vacancy trend for Degree in the South East

Degree
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Degree in the South East.

Daily rate trend for Degree in the South East

Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Degree in the South East over the 6 months to 16 August 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Degree in the South East

Degree
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Degree in the South East.

Hourly rate trend for Degree in the South East

Degree
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Degree in the South East over the 6 months to 16 August 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 16 August 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 -10 107 £450 -10.00% 544
Berkshire -15 71 £475 -21.49% 243
Hampshire -4 57 £500 -20.00% 241
Surrey -13 28 £259 -35.31% 185
Oxfordshire -5 20 £450 +39.95% 180
West Sussex -4 19 £289 -39.79% 58
Buckinghamshire -4 16 £431 -3.09% 136
East Sussex +2 4 - - 42
Kent -7 2 £425 +59.62% 69
Isle of Wight - 2 - - 18
Home Counties -2 1 £550 +15.79%
Sussex - 1 - - 64
Degree
England

Degree
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 16 (6.81%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (3.83%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.70%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (1.28%) Camunda
5 2 (0.85%) Apache Spark
5 2 (0.85%) CMS
5 2 (0.85%) Confluence
5 2 (0.85%) JBoss
5 2 (0.85%) nginx
6 1 (0.43%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.43%) Apache
6 1 (0.43%) Gunicorn
6 1 (0.43%) IIS
6 1 (0.43%) Oracle Service Bus
6 1 (0.43%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.43%) SAS
6 1 (0.43%) ThingWorx
6 1 (0.43%) Tomcat
Applications
1 23 (9.79%) Microsoft Excel
2 19 (8.09%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (5.11%) Microsoft Project
4 11 (4.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 6 (2.55%) MS Visio
6 3 (1.28%) Windchill
7 1 (0.43%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.43%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.43%) Revit
7 1 (0.43%) Trello
Business Applications
1 5 (2.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 3 (1.28%) Teamcenter
3 2 (0.85%) Payment Gateway
3 2 (0.85%) SAP GRC
4 1 (0.43%) BPCS
4 1 (0.43%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.43%) Maximo
4 1 (0.43%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.43%) Primavera
4 1 (0.43%) SAP CO
4 1 (0.43%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.43%) SAP FI/CO
4 1 (0.43%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.43%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 34 (14.47%) AWS
1 34 (14.47%) Azure
2 22 (9.36%) GCP
3 19 (8.09%) Microsoft 365
4 16 (6.81%) Power Platform
5 10 (4.26%) Cloud Computing
5 10 (4.26%) IaaS
5 10 (4.26%) PaaS
6 8 (3.40%) OpenShift
6 8 (3.40%) SaaS
7 7 (2.98%) Entra ID
8 5 (2.13%) Azure Sentinel
8 5 (2.13%) GitHub
9 4 (1.70%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (1.70%) dbt
9 4 (1.70%) Serverless
10 3 (1.28%) Amazon S3
10 3 (1.28%) AWS KMS
10 3 (1.28%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (1.28%) Lucidchart
Communications & Networking
1 27 (11.49%) Firewall
2 21 (8.94%) VPN
3 15 (6.38%) DNS
4 13 (5.53%) DHCP
5 11 (4.68%) Network Security
5 11 (4.68%) Wireless
6 8 (3.40%) SMTP
7 6 (2.55%) TCP/IP
8 4 (1.70%) MPLS
8 4 (1.70%) SSL
8 4 (1.70%) VLAN
8 4 (1.70%) VoIP
8 4 (1.70%) Wi-Fi
9 3 (1.28%) 5G
9 3 (1.28%) 802.11
9 3 (1.28%) Broadband
9 3 (1.28%) Radio Access Network
10 2 (0.85%) DOCSIS
10 2 (0.85%) DSL
10 2 (0.85%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (6.38%) Power BI
2 11 (4.68%) Big Data
2 11 (4.68%) Relational Database
3 10 (4.26%) Amazon RDS
4 9 (3.83%) PostgreSQL
5 8 (3.40%) Elasticsearch
5 8 (3.40%) Tableau
6 6 (2.55%) Data Warehouse
7 4 (1.70%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.70%) MySQL
8 3 (1.28%) Hadoop
8 3 (1.28%) SQL Server
9 2 (0.85%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.85%) NoSQL
10 1 (0.43%) Amazon Athena
10 1 (0.43%) Microsoft Analysis Services
10 1 (0.43%) Power Query
10 1 (0.43%) Redis
10 1 (0.43%) Sisense
10 1 (0.43%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 21 (8.94%) JIRA
2 15 (6.38%) Git
3 9 (3.83%) Jenkins
4 7 (2.98%) Subversion
5 5 (2.13%) Rational DOORS
6 2 (0.85%) IntelliJ
6 2 (0.85%) JUnit
6 2 (0.85%) Selenium
7 1 (0.43%) CMake
7 1 (0.43%) GitLab
7 1 (0.43%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.43%) Terragrunt
General
1 120 (51.06%) Social Skills
2 68 (28.94%) Analytical Skills
3 42 (17.87%) Finance
4 17 (7.23%) Manufacturing
4 17 (7.23%) Organisational Skills
4 17 (7.23%) Public Sector
5 15 (6.38%) Telecoms
6 14 (5.96%) Legal
7 11 (4.68%) Aerospace
8 9 (3.83%) Aviation
9 7 (2.98%) Automotive
10 5 (2.13%) Marketing
11 4 (1.70%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (1.70%) Electronics
12 3 (1.28%) Law
12 3 (1.28%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.85%) Banking
13 2 (0.85%) Military
13 2 (0.85%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.43%) Retail
Job Titles
1 20 (8.51%) Analyst
1 20 (8.51%) Architect
2 18 (7.66%) Support Engineer
3 16 (6.81%) Senior
4 14 (5.96%) Developer
5 12 (5.11%) Lead
5 12 (5.11%) Network Engineer
6 11 (4.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 10 (4.26%) Desktop Support
7 10 (4.26%) IT Support
8 9 (3.83%) 3rd Line Engineer
8 9 (3.83%) Project Manager
9 8 (3.40%) 3rd Line Support
9 8 (3.40%) 3rd Line Support Engineer
10 7 (2.98%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer
10 7 (2.98%) 3rd Line Infrastructure Support
10 7 (2.98%) Infrastructure Support
10 7 (2.98%) Infrastructure Support Engineer
11 6 (2.55%) Data Engineer
11 6 (2.55%) ERP Implementation Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.83%) Kafka
2 8 (3.40%) REST
3 7 (2.98%) Web Services
4 6 (2.55%) GraphQL
4 6 (2.55%) gRPC
4 6 (2.55%) HTML
4 6 (2.55%) RabbitMQ
5 4 (1.70%) CSS
5 4 (1.70%) RESTful
6 3 (1.28%) 802.1X
6 3 (1.28%) Material Design
6 3 (1.28%) Middleware
6 3 (1.28%) SOAP
6 3 (1.28%) Visualforce
6 3 (1.28%) XML
7 2 (0.85%) JSON
7 2 (0.85%) OAuth
7 2 (0.85%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.85%) Spring
8 1 (0.43%) MDX
Miscellaneous
1 21 (8.94%) Management Information System
2 14 (5.96%) Data Centre
3 13 (5.53%) PKI
4 12 (5.11%) Cloud Native
5 10 (4.26%) Product Ownership
6 8 (3.40%) Analytical Mindset
6 8 (3.40%) Clustering
6 8 (3.40%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (2.98%) Algorithms
7 7 (2.98%) Driving Licence
7 7 (2.98%) Life Science
8 6 (2.55%) Data Protection Act
8 6 (2.55%) Renewable Energy
9 4 (1.70%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.70%) PMI
10 3 (1.28%) Cyber Defence
10 3 (1.28%) FPGA
10 3 (1.28%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (1.28%) Security Posture
11 2 (0.85%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 40 (17.02%) Windows
2 22 (9.36%) Linux
3 12 (5.11%) Windows Server
4 9 (3.83%) Mac OS
5 5 (2.13%) Apple iOS
5 5 (2.13%) Unix
5 5 (2.13%) Windows 10
6 4 (1.70%) Android
7 3 (1.28%) Windows Server 2003
8 2 (0.85%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.85%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (34.04%) Computer Science
1 80 (34.04%) Problem-Solving
2 61 (25.96%) Agile
3 39 (16.60%) Project Management
4 36 (15.32%) ITIL
4 36 (15.32%) Stakeholder Management
5 29 (12.34%) Migration
6 28 (11.91%) DevOps
7 27 (11.49%) Continuous Improvement
8 24 (10.21%) CI/CD
8 24 (10.21%) PRINCE2
9 21 (8.94%) Cybersecurity
9 21 (8.94%) Decision-Making
9 21 (8.94%) Validation
10 20 (8.51%) Scrum
11 18 (7.66%) Analytics
11 18 (7.66%) Business Intelligence
12 17 (7.23%) Artificial Intelligence
12 17 (7.23%) Machine Learning
13 16 (6.81%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 27 (11.49%) Python
2 22 (9.36%) SQL
3 16 (6.81%) Java
4 14 (5.96%) PowerShell
5 9 (3.83%) JavaScript
6 6 (2.55%) Go
7 5 (2.13%) Rust
8 4 (1.70%) Perl
9 3 (1.28%) Apex Code
9 3 (1.28%) Bash
9 3 (1.28%) C#
9 3 (1.28%) Kotlin
9 3 (1.28%) Objective-C
9 3 (1.28%) R
9 3 (1.28%) Swift
10 2 (0.85%) C
10 2 (0.85%) C++
10 2 (0.85%) Kusto Query Language
10 2 (0.85%) Scala
11 1 (0.43%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 65 (27.66%) Computer Science Degree
2 60 (25.53%) Security Cleared
3 42 (17.87%) SC Cleared
4 29 (12.34%) Master's Degree
5 21 (8.94%) DV Cleared
5 21 (8.94%) PMP
6 15 (6.38%) Cisco Certification
6 15 (6.38%) PMI Certification
7 11 (4.68%) Microsoft Certification
8 10 (4.26%) CCNA
8 10 (4.26%) CCNP
9 9 (3.83%) CISSP
10 8 (3.40%) ACCA
11 7 (2.98%) CIMA
12 6 (2.55%) A+ Certification
13 5 (2.13%) AWS Certification
14 4 (1.70%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 4 (1.70%) CISM
14 4 (1.70%) ISEB
14 4 (1.70%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (5.53%) GDPR
2 12 (5.11%) QA
3 9 (3.83%) Data Quality
3 9 (3.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 7 (2.98%) SLA
5 6 (2.55%) PMO
6 4 (1.70%) GRC
6 4 (1.70%) NIST
7 3 (1.28%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.85%) ARP4754
8 2 (0.85%) COSHH
8 2 (0.85%) Def Stans
8 2 (0.85%) HIPAA
8 2 (0.85%) OASIS TOSCA
9 1 (0.43%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.43%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 17025
9 1 (0.43%) NCSC
9 1 (0.43%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.43%) PMBOK
System Software
1 24 (10.21%) Active Directory
2 18 (7.66%) Docker
3 14 (5.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (4.26%) VMware ESXi
5 9 (3.83%) Hyper-V
6 8 (3.40%) BitLocker
6 8 (3.40%) Microsoft App-V
6 8 (3.40%) Terminal Services
7 3 (1.28%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.85%) Firmware
8 2 (0.85%) vSphere
9 1 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.43%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.43%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 13 (5.53%) Kubernetes
2 11 (4.68%) Ansible
3 10 (4.26%) vCenter Server
4 8 (3.40%) Nagios
4 8 (3.40%) Puppet
4 8 (3.40%) vMotion
5 5 (2.13%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (2.13%) SCCM
6 3 (1.28%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.85%) Amdocs OSS
7 2 (0.85%) Terraform
8 1 (0.43%) CASB
8 1 (0.43%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
8 1 (0.43%) CSIRT
8 1 (0.43%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.43%) SCOM
8 1 (0.43%) vRealize
8 1 (0.43%) vRealize Orchestrator
8 1 (0.43%) WSUS
Vendors
1 58 (24.68%) Microsoft
2 16 (6.81%) VMware
3 15 (6.38%) ServiceNow
4 14 (5.96%) Cisco
4 14 (5.96%) Google
4 14 (5.96%) SAP
5 12 (5.11%) Citrix
6 11 (4.68%) Salesforce
7 9 (3.83%) HP
7 9 (3.83%) Oracle
8 8 (3.40%) Symantec
9 6 (2.55%) Apple
9 6 (2.55%) CA Agile Central
10 5 (2.13%) Atlassian
10 5 (2.13%) CheckPoint
10 5 (2.13%) Palo Alto
10 5 (2.13%) Splunk
11 4 (1.70%) Aruba
11 4 (1.70%) Meraki
12 3 (1.28%) ArcSight