C Contract Job Trends

C
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring C skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 8 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 383 247 202
Rank change year-on-year -136 -45 +95
Contract jobs citing C 200 356 579
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.97% 1.23%
As % of the Programming Languages category 1.77% 3.03% 3.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 73 146 276
10th Percentile £68 £400 £375
25th Percentile £400 £461 £431
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £546 £550
Median % change year-on-year -8.47% -0.68% -8.33%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £638
90th Percentile £680 £810 £794
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £524 £525
% change year-on-year -9.31% -0.24% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 52 147
10th Percentile £43.40 £46.15 £51.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £54.27 £55.63
Median hourly rate £68.00 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.62% - +12.07%
75th Percentile £73.75 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.25 £95.00 £90.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.25 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +3.46% - -

All Programming Languages
UK

C falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 11,301 11,753 14,731
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.30% 32.12% 31.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,439 7,592 10,502
10th Percentile £345 £350 £363
25th Percentile £413 £425 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -2.65%
75th Percentile £625 £644 £660
90th Percentile £725 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.96% -2.00% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 318 282 442
10th Percentile £29.00 £22.00 £32.32
25th Percentile £42.81 £38.88 £47.50
Median hourly rate £62.50 £62.50 £61.92
Median % change year-on-year - +0.94% +0.68%
75th Percentile £67.44 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £75.00 £78.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

C
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing C relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

C job vacancy trend in the UK

C
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C

C
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing C over the 6 months to 8 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for C in the UK

C
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing C

C
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing C over the 6 months to 8 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for C in the UK

C
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing C within the UK over the 6 months to 8 November 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
England -140 175 £500 -8.47% 855
UK excluding London -103 136 £475 -9.31% 825
London -43 50 £593 +7.82% 206
East of England -13 47 £475 -5.00% 183
South West -27 41 £500 -0.20% 122
Work from Home -50 38 £475 -12.44% 362
Scotland +20 17 £438 -48.53% 74
North of England -40 17 £450 -13.46% 70
North West -21 12 £415 -20.19% 29
South East -45 11 £500 -16.67% 313
Yorkshire -37 5 £500 -7.83% 20
Midlands -34 3 - - 68
East Midlands - 2 - - 40
West Midlands -37 1 - - 28

C
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 16 (8.00%) WebLogic
2 15 (7.50%) WebSphere
3 6 (3.00%) Apache Spark
4 3 (1.50%) Confluence
5 2 (1.00%) nginx
5 2 (1.00%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.50%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 13 (6.50%) Simulink
2 9 (4.50%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (3.00%) Stateflow
4 5 (2.50%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (2.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.00%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.50%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 31 (15.50%) AWS
2 24 (12.00%) Azure
3 16 (8.00%) GitHub
4 14 (7.00%) GCP
5 5 (2.50%) OpenShift
6 3 (1.50%) Amazon ECS
6 3 (1.50%) Amazon EKS
6 3 (1.50%) Amazon S3
6 3 (1.50%) AWS CloudFormation
6 3 (1.50%) AWS Lambda
6 3 (1.50%) Serverless
7 2 (1.00%) Cloud Computing
7 2 (1.00%) Dynamics 365
7 2 (1.00%) IaaS
7 2 (1.00%) npm
7 2 (1.00%) PaaS
7 2 (1.00%) SaaS
8 1 (0.50%) Amazon GuardDuty
8 1 (0.50%) Azure DevOps
8 1 (0.50%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 7 (3.50%) Ethernet
2 5 (2.50%) RS-232
2 5 (2.50%) SpaceWire
3 4 (2.00%) Firewall
3 4 (2.00%) TCP/IP
4 3 (1.50%) 3GPP
4 3 (1.50%) HTTP
4 3 (1.50%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (1.00%) AMQP
5 2 (1.00%) Anycast
5 2 (1.00%) BGP
5 2 (1.00%) Bluetooth
5 2 (1.00%) DNS
5 2 (1.00%) Ethernet VPN
5 2 (1.00%) Internet
5 2 (1.00%) Network Security
5 2 (1.00%) Radio Access Network
5 2 (1.00%) Software-Defined Networking
5 2 (1.00%) VXLAN
5 2 (1.00%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (4.50%) Oracle Database
2 6 (3.00%) Big Data
3 5 (2.50%) HPCC
4 4 (2.00%) Data Mining
5 3 (1.50%) Data Lake
5 3 (1.50%) Elasticsearch
5 3 (1.50%) MongoDB
5 3 (1.50%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.50%) Relational Database
6 2 (1.00%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (1.00%) InfluxDB
6 2 (1.00%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.50%) DB2
7 1 (0.50%) NonStop SQL
7 1 (0.50%) NoSQL
Development Applications
1 20 (10.00%) Git
2 15 (7.50%) Jenkins
3 14 (7.00%) Rational DOORS
4 11 (5.50%) Gradle
5 10 (5.00%) GitLab
6 9 (4.50%) ClearCase
7 7 (3.50%) Xcode
8 6 (3.00%) Rational Team Concert
9 5 (2.50%) JIRA
9 5 (2.50%) Maven
10 4 (2.00%) Artifactory
10 4 (2.00%) Clang
10 4 (2.00%) GCC
10 4 (2.00%) Rational Rhapsody
11 3 (1.50%) Bitbucket
11 3 (1.50%) KGDB
11 3 (1.50%) Visual Studio
12 2 (1.00%) CMake
13 1 (0.50%) GDB
13 1 (0.50%) MSTest
General
1 34 (17.00%) Social Skills
2 23 (11.50%) Finance
3 22 (11.00%) Electronics
4 19 (9.50%) Aerospace
5 17 (8.50%) Analytical Skills
6 15 (7.50%) Public Sector
7 14 (7.00%) Banking
8 10 (5.00%) Law
8 10 (5.00%) Telecoms
9 7 (3.50%) Manufacturing
10 6 (3.00%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (3.00%) Marketing
10 6 (3.00%) Military
11 5 (2.50%) Aviation
12 4 (2.00%) Financial Institution
12 4 (2.00%) Investment Banking
13 2 (1.00%) Automotive
13 2 (1.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 1 (0.50%) Front Office
14 1 (0.50%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 46 (23.00%) Software Engineer
2 35 (17.50%) Developer
3 16 (8.00%) Support Engineer
4 15 (7.50%) Consultant
5 13 (6.50%) Embedded Engineer
6 12 (6.00%) Architect
6 12 (6.00%) Embedded Software Engineer
6 12 (6.00%) Product Engineer
6 12 (6.00%) Products Support Engineer
6 12 (6.00%) Software Support Engineer
7 11 (5.50%) Design Engineer
7 11 (5.50%) Senior
8 10 (5.00%) C++ Developer
8 10 (5.00%) Digital Design Engineer
8 10 (5.00%) Systems Engineer
9 8 (4.00%) C Software Engineer
9 8 (4.00%) C++ Software Engineer
10 7 (3.50%) Java Engineer
10 7 (3.50%) Linux Developer
11 6 (3.00%) AWS Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (17.00%) HTML
2 27 (13.50%) Middleware
3 23 (11.50%) Node.js
4 17 (8.50%) .NET
5 12 (6.00%) CSS
6 10 (5.00%) Flash
7 8 (4.00%) JSON
7 8 (4.00%) React
7 8 (4.00%) XML
8 7 (3.50%) REST
9 5 (2.50%) AngularJS
9 5 (2.50%) PyTorch
9 5 (2.50%) Spring
10 4 (2.00%) Google JAX
10 4 (2.00%) JAX
10 4 (2.00%) TensorFlow
10 4 (2.00%) Yocto
11 3 (1.50%) Electron
11 3 (1.50%) RESTful
11 3 (1.50%) scikit-learn
Miscellaneous
1 18 (9.00%) FPGA
2 16 (8.00%) Embedded Systems
3 13 (6.50%) VHDL
4 8 (4.00%) Distributed Systems
5 7 (3.50%) Analogue Electronics
5 7 (3.50%) CUDA
5 7 (3.50%) Mobile App
5 7 (3.50%) Mobile Banking
5 7 (3.50%) Self-Motivation
6 6 (3.00%) Distributed Computing
7 5 (2.50%) Data Centre
8 4 (2.00%) Algorithms
8 4 (2.00%) CAN bus
8 4 (2.00%) Cloud Native
8 4 (2.00%) Device Driver
8 4 (2.00%) Hedge funds
8 4 (2.00%) PCIe
8 4 (2.00%) Verilog
9 3 (1.50%) Security Posture
10 2 (1.00%) CBDC
Operating Systems
1 66 (33.00%) Linux
2 30 (15.00%) Windows
3 13 (6.50%) Unix
4 12 (6.00%) Ubuntu
5 8 (4.00%) Android
6 7 (3.50%) Apple iOS
6 7 (3.50%) FreeRTOS
7 5 (2.50%) CentOS
8 3 (1.50%) Mac OS
9 2 (1.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.50%) OpenVMS
10 1 (0.50%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.50%) VMS
10 1 (0.50%) VxWorks
10 1 (0.50%) Windows Embedded Compact
10 1 (0.50%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (37.50%) Software Engineering
2 28 (14.00%) CI/CD
3 26 (13.00%) Agile
4 25 (12.50%) Problem-Solving
5 22 (11.00%) AI
6 17 (8.50%) DevOps
6 17 (8.50%) Software Testing
6 17 (8.50%) Validation
7 16 (8.00%) Machine Learning
7 16 (8.00%) Mathematics
8 15 (7.50%) Requirements Gathering
8 15 (7.50%) TDD
9 14 (7.00%) Signal Processing
10 13 (6.50%) Containerisation
11 12 (6.00%) Scrum
11 12 (6.00%) UML
11 12 (6.00%) Unit Testing
12 11 (5.50%) Roadmaps
13 10 (5.00%) Data Pipeline
13 10 (5.00%) Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 140 (70.00%) C++
2 85 (42.50%) Python
3 83 (41.50%) Java
4 33 (16.50%) JavaScript
5 31 (15.50%) Shell Script
6 24 (12.00%) SQL
7 20 (10.00%) Ada
8 17 (8.50%) Bash
9 16 (8.00%) MATLAB
10 15 (7.50%) PHP
11 14 (7.00%) C#
12 10 (5.00%) PowerShell
13 9 (4.50%) Fortran
13 9 (4.50%) Go
13 9 (4.50%) Perl
14 8 (4.00%) Ruby
14 8 (4.00%) Scala
15 7 (3.50%) Kotlin
15 7 (3.50%) Objective-C
15 7 (3.50%) Swift
Qualifications
1 67 (33.50%) Security Cleared
2 49 (24.50%) SC Cleared
3 20 (10.00%) Degree
4 11 (5.50%) DV Cleared
5 7 (3.50%) Master's Degree
5 7 (3.50%) PhD
6 3 (1.50%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (1.00%) CCIE
7 2 (1.00%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (1.00%) CISSP
7 2 (1.00%) JNCIE
7 2 (1.00%) Postgraduate
8 1 (0.50%) CCSAS
8 1 (0.50%) GPEN
8 1 (0.50%) GWAPT
8 1 (0.50%) GXPN
8 1 (0.50%) ISTQB
8 1 (0.50%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 1 (0.50%) OSCE
8 1 (0.50%) OSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (6.00%) QA
2 8 (4.00%) MISRA
3 6 (3.00%) Def Stans
3 6 (3.00%) DO-178B
4 5 (2.50%) IEC 61508
4 5 (2.50%) ISO 26262
4 5 (2.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (1.50%) EU AI Act
5 3 (1.50%) GDPR
5 3 (1.50%) IEC 62304
5 3 (1.50%) MISRA C
5 3 (1.50%) NIST
6 2 (1.00%) AUTOSAR
6 2 (1.00%) Software Quality Assurance
7 1 (0.50%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.50%) DO-254
7 1 (0.50%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 21 (10.50%) Docker
1 21 (10.50%) Firmware
2 4 (2.00%) Embedded Firmware
3 2 (1.00%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.50%) KVM
4 1 (0.50%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.50%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 20 (10.00%) Kubernetes
2 10 (5.00%) Terraform
3 8 (4.00%) Ansible
4 4 (2.00%) Grafana
5 3 (1.50%) Istio
5 3 (1.50%) Podman
6 2 (1.00%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.50%) Functional Safety
7 1 (0.50%) ITRS Geneos
7 1 (0.50%) Rsyslog
7 1 (0.50%) SCOM
Vendors
1 18 (9.00%) Oracle
1 18 (9.00%) Red Hat
2 16 (8.00%) Dynatrace
3 9 (4.50%) Microsoft
3 9 (4.50%) NetApp
4 8 (4.00%) SAP
5 6 (3.00%) MathWorks
6 4 (2.00%) ServiceNow
7 3 (1.50%) Atlassian
7 3 (1.50%) Hitachi
7 3 (1.50%) IBM
8 2 (1.00%) Arista
8 2 (1.00%) Cisco
8 2 (1.00%) HP
8 2 (1.00%) Intel
8 2 (1.00%) Salesforce
8 2 (1.00%) Siemens
8 2 (1.00%) Splunk
8 2 (1.00%) Wind River
9 1 (0.50%) OpenAI