Critical Thinking Contract Job Trends in the South West

Critical Thinking
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Critical Thinking skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 71 100 133
Rank change year-on-year +29 +33 +1
Contract jobs citing Critical Thinking 65 25 11
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 2.69% 1.23% 0.38%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.26% 1.41% 0.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 55 18 11
10th Percentile £525 £443 £550
25th Percentile £694 £525 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £725 £633 £650
Median % change year-on-year +14.62% -2.69% +22.35%
75th Percentile £738 £722 £775
90th Percentile £775 £740 £850
England median daily rate £600 £525 £500
% change year-on-year +14.29% +5.00% -4.76%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South West

Critical Thinking falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,995 1,777 2,502
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 82.68% 87.71% 85.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,174 1,088 1,643
10th Percentile £263 £266 £289
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £725 £720
England median daily rate £500 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 305 112 268
10th Percentile £15.60 £18.51 £20.18
25th Percentile £20.36 £44.69 £45.75
Median hourly rate £33.50 £65.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -48.46% +8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.25 £74.40 £83.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +26.76%

Critical Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Critical Thinking relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Critical Thinking job vacancy trend in the South West

Critical Thinking
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Critical Thinking.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Critical Thinking in the South West over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Critical Thinking in the South West

Critical Thinking
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Critical Thinking.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Critical Thinking

Critical Thinking
Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Critical Thinking within the South West region over the 6 months to 1 January 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
Wiltshire +18 54 £725 +20.08% 5
Bristol 0 6 £550 -26.67% 3
Dorset - 3 - - 2
Gloucestershire -3 1 £475 -11.63% 2
Somerset -11 1 - - 1
Critical Thinking
England

Critical Thinking
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 40 (61.54%) Confluence
2 12 (18.46%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (7.69%) SharePoint
3 5 (7.69%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 51 (78.46%) Microsoft Office
2 36 (55.38%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (1.54%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (1.54%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 4 (6.15%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (3.08%) Power Platform
3 1 (1.54%) Azure
3 1 (1.54%) Dynamics 365
3 1 (1.54%) PowerApps
3 1 (1.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 9 (13.85%) Skype
2 6 (9.23%) DHCP
2 6 (9.23%) DNS
2 6 (9.23%) Unified Communications
3 4 (6.15%) Firewall
4 2 (3.08%) BGP
4 2 (3.08%) OSPF
5 1 (1.54%) Cisco IOS
5 1 (1.54%) Cisco Nexus
5 1 (1.54%) DMVPN
5 1 (1.54%) Network Security
5 1 (1.54%) VLAN
5 1 (1.54%) VoIP
5 1 (1.54%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.08%) Power BI
2 1 (1.54%) SQL Server
2 1 (1.54%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 40 (61.54%) JIRA
2 3 (4.62%) Bitbucket
2 3 (4.62%) Jenkins
3 2 (3.08%) Git
General
1 58 (89.23%) Analytical Skills
2 56 (86.15%) Social Skills
3 35 (53.85%) Military
4 15 (23.08%) Public Sector
5 5 (7.69%) Influencing Skills
6 1 (1.54%) Banking
6 1 (1.54%) Finance
6 1 (1.54%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 30 (46.15%) Architect
1 30 (46.15%) Service Architect
2 8 (12.31%) Wintel Engineer
3 7 (10.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 5 (7.69%) Automation Engineer
4 5 (7.69%) Programme Manager
4 5 (7.69%) Technical Manager
4 5 (7.69%) Technical Programme Manager
5 3 (4.62%) Mobile Engineer
6 2 (3.08%) Analyst
6 2 (3.08%) Lead
6 2 (3.08%) Team Leader
7 1 (1.54%) Business Analyst
7 1 (1.54%) Data Analyst
7 1 (1.54%) Data Migration Analyst
7 1 (1.54%) Network Engineer
7 1 (1.54%) Product Manager
7 1 (1.54%) Service Analyst
7 1 (1.54%) Telephony Engineer
7 1 (1.54%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (6.15%) REST
1 4 (6.15%) SOAP
1 4 (6.15%) Web Services
2 3 (4.62%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (1.54%) JFC
Miscellaneous
1 31 (47.69%) Product Ownership
2 9 (13.85%) PKI
3 4 (6.15%) Management Information System
4 3 (4.62%) Cyber Threat
4 3 (4.62%) Mobile App
4 3 (4.62%) Onboarding
5 1 (1.54%) Cloud Native
5 1 (1.54%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 12 (18.46%) Windows
2 11 (16.92%) Windows Server
3 5 (7.69%) Linux
4 4 (6.15%) Windows Server 2012
5 3 (4.62%) Android
5 3 (4.62%) Apple iOS
5 3 (4.62%) CentOS
5 3 (4.62%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (75.38%) Agile
2 43 (66.15%) Service Management
3 39 (60.00%) ITIL
4 37 (56.92%) Analytical Thinking
5 31 (47.69%) Acceptance Criteria
5 31 (47.69%) Knowledge Transfer
6 30 (46.15%) Business Continuity
6 30 (46.15%) Security Patching
6 30 (46.15%) Service Design
6 30 (46.15%) TOGAF
7 12 (18.46%) System Testing
8 11 (16.92%) Computer Science
9 8 (12.31%) Data Management
10 7 (10.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 7 (10.77%) Problem-Solving
10 7 (10.77%) Project Management
10 7 (10.77%) Waterfall
11 6 (9.23%) Creative Thinking
11 6 (9.23%) Epics
11 6 (9.23%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 15 (23.08%) PowerShell
2 11 (16.92%) SQL
3 6 (9.23%) Python
4 5 (7.69%) JavaScript
5 4 (6.15%) PHP
6 3 (4.62%) Java
6 3 (4.62%) Perl
7 1 (1.54%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 59 (90.77%) Security Cleared
2 58 (89.23%) SC Cleared
3 53 (81.54%) Degree
4 30 (46.15%) TOGAF Certification
5 11 (16.92%) MCSE
5 11 (16.92%) Microsoft Certification
6 7 (10.77%) CCNP
6 7 (10.77%) Cisco Certification
7 6 (9.23%) APMP
7 6 (9.23%) ITIL Certification
8 5 (7.69%) CCNA
8 5 (7.69%) Master's Degree
9 4 (6.15%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 3 (4.62%) MCSA
11 2 (3.08%) Computer Science Degree
11 2 (3.08%) DV Cleared
11 2 (3.08%) OCA
11 2 (3.08%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (3.08%) Accessibility
2 1 (1.54%) Data Quality
System Software
1 9 (13.85%) Active Directory
1 9 (13.85%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (7.69%) Microsoft Virtual Server
2 5 (7.69%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 30 (46.15%) OPNET
2 8 (12.31%) WSUS
3 5 (7.69%) SCCM
4 3 (4.62%) Ansible
4 3 (4.62%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (4.62%) Terraform
5 2 (3.08%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 39 (60.00%) Atlassian
2 30 (46.15%) Remedy
2 30 (46.15%) ServiceNow
3 15 (23.08%) Microsoft
4 10 (15.38%) VMware
5 8 (12.31%) SolarWinds
5 8 (12.31%) Veeam
6 7 (10.77%) Cisco
7 5 (7.69%) Splunk
8 3 (4.62%) Red Hat
9 2 (3.08%) Oracle