Job Vacancy Trend Daily Rate Trend Daily Rate Histogram Hourly Rate Trend Hourly Rate Histogram Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 25 February 2021

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for Microsoft Certification qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months to 25 February 2021 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

Note that daily and hourly rates are treated separately in these statistics. When calculating contractor rate percentiles, daily rates are never derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

Microsoft Certification
UK
6 months to
25 Feb 2021		 Same period 2020 Same period 2019
Rank 301 257 270
Rank change year-on-year -44 +13 -14
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 384 697 1,016
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.81% 1.02% 1.03%
As % of the Qualifications category 3.67% 4.76% 5.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 311 440 648
Median daily rate £430 £375 £388
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +14.67% -3.23% +10.71%
10th Percentile £163 £140 £156
90th Percentile £583 £550 £600
UK excluding London median daily rate £413 £375 £375
% change year-on-year +10.00% - +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 28 44 100
Median hourly rate £23.21 £17.75 £18.35
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year +30.76% -3.27% +25.26%
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.34 £13.15
90th Percentile £64.65 £47.00 £35.49
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.21 £17.50 £17.00
% change year-on-year +32.63% +2.94% +16.64%

Microsoft Certification is in the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for academic qualifications or professional certifications.

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK
Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 10,461 14,643 19,110
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 22.06% 21.44% 19.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,800 9,525 11,824
Median daily rate £475 £465 £450
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +2.15% +3.33% +2.86%
10th Percentile £288 £260 £258
90th Percentile £650 £638 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £425
% change year-on-year - +5.88% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 561 577 853
Median hourly rate £40.00 £31.00 £27.50
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year +29.03% +12.73% +14.58%
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.18 £12.50
90th Percentile £64.50 £57.20 £51.00
Median hourly rate £32.25 £26.15 £27.50
% change year-on-year +23.33% -4.91% +10.00%

Microsoft Certification
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing Microsoft Certification as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Microsoft Certification.

Daily rate trend for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Microsoft Certification over the 6 months to 25 February 2021.

Daily rate histogram for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Microsoft Certification.

Hourly rate trend for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Microsoft Certification over the 6 months to 25 February 2021.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Top 16 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft Certification within the UK over the 6 months to 25 February 2021. 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
Job
Vacancies
England -48 286 £420 +11.26% 284
UK excluding London +14 243 £413 +10.00% 237
London -30 97 £450 +18.81% 70
South East +35 83 £490 +32.88% 52
Work from Home -154 75 £450 +5.88% 74
Scotland +39 54 £425 +22.30% 14
East of England +48 36 £306 -19.14% 21
North of England +9 25 £450 +12.50% 81
North West +37 19 £450 +12.50% 47
Midlands +3 19 £425 +21.43% 40
South West +46 17 £308 -27.53% 19
West Midlands +13 17 £435 -1.14% 27
Wales +25 7 £273 -9.17% 7
Yorkshire +19 6 £375 - 26
Northern Ireland +1 3 £155 -53.73% 3
East Midlands +1 2 £303 -3.20% 13

For the 6 months to 25 February 2021, IT contractor jobs citing Microsoft Certification also mentioned the following skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads with a requirement for Microsoft Certification.

1 300 (78.13%) Microsoft
2 181 (47.14%) Windows
3 169 (44.01%) Active Directory
4 163 (42.45%) MCSE
5 144 (37.50%) Microsoft 365
6 130 (33.85%) Security Cleared
7 127 (33.07%) Azure
8 111 (28.91%) Windows Server
9 110 (28.65%) ITIL
9 110 (28.65%) VMware
10 96 (25.00%) VMware Infrastructure
11 90 (23.44%) Migration
12 81 (21.09%) DNS
13 80 (20.83%) SC Cleared
14 79 (20.57%) MCSA
15 77 (20.05%) PowerShell
16 73 (19.01%) Windows 10
17 70 (18.23%) Cisco
18 64 (16.67%) Cisco Certification
19 63 (16.41%) SharePoint
19 63 (16.41%) Microsoft Office
19 63 (16.41%) Agile Software Development
20 60 (15.63%) DevOps
21 57 (14.84%) SCCM
22 56 (14.58%) Degree
23 52 (13.54%) HP
24 51 (13.28%) DV Cleared
25 49 (12.76%) DHCP
26 47 (12.24%) SQL
26 47 (12.24%) CCNA

Microsoft Certification
Co-occurring IT Skills by Category

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

Application Platforms
1 63 (16.41%) SharePoint
2 42 (10.94%) MS Exchange
3 32 (8.33%) Exchange Server 2010
4 24 (6.25%) Exchange Server 2013
5 22 (5.73%) Skype for Business
6 12 (3.13%) Exchange Server 2003
6 12 (3.13%) Exchange Server 2007
7 10 (2.60%) IIS
8 9 (2.34%) ArcGIS
8 9 (2.34%) OpenStack
9 6 (1.56%) Confluence
9 6 (1.56%) Office Communications Server
10 3 (0.78%) CMS
10 3 (0.78%) IBM Notes
11 2 (0.52%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
11 2 (0.52%) nginx
11 2 (0.52%) SAS
11 2 (0.52%) SharePoint 2013
12 1 (0.26%) SharePoint 2010
12 1 (0.26%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 63 (16.41%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (7.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 23 (5.99%) MS Visio
4 9 (2.34%) Photoshop
5 7 (1.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (1.04%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (1.04%) Windchill
7 2 (0.52%) InfoPath
7 2 (0.52%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 18 (4.69%) Teamcenter
2 4 (1.04%) Dynamics AX
3 3 (0.78%) Infor M3
4 2 (0.52%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.26%) assyst
5 1 (0.26%) ION MarketView
5 1 (0.26%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 144 (37.50%) Microsoft 365
2 127 (33.07%) Azure
3 33 (8.59%) Azure Active Directory
4 20 (5.21%) IaaS
5 19 (4.95%) AWS
5 19 (4.95%) PaaS
6 16 (4.17%) Power Platform
7 15 (3.91%) Power Automate
8 10 (2.60%) PowerApps
9 7 (1.82%) Dynamics 365
9 7 (1.82%) OneDrive
10 6 (1.56%) GCP
11 5 (1.30%) SaaS
12 4 (1.04%) Azure Data Factory
13 3 (0.78%) Azure Functions
13 3 (0.78%) Cloud Computing
13 3 (0.78%) Serverless
14 2 (0.52%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 2 (0.52%) Logic Apps
15 1 (0.26%) ShareGate
Communications & Networking
1 81 (21.09%) DNS
2 49 (12.76%) DHCP
3 42 (10.94%) LAN
3 42 (10.94%) WAN
4 41 (10.68%) Firewall
5 40 (10.42%) VPN
6 26 (6.77%) Skype
7 25 (6.51%) X.500
8 24 (6.25%) TCP/IP
9 23 (5.99%) Kerberos
10 21 (5.47%) VLAN
11 18 (4.69%) SMTP
11 18 (4.69%) Wi-Fi
12 17 (4.43%) SNMP
13 16 (4.17%) IPsec
13 16 (4.17%) POP3
14 15 (3.91%) SAN
15 13 (3.39%) NetScaler
16 10 (2.60%) Internet
17 8 (2.08%) 802.11
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (11.20%) SQL Server
2 13 (3.39%) Azure SQL Database
2 13 (3.39%) Power BI
3 10 (2.60%) Big Data
3 10 (2.60%) SQL Server 2012
4 8 (2.08%) GIS
4 8 (2.08%) SQL Server 2014
5 7 (1.82%) Data Lake
5 7 (1.82%) Data Warehouse
5 7 (1.82%) SQL Server 2016
6 6 (1.56%) SQL Server 2008
7 4 (1.04%) Amazon RDS
7 4 (1.04%) Relational Database
7 4 (1.04%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 4 (1.04%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 3 (0.78%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
8 3 (0.78%) HDInsight
8 3 (0.78%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.78%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 2 (0.52%) PowerPivot
Development Applications
1 21 (5.47%) JIRA
2 4 (1.04%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.78%) Atlassian Bamboo
3 3 (0.78%) Git (software)
3 3 (0.78%) Sonatype Nexus
3 3 (0.78%) Visual Studio
4 2 (0.52%) Bitbucket
4 2 (0.52%) eggPlant
4 2 (0.52%) GitLab
4 2 (0.52%) HP UFT
4 2 (0.52%) LoadRunner
4 2 (0.52%) VSS/SourceSafe
5 1 (0.26%) Hudson
5 1 (0.26%) MSI
5 1 (0.26%) MSTest
5 1 (0.26%) Selenium
5 1 (0.26%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.26%) Visual Studio Team System
General
1 33 (8.59%) Public Sector
2 21 (5.47%) Finance
3 19 (4.95%) Manufacturing
4 13 (3.39%) Retail
5 9 (2.34%) Banking
6 7 (1.82%) Back Office
6 7 (1.82%) Telecoms
7 5 (1.30%) Marketing
8 3 (0.78%) Electronics
8 3 (0.78%) Front Office
8 3 (0.78%) Investment Banking
8 3 (0.78%) Legal
9 2 (0.52%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.52%) German Language
9 2 (0.52%) Publishing
10 1 (0.26%) International Banking
10 1 (0.26%) Italian Language
10 1 (0.26%) Military
10 1 (0.26%) Russian Language
10 1 (0.26%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 53 (13.80%) Architect
2 50 (13.02%) Consultant
3 39 (10.16%) Analyst
4 30 (7.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 23 (5.99%) Support Engineer
6 17 (4.43%) Network Engineer
7 16 (4.17%) Support Analyst
7 16 (4.17%) Wintel Engineer
8 15 (3.91%) Azure Engineer
9 14 (3.65%) Active Directory Engineer
9 14 (3.65%) Administrator
9 14 (3.65%) IT Support
10 13 (3.39%) Azure Consultant
10 13 (3.39%) Desktop Support
10 13 (3.39%) IT Engineer
11 12 (3.13%) 3rd Line Engineer
11 12 (3.13%) Azure Architect
12 11 (2.86%) Developer
12 11 (2.86%) Service Analyst
12 11 (2.86%) Systems Administrator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (6.25%) 802.1X
1 24 (6.25%) LDAP
2 11 (2.86%) .NET
3 10 (2.60%) Itk
4 5 (1.30%) Web Services
5 3 (0.78%) CSS
5 3 (0.78%) jQuery
5 3 (0.78%) SailPoint
5 3 (0.78%) XML
6 2 (0.52%) CGI
6 2 (0.52%) Flask
6 2 (0.52%) MDX
6 2 (0.52%) Node.js
6 2 (0.52%) REST
6 2 (0.52%) RESTful
6 2 (0.52%) Software Packaging
6 2 (0.52%) XSLT
7 1 (0.26%) .NET Framework
7 1 (0.26%) SAML
7 1 (0.26%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 45 (11.72%) Analytical Skills
2 29 (7.55%) Data Centre
2 29 (7.55%) Management Information System
3 27 (7.03%) PKI
3 27 (7.03%) Replication
4 11 (2.86%) NHS
5 10 (2.60%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (2.08%) Video Conferencing
7 5 (1.30%) Blackberry
7 5 (1.30%) Clustering
7 5 (1.30%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (1.30%) Fat Client
7 5 (1.30%) Mobile App
7 5 (1.30%) Private Cloud
7 5 (1.30%) Thin Client
8 4 (1.04%) Driving Licence
8 4 (1.04%) Enterprise Cloud
8 4 (1.04%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (0.78%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (0.78%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 181 (47.14%) Windows
2 111 (28.91%) Windows Server
3 73 (19.01%) Windows 10
4 41 (10.68%) Windows Server 2012
5 40 (10.42%) Linux
6 37 (9.64%) Windows Server 2008
7 30 (7.81%) Windows 7
8 29 (7.55%) Windows Server 2016
9 16 (4.17%) Mac OS
9 16 (4.17%) Windows Server 2003
9 16 (4.17%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (1.82%) Apple iOS
11 4 (1.04%) Android
11 4 (1.04%) Windows 8
11 4 (1.04%) Windows XP
12 3 (0.78%) Unix
13 1 (0.26%) SUSE
13 1 (0.26%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 110 (28.65%) ITIL
2 90 (23.44%) Migration
3 63 (16.41%) Agile Software Development
4 60 (15.63%) DevOps
5 44 (11.46%) Service Management
6 43 (11.20%) Computer Science
7 40 (10.42%) Change Management
8 33 (8.59%) Load Balancing
9 32 (8.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 26 (6.77%) Continuous Improvement
10 26 (6.77%) Continuous Integration
10 26 (6.77%) Data Migration
10 26 (6.77%) Problem-Solving
11 22 (5.73%) Business Intelligence
11 22 (5.73%) Disaster Recovery
12 20 (5.21%) Service Delivery
13 19 (4.95%) ITIL V3
14 18 (4.69%) ITSM
14 18 (4.69%) Kalman Filter
14 18 (4.69%) PLM
Programming Languages
1 77 (20.05%) PowerShell
2 47 (12.24%) SQL
3 16 (4.17%) C
4 11 (2.86%) Python
4 11 (2.86%) VB
5 8 (2.08%) JavaScript
6 7 (1.82%) Java
6 7 (1.82%) T-SQL
7 5 (1.30%) C#
7 5 (1.30%) C++
7 5 (1.30%) Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)
8 4 (1.04%) Bash Shell
9 2 (0.52%) PL/SQL
9 2 (0.52%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.52%) VBA
10 1 (0.26%) Formula Language
10 1 (0.26%) Ruby
10 1 (0.26%) VB.NET
10 1 (0.26%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 163 (42.45%) MCSE
2 130 (33.85%) Security Cleared
3 80 (20.83%) SC Cleared
4 79 (20.57%) MCSA
5 64 (16.67%) Cisco Certification
6 56 (14.58%) Degree
7 51 (13.28%) DV Cleared
8 47 (12.24%) CCNA
9 36 (9.38%) MCP
10 30 (7.81%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 29 (7.55%) CCNP
12 27 (7.03%) Computer Science Degree
13 21 (5.47%) ITIL Certification
13 21 (5.47%) MCITP
14 20 (5.21%) MCAD
15 17 (4.43%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 14 (3.65%) A+ Certification
16 14 (3.65%) Citrix Certification
17 9 (2.34%) CISSP
18 8 (2.08%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (7.81%) SLA
2 15 (3.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (1.56%) HMG Security Policy Framework
3 6 (1.56%) QA
4 3 (0.78%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.78%) GDPR
4 3 (0.78%) NCSC
5 2 (0.52%) Disclosure Scotland
5 2 (0.52%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.26%) Government Security Classifications
6 1 (0.26%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 169 (44.01%) Active Directory
2 96 (25.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (5.73%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
3 22 (5.73%) VMware ESXi
4 20 (5.21%) Hyper-V
5 16 (4.17%) XenApp
6 13 (3.39%) VMware NSX
6 13 (3.39%) vSphere
7 6 (1.56%) Microsoft App-V
7 6 (1.56%) Terminal Services
7 6 (1.56%) Virtual Desktop
8 5 (1.30%) Virtual Machines
9 4 (1.04%) BitLocker
9 4 (1.04%) Docker
9 4 (1.04%) Virtual Servers
10 3 (0.78%) vCloud
10 3 (0.78%) XenDesktop
11 2 (0.52%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 2 (0.52%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 1 (0.26%) Citrix Hypervisor
Systems Management
1 57 (14.84%) SCCM
2 30 (7.81%) Microsoft Intune
3 29 (7.55%) Ansible
4 11 (2.86%) WSUS
5 9 (2.34%) Single Sign-On
6 8 (2.08%) AirWatch
6 8 (2.08%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
6 8 (2.08%) NetBackup
7 7 (1.82%) Terraform
7 7 (1.82%) vCenter Server
8 6 (1.56%) Kubernetes
8 6 (1.56%) SCOM
9 5 (1.30%) Backup Exec
9 5 (1.30%) DameWare
9 5 (1.30%) McAfee ePO
9 5 (1.30%) OpenView Configuration Management
9 5 (1.30%) vRealize
10 3 (0.78%) EMC VPLEX
10 3 (0.78%) Norton AntiVirus
11 2 (0.52%) HP Quality Center
Vendors
1 300 (78.13%) Microsoft
2 110 (28.65%) VMware
3 70 (18.23%) Cisco
4 52 (13.54%) HP
5 46 (11.98%) Citrix
6 22 (5.73%) Dell
7 16 (4.17%) Oracle
8 14 (3.65%) ServiceNow
9 13 (3.39%) Apple
9 13 (3.39%) Siemens
9 13 (3.39%) Veeam
10 11 (2.86%) Juniper
10 11 (2.86%) Lumension
10 11 (2.86%) SAP
10 11 (2.86%) Sophos
11 10 (2.60%) SolarWinds
12 9 (2.34%) ESRI
12 9 (2.34%) IronPort
12 9 (2.34%) NetApp
13 8 (2.08%) EMC
322 Microsoft Certification job vacancies Nationwide