Computer Science Degree Contract Job Trends

Computer Science Degree
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Computer Science Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 5 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 197 134 151
Rank change year-on-year -63 +17 +139
Contract jobs citing Computer Science Degree 607 590 719
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.43% 1.95% 1.63%
As % of the Qualifications category 4.20% 6.49% 5.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 394 359 483
10th Percentile £233 £312 £300
25th Percentile £358 £436 £403
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -12.50%
75th Percentile £652 £650 £638
90th Percentile £761 £800 £749
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - +4.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 5 37
10th Percentile £24.27 £32.96 £27.05
25th Percentile - £41.91 £38.75
Median hourly rate £33.50 £43.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.09% -21.82% -
75th Percentile £36.88 £53.75 £66.25
90th Percentile £82.20 £56.75 £83.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £27.00 £56.25
% change year-on-year +24.07% -52.00% -6.64%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

Computer Science 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.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 14,461 9,088 13,350
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.97% 30.03% 30.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,541 5,628 8,227
10th Percentile £331 £285 £287
25th Percentile £420 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% -2.33% -2.27%
75th Percentile £614 £627 £650
90th Percentile £719 £725 £734
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £510 £528
% change year-on-year -1.96% -3.32% -0.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,054 453 988
10th Percentile £16.17 £20.02 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.40 £24.19 £19.99
Median hourly rate £25.77 £42.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -39.36% +6.25% -20.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £67.50 £63.41
90th Percentile £82.25 £82.22 £76.67
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £47.81 £40.94
% change year-on-year -47.39% +16.77% -10.02%

Computer Science Degree
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Computer Science Degree job vacancy trend in the UK

Computer Science Degree
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Computer Science Degree.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Computer Science Degree

Computer Science Degree
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Computer Science Degree over the 6 months to 5 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Computer Science Degree in the UK

Computer Science Degree
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Computer Science Degree.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Computer Science Degree

Computer Science Degree
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Computer Science Degree over the 6 months to 5 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Computer Science Degree in the UK

Computer Science Degree
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Computer Science Degree within the UK over the 6 months to 5 March 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
England -42 539 £500 -4.76% 364
UK excluding London -33 309 £475 -5.00% 263
London -58 242 £527 -4.18% 148
Work from Home -30 168 £430 -20.06% 189
North of England -8 97 £444 -22.83% 40
South East -20 82 £413 -17.50% 91
Midlands -49 58 £525 +5.00% 44
Yorkshire -29 53 £525 +5.00% 14
West Midlands -46 48 £525 -8.70% 23
North West -14 44 £366 -47.71% 20
South West -5 35 £580 +26.09% 30
Scotland +6 21 £592 +18.30% 13
East of England -35 20 £600 +33.33% 43
East Midlands -24 10 £498 +20.46% 21
Wales -14 6 £358 +28.83% 9
Northern Ireland -4 2 - - 3

Computer Science Degree
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 37 (6.10%) Confluence
2 24 (3.95%) SharePoint
3 19 (3.13%) Apache Spark
4 11 (1.81%) Apache
5 6 (0.99%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (0.99%) Microsoft Exchange
6 5 (0.82%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 4 (0.66%) GeoServer
7 4 (0.66%) Smallworld
8 3 (0.49%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 3 (0.49%) Ethereum
8 3 (0.49%) Hyperledger
8 3 (0.49%) IIS
9 2 (0.33%) CMS
9 2 (0.33%) OpenStack
9 2 (0.33%) Palantir Foundry
9 2 (0.33%) SAS
9 2 (0.33%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.16%) Apache Pulsar
10 1 (0.16%) Camunda
Applications
1 17 (2.80%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (1.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.82%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.33%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.33%) Trello
6 1 (0.16%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 8 (1.32%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (0.82%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (0.49%) SAP ERP
3 3 (0.49%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.33%) Oracle ERP
4 2 (0.33%) Oracle General Ledger
4 2 (0.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.33%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
4 2 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.33%) SAP Travel Management
4 2 (0.33%) Workday HCM
5 1 (0.16%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.16%) Maximo
5 1 (0.16%) Misys Equation
5 1 (0.16%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.16%) Oracle FAH
5 1 (0.16%) Oracle HRMS
5 1 (0.16%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.16%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.16%) SAP GTS
Cloud Services
1 214 (35.26%) Azure
2 164 (27.02%) AWS
3 95 (15.65%) GCP
4 46 (7.58%) GitHub
5 43 (7.08%) Serverless
6 39 (6.43%) Power Platform
7 36 (5.93%) Microsoft 365
8 31 (5.11%) Azure DevOps
9 30 (4.94%) SaaS
10 22 (3.62%) GitHub Actions
10 22 (3.62%) IaaS
11 17 (2.80%) AWS CloudFormation
12 15 (2.47%) Entra ID
13 14 (2.31%) Amazon S3
13 14 (2.31%) Azure Data Factory
14 13 (2.14%) PaaS
15 12 (1.98%) Amazon ECS
15 12 (1.98%) Apigee
15 12 (1.98%) Azure AKS
15 12 (1.98%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 24 (3.95%) TCP/IP
2 21 (3.46%) DNS
2 21 (3.46%) Firewall
3 13 (2.14%) Network Security
4 11 (1.81%) HTTP
5 10 (1.65%) WAN
5 10 (1.65%) Wireless
6 9 (1.48%) LAN
7 8 (1.32%) SSH
7 8 (1.32%) VoIP
8 7 (1.15%) HTTPS
9 6 (0.99%) VPN
10 5 (0.82%) CTI
11 4 (0.66%) SAN
11 4 (0.66%) SSL
11 4 (0.66%) VLAN
12 3 (0.49%) Internet
12 3 (0.49%) Telepresence
12 3 (0.49%) Wi-Fi
13 2 (0.33%) BGP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 58 (9.56%) PostgreSQL
2 45 (7.41%) NoSQL
3 33 (5.44%) Data Warehouse
4 30 (4.94%) SQL Server
5 28 (4.61%) Power BI
5 28 (4.61%) Relational Database
6 27 (4.45%) MySQL
7 22 (3.62%) Big Data
8 19 (3.13%) Elasticsearch
9 15 (2.47%) Tableau
10 10 (1.65%) MongoDB
11 9 (1.48%) Metadata
11 9 (1.48%) Redis
12 8 (1.32%) Hadoop
12 8 (1.32%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 7 (1.15%) Amazon RDS
13 7 (1.15%) Apache Cassandra
13 7 (1.15%) Azure SQL Database
14 6 (0.99%) Couchbase
14 6 (0.99%) Data Lake
Development Applications
1 70 (11.53%) Git
2 56 (9.23%) JIRA
3 52 (8.57%) Jenkins
4 51 (8.40%) GitLab
5 16 (2.64%) Liquibase
6 12 (1.98%) Postman
7 11 (1.81%) Selenium
8 8 (1.32%) CircleCI
8 8 (1.32%) Gradle
9 7 (1.15%) Bitbucket
10 6 (0.99%) Cypress.io
10 6 (0.99%) JUnit
11 4 (0.66%) Artifactory
11 4 (0.66%) Cucumber
11 4 (0.66%) Hardhat
11 4 (0.66%) MLflow
12 3 (0.49%) ERwin
12 3 (0.49%) REST Assured
12 3 (0.49%) SonarQube
12 3 (0.49%) TeamCity
General
1 312 (51.40%) Social Skills
2 173 (28.50%) Finance
3 148 (24.38%) Analytical Skills
4 79 (13.01%) Banking
5 39 (6.43%) Public Sector
6 27 (4.45%) Presentation Skills
7 24 (3.95%) Organisational Skills
8 22 (3.62%) Marketing
9 19 (3.13%) Financial Institution
10 16 (2.64%) Documentation Skills
11 14 (2.31%) Legal
12 13 (2.14%) Front Office
13 11 (1.81%) Investment Banking
14 9 (1.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 9 (1.48%) Influencing Skills
14 9 (1.48%) Law
15 8 (1.32%) Retail
16 6 (0.99%) Manufacturing
16 6 (0.99%) Telecoms
17 5 (0.82%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 107 (17.63%) Developer
2 77 (12.69%) Architect
3 56 (9.23%) Analyst
4 55 (9.06%) Lead
4 55 (9.06%) Senior
5 36 (5.93%) Software Engineer
6 31 (5.11%) Solutions Architect
7 29 (4.78%) Technical Support
8 22 (3.62%) Cloud Engineer
8 22 (3.62%) Site Reliability Engineer
9 21 (3.46%) Site Engineer
10 17 (2.80%) AWS Engineer
10 17 (2.80%) Consultant
11 16 (2.64%) Data Engineer
11 16 (2.64%) SOC Analyst
12 15 (2.47%) Cloud Architect
13 14 (2.31%) Business Analyst
13 14 (2.31%) GCP Engineer
13 14 (2.31%) Java Developer
13 14 (2.31%) Senior Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 90 (14.83%) REST
2 58 (9.56%) RESTful
3 42 (6.92%) Elastic Stack
4 41 (6.75%) React
5 39 (6.43%) .NET
6 28 (4.61%) HTML
7 27 (4.45%) Middleware
7 27 (4.45%) Spring
8 26 (4.28%) JSON
8 26 (4.28%) SOAP
9 25 (4.12%) OAuth
10 22 (3.62%) CSS
10 22 (3.62%) XML
11 21 (3.46%) Kafka
11 21 (3.46%) Node.js
12 17 (2.80%) AngularJS
12 17 (2.80%) Spring Boot
13 15 (2.47%) JWT
13 15 (2.47%) PyTorch
14 13 (2.14%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 78 (12.85%) Management Information System
2 61 (10.05%) Cloud Native
3 38 (6.26%) Distributed Systems
4 28 (4.61%) Onboarding
4 28 (4.61%) Product Ownership
5 26 (4.28%) Algorithms
6 24 (3.95%) Public Cloud
7 21 (3.46%) Security Posture
8 20 (3.29%) Data Protection Act
8 20 (3.29%) Data Structures
8 20 (3.29%) Enterprise Software
9 18 (2.97%) Virtual Team
10 16 (2.64%) AI Agents
10 16 (2.64%) Cyberattack
10 16 (2.64%) Security Operations Centre
11 13 (2.14%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (1.98%) Derivative
12 12 (1.98%) Self-Motivation
13 10 (1.65%) Distributed Computing
14 9 (1.48%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 103 (16.97%) Linux
2 95 (15.65%) Windows
3 45 (7.41%) Unix
4 11 (1.81%) Android
5 8 (1.32%) Mac OS
6 7 (1.15%) Windows 10
6 7 (1.15%) Windows Server
7 6 (0.99%) Apple iOS
8 5 (0.82%) VMS
9 4 (0.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.33%) Debian
10 2 (0.33%) Rocky
10 2 (0.33%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.16%) Embedded Linux
11 1 (0.16%) Kali Linux
11 1 (0.16%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 600 (98.85%) Computer Science
2 255 (42.01%) Problem-Solving
3 209 (34.43%) Agile
4 192 (31.63%) DevOps
5 181 (29.82%) CI/CD
6 118 (19.44%) Microservices
7 110 (18.12%) Containerisation
8 106 (17.46%) AI
9 104 (17.13%) Software Engineering
10 80 (13.18%) Analytics
11 79 (13.01%) Infrastructure as Code
12 69 (11.37%) Data Modelling
13 68 (11.20%) Migration
14 67 (11.04%) Stakeholder Management
15 61 (10.05%) Validation
16 60 (9.88%) Cybersecurity
17 58 (9.56%) Continuous Improvement
17 58 (9.56%) Incident Response
17 58 (9.56%) Test Automation
18 56 (9.23%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 215 (35.42%) Python
2 121 (19.93%) SQL
3 105 (17.30%) Java
4 72 (11.86%) JavaScript
5 46 (7.58%) Go
6 43 (7.08%) TypeScript
7 35 (5.77%) C#
8 28 (4.61%) Bash
9 26 (4.28%) PowerShell
10 16 (2.64%) C++
10 16 (2.64%) Perl
11 14 (2.31%) Shell Script
12 9 (1.48%) Kotlin
13 7 (1.15%) R
13 7 (1.15%) Ruby
14 6 (0.99%) Bicep
14 6 (0.99%) Scala
15 4 (0.66%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 4 (0.66%) Rust
15 4 (0.66%) Solidity
Qualifications
1 607 (100.00%) Degree
2 143 (23.56%) Master's Degree
3 91 (14.99%) Security Cleared
4 63 (10.38%) SC Cleared
5 28 (4.61%) Azure Certification
5 28 (4.61%) BPSS Clearance
5 28 (4.61%) CISSP
6 22 (3.62%) AWS Certification
6 22 (3.62%) Microsoft Certification
7 20 (3.29%) PMI Certification
8 19 (3.13%) CISM
8 19 (3.13%) CompTIA Security+
8 19 (3.13%) DV Cleared
9 17 (2.80%) PMP
9 17 (2.80%) TOGAF Certification
10 16 (2.64%) Cisco Certification
10 16 (2.64%) CompTIA CySA+
11 10 (1.65%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
12 8 (1.32%) CCNA
13 7 (1.15%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 54 (8.90%) QA
2 37 (6.10%) GDPR
3 28 (4.61%) Data Quality
4 24 (3.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 16 (2.64%) PCI DSS
6 14 (2.31%) NIST
7 13 (2.14%) GRC
8 11 (1.81%) Def Stans
9 9 (1.48%) HIPAA
10 6 (0.99%) Accessibility
10 6 (0.99%) PSD2
11 4 (0.66%) ISO 20022
12 3 (0.49%) Basel III
12 3 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
12 3 (0.49%) IFRS
12 3 (0.49%) NCSC
12 3 (0.49%) NIST 800
12 3 (0.49%) PMO
12 3 (0.49%) WCAG
System Software
1 126 (20.76%) Docker
2 31 (5.11%) Active Directory
3 8 (1.32%) Firmware
4 6 (0.99%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.33%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.16%) HDFS
6 1 (0.16%) PowerHA
6 1 (0.16%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.16%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.16%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 132 (21.75%) Kubernetes
2 77 (12.69%) Terraform
3 55 (9.06%) Ansible
4 38 (6.26%) Grafana
5 32 (5.27%) Prometheus
6 19 (3.13%) Microsoft Intune
7 18 (2.97%) Puppet
8 15 (2.47%) Kibana
9 7 (1.15%) Argo
10 5 (0.82%) Progress Chef
11 3 (0.49%) Control-M
12 2 (0.33%) FortiGate
12 2 (0.33%) logstash
12 2 (0.33%) SCCM
12 2 (0.33%) Single Sign-On
13 1 (0.16%) Istio
13 1 (0.16%) linkerd
13 1 (0.16%) Packer
13 1 (0.16%) QRadar
13 1 (0.16%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 122 (20.10%) Microsoft
2 66 (10.87%) Splunk
3 48 (7.91%) Oracle
4 37 (6.10%) Google
5 21 (3.46%) SAP
6 20 (3.29%) Databricks
7 18 (2.97%) Salesforce
8 15 (2.47%) IBM
8 15 (2.47%) ServiceNow
9 12 (1.98%) Red Hat
9 12 (1.98%) Software AG
10 11 (1.81%) Cisco
10 11 (1.81%) Informatica
11 10 (1.65%) Atlassian
11 10 (1.65%) MuleSoft
12 9 (1.48%) Palo Alto
13 8 (1.32%) VMware
14 7 (1.15%) Foundry
15 6 (0.99%) Gemalto
15 6 (0.99%) Workday