Job Vacancy Trend Daily Rate Trend Daily Rate Histogram Hourly Rate Trend Hourly Rate Histogram Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 20 October 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 20 October 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
20 Oct 2021		 Same period 2020 Same period 2019
Rank 365 299 285
Rank change year-on-year -66 -14 -1
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 553 254 806
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.66% 0.81% 0.95%
As % of the Qualifications category 3.52% 3.26% 4.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 376 171 495
10th Percentile £185 £155 £130
25th Percentile £272 £306 £239
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £443 £450 £375
Median % change year-on-year -1.67% +20.00% +7.14%
75th Percentile £541 £550 £475
90th Percentile £638 £600 £566
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £475 £353
% change year-on-year -15.79% +34.75% +0.71%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 17 38
10th Percentile £13.19 £14.30 £14.73
25th Percentile £13.25 £15.00 £16.06
Median hourly rate £13.50 £20.34 £21.25
Median % change year-on-year -33.61% -4.31% +29.97%
75th Percentile £17.06 £25.50 £24.50
90th Percentile £20.51 £39.55 £49.03
UK excluding London median hourly rate £13.50 £20.17 £21.25
% change year-on-year -33.06% -5.09% +34.07%

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 15,714 7,781 16,891
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 18.63% 24.70% 20.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,178 5,224 10,739
10th Percentile £313 £290 £262
25th Percentile £413 £385 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £463
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% +2.70% +2.78%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £563
90th Percentile £688 £644 £648
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £457 £441
% change year-on-year +4.00% +3.56% +6.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 696 312 771
10th Percentile £12.30 £15.00 £14.00
25th Percentile £16.25 £20.16 £17.50
Median hourly rate £33.50 £31.61 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.98% -20.98% +74.18%
75th Percentile £53.81 £48.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £65.50 £63.50 £59.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.75 £27.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +15.45% -31.25% +73.91%

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 20 October 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 20 October 2021.

Hourly rate histogram for Microsoft Certification in the UK

Microsoft Certification
Top 17 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 20 October 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 -43 467 £438 -2.78% 392
UK excluding London -67 320 £400 -15.79% 333
London -93 174 £450 +2.86% 84
Work from Home -139 113 £475 +2.70% 69
South East -59 84 £473 +15.24% 73
North of England -29 80 £350 -36.36% 106
North West -25 51 £488 -11.36% 72
Midlands -59 49 £351 -36.14% 63
East of England -28 45 £438 +16.67% 32
Scotland -74 38 £475 +0.53% 17
West Midlands -58 30 £465 -15.45% 35
Yorkshire -23 27 £200 -60.00% 23
East Midlands -18 19 £320 -46.67% 28
South West -47 14 £400 -15.79% 35
Wales -28 7 £313 +63.19% 6
Northern Ireland -6 5 - - 2
North East - 2 £281 - 11

For the 6 months to 20 October 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.

1 433 (78.30%) Microsoft
2 291 (52.62%) Windows
3 247 (44.67%) Active Directory
4 237 (42.86%) MCSE
5 214 (38.70%) Azure
6 204 (36.89%) Microsoft 365
7 198 (35.80%) ITIL
8 152 (27.49%) Social Skills
9 141 (25.50%) VMware
10 139 (25.14%) Windows Server
11 138 (24.95%) MCSA
12 115 (20.80%) PowerShell
13 111 (20.07%) Degree
13 111 (20.07%) Windows 10
14 109 (19.71%) Migration
15 98 (17.72%) Cisco
16 96 (17.36%) Cisco Certification
17 95 (17.18%) VMware Infrastructure
17 95 (17.18%) Security Cleared
18 91 (16.46%) Citrix
19 84 (15.19%) DNS
20 82 (14.83%) SCCM
21 81 (14.65%) SQL Server
22 75 (13.56%) SC Cleared
23 74 (13.38%) Agile Software Development
23 74 (13.38%) CCNA
24 70 (12.66%) Microsoft Office
24 70 (12.66%) Problem-Solving
25 66 (11.93%) MCP
25 66 (11.93%) Windows Server 2012

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 61 (11.03%) SharePoint
2 46 (8.32%) MS Exchange
3 15 (2.71%) IIS
4 13 (2.35%) Exchange Server 2013
5 12 (2.17%) ArcGIS
5 12 (2.17%) Exchange Server 2010
5 12 (2.17%) Skype for Business
6 5 (0.90%) SAS
6 5 (0.90%) SharePoint 2010
7 4 (0.72%) Exchange Server 2007
7 4 (0.72%) Office Communications Server
8 3 (0.54%) Confluence
8 3 (0.54%) Exchange Server 2003
8 3 (0.54%) IBM Notes
8 3 (0.54%) SharePoint Server
9 2 (0.36%) Apache
10 1 (0.18%) Elasticsearch
10 1 (0.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 1 (0.18%) WebSphere
10 1 (0.18%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 70 (12.66%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (2.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.17%) Photoshop
3 4 (0.72%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.36%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (0.18%) InfoPath
5 1 (0.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 27 (4.88%) Dynamics AX
2 10 (1.81%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.90%) assyst
4 1 (0.18%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.18%) Sentinel
4 1 (0.18%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 214 (38.70%) Azure
2 204 (36.89%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (11.57%) Azure Active Directory
4 43 (7.78%) AWS
5 41 (7.41%) Power Platform
6 38 (6.87%) Dynamics 365
7 31 (5.61%) IaaS
8 23 (4.16%) PaaS
9 15 (2.71%) Azure Data Factory
9 15 (2.71%) OneDrive
10 12 (2.17%) PowerApps
11 11 (1.99%) SaaS
12 10 (1.81%) Power Automate
13 9 (1.63%) Mimecast
14 8 (1.45%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 8 (1.45%) GCP
15 7 (1.27%) Azure Cosmos DB
15 7 (1.27%) Azure Service Bus
16 6 (1.08%) Azure Logic Apps
16 6 (1.08%) Azure Storage
Communications & Networking
1 84 (15.19%) DNS
2 60 (10.85%) Firewall
3 53 (9.58%) DHCP
4 40 (7.23%) SAN
5 38 (6.87%) VPN
6 37 (6.69%) Wi-Fi
7 33 (5.97%) TCP/IP
8 30 (5.42%) Network Security
9 26 (4.70%) Skype
10 24 (4.34%) LAN
11 20 (3.62%) Kerberos
11 20 (3.62%) NetScaler
12 18 (3.25%) WAN
12 18 (3.25%) Wireless
13 16 (2.89%) X.500
14 14 (2.53%) Internet
15 13 (2.35%) VoIP
16 10 (1.81%) Cisco ASA
17 8 (1.45%) Remote Desktop
17 8 (1.45%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 81 (14.65%) SQL Server
2 36 (6.51%) Power BI
3 20 (3.62%) SQL Server 2016
4 19 (3.44%) SQL Server 2012
5 17 (3.07%) Data Lake
5 17 (3.07%) Data Warehouse
6 14 (2.53%) GIS
7 13 (2.35%) Azure SQL Database
8 11 (1.99%) SQL Server Analysis Services
9 9 (1.63%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 7 (1.27%) MySQL
10 7 (1.27%) SQL Server 2008
11 6 (1.08%) Big Data
11 6 (1.08%) SQL Server 2017
12 5 (0.90%) HDInsight
12 5 (0.90%) QlikView
13 4 (0.72%) Amazon RDS
13 4 (0.72%) Ingres
13 4 (0.72%) SQL Server 2014
14 3 (0.54%) SQL Server 2005
Development Applications
1 8 (1.45%) JIRA
2 6 (1.08%) Git (software)
3 5 (0.90%) Visual Studio
4 4 (0.72%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.72%) Visual Studio Team System
5 3 (0.54%) MSI
5 3 (0.54%) Selenium
6 2 (0.36%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.36%) git-flow
7 1 (0.18%) AdminStudio
7 1 (0.18%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.18%) InstallShield
7 1 (0.18%) MorphX
7 1 (0.18%) Rational Rhapsody
7 1 (0.18%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.18%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 152 (27.49%) Social Skills
2 63 (11.39%) Finance
3 53 (9.58%) Public Sector
4 37 (6.69%) Documentation Skills
4 37 (6.69%) Retail
5 30 (5.42%) Analytical Skills
6 22 (3.98%) Organisational Skills
7 20 (3.62%) Banking
8 17 (3.07%) Marketing
9 15 (2.71%) Telecoms
10 11 (1.99%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (1.27%) Law
12 6 (1.08%) German Language
12 6 (1.08%) Investment Banking
12 6 (1.08%) Local Government
12 6 (1.08%) Manufacturing
13 5 (0.90%) Automotive
13 5 (0.90%) Legal
14 4 (0.72%) Back Office
14 4 (0.72%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 68 (12.30%) Analyst
2 60 (10.85%) Consultant
3 54 (9.76%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 47 (8.50%) Support Engineer
5 46 (8.32%) Architect
6 42 (7.59%) Azure Engineer
7 38 (6.87%) Service Analyst
8 37 (6.69%) Service Desk Analyst
9 27 (4.88%) IT Engineer
10 25 (4.52%) Developer
11 24 (4.34%) 3rd Line Engineer
12 23 (4.16%) Functional Consultant
13 22 (3.98%) IT Support
14 17 (3.07%) 2nd Line Support
14 17 (3.07%) Wintel Engineer
15 16 (2.89%) 2nd Line Engineer
15 16 (2.89%) Cloud Engineer
15 16 (2.89%) Desktop Engineer
16 15 (2.71%) Azure Consultant
17 14 (2.53%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (4.88%) .NET
1 27 (4.88%) LDAP
2 16 (2.89%) Web Services
3 15 (2.71%) HTML
3 15 (2.71%) REST
4 12 (2.17%) CSS
5 10 (1.81%) ASP.NET Web API
6 8 (1.45%) .NET Framework
6 8 (1.45%) JSON
6 8 (1.45%) XML
7 6 (1.08%) AngularJS
8 5 (0.90%) ASP.NET
8 5 (0.90%) jQuery
8 5 (0.90%) OAuth
8 5 (0.90%) Software Packaging
9 4 (0.72%) RESTful
9 4 (0.72%) SAML
9 4 (0.72%) Twitter Bootstrap
10 3 (0.54%) OpenID
10 3 (0.54%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 30 (5.42%) PKI
2 28 (5.06%) Data Centre
2 28 (5.06%) Replication
3 22 (3.98%) Management Information System
4 20 (3.62%) Self-Motivation
5 19 (3.44%) Data Protection Act
6 15 (2.71%) Clustering
6 15 (2.71%) Enterprise Software
7 14 (2.53%) Driving Licence
8 13 (2.35%) NHS
9 10 (1.81%) User Experience
10 8 (1.45%) Hybrid Cloud
10 8 (1.45%) Public Cloud
11 6 (1.08%) Blackberry
11 6 (1.08%) Microsoft Licensing
11 6 (1.08%) Virtual Team
12 5 (0.90%) EMC VNX
12 5 (0.90%) Fat Client
12 5 (0.90%) Greenfield Project
12 5 (0.90%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 291 (52.62%) Windows
2 139 (25.14%) Windows Server
3 111 (20.07%) Windows 10
4 66 (11.93%) Windows Server 2012
5 52 (9.40%) Windows Server 2016
6 49 (8.86%) Windows Server 2019
7 46 (8.32%) Linux
8 41 (7.41%) Windows 7
9 37 (6.69%) Windows Server 2008
10 19 (3.44%) Mac OS
11 18 (3.25%) Android
12 17 (3.07%) VMS
13 15 (2.71%) Apple iOS
14 9 (1.63%) Windows Server 2003
15 8 (1.45%) Windows XP
16 5 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 5 (0.90%) Unix
17 4 (0.72%) CentOS
17 4 (0.72%) Mac OS X
17 4 (0.72%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 198 (35.80%) ITIL
2 109 (19.71%) Migration
3 74 (13.38%) Agile Software Development
4 70 (12.66%) Problem-Solving
5 65 (11.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 49 (8.86%) Computer Science
7 45 (8.14%) Incident Management
8 44 (7.96%) DevOps
9 39 (7.05%) Business Intelligence
9 39 (7.05%) Change Management
10 37 (6.69%) Data Migration
11 29 (5.24%) Project Management
11 29 (5.24%) Service Management
12 28 (5.06%) Data Modelling
12 28 (5.06%) ITIL V3
13 26 (4.70%) Service Delivery
14 25 (4.52%) Data Protection
14 25 (4.52%) Feature Driven Development
14 25 (4.52%) Problem Management
15 24 (4.34%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 115 (20.80%) PowerShell
2 64 (11.57%) SQL
3 25 (4.52%) C
4 21 (3.80%) C#
5 14 (2.53%) Python
5 14 (2.53%) VB
6 13 (2.35%) T-SQL
7 12 (2.17%) JavaScript
8 9 (1.63%) Java
9 6 (1.08%) R
10 4 (0.72%) VB.NET
10 4 (0.72%) VBScript
11 3 (0.54%) Bash Shell
12 2 (0.36%) Bicep
12 2 (0.36%) C++
13 1 (0.18%) PHP
13 1 (0.18%) Ruby
13 1 (0.18%) X++
Qualifications
1 237 (42.86%) MCSE
2 138 (24.95%) MCSA
3 111 (20.07%) Degree
4 96 (17.36%) Cisco Certification
5 95 (17.18%) Security Cleared
6 75 (13.56%) SC Cleared
7 74 (13.38%) CCNA
8 66 (11.93%) MCP
9 53 (9.58%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 46 (8.32%) MCITP
11 44 (7.96%) DV Cleared
12 27 (4.88%) A+ Certification
12 27 (4.88%) Computer Science Degree
12 27 (4.88%) ITIL Certification
13 20 (3.62%) CISSP
14 19 (3.44%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 16 (2.89%) Citrix Certification
16 15 (2.71%) MCTS
17 13 (2.35%) CCNP
18 10 (1.81%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (8.68%) SLA
2 35 (6.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 15 (2.71%) PCI DSS
4 12 (2.17%) ISO 9001
5 8 (1.45%) Cyber Essentials
6 7 (1.27%) Data Quality
6 7 (1.27%) NIST
7 5 (0.90%) QA
8 4 (0.72%) GDPR
8 4 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 3 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (0.54%) ISO 22301
10 2 (0.36%) Disclosure Scotland
10 2 (0.36%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 2 (0.36%) ISO 9000
11 1 (0.18%) GxP
11 1 (0.18%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
11 1 (0.18%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.18%) SOC 2
System Software
1 247 (44.67%) Active Directory
2 95 (17.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (6.15%) vSphere
4 28 (5.06%) VMware ESXi
5 23 (4.16%) XenApp
6 22 (3.98%) Hyper-V
7 19 (3.44%) Virtual Desktop
8 16 (2.89%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
8 16 (2.89%) OpenAM
8 16 (2.89%) VMware NSX
9 13 (2.35%) XenDesktop
10 10 (1.81%) Virtual Machines
11 9 (1.63%) BitLocker
11 9 (1.63%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (1.08%) Virtual Servers
13 3 (0.54%) Citrix Hypervisor
13 3 (0.54%) NFS
13 3 (0.54%) VMware Server
14 2 (0.36%) EMC RecoverPoint
14 2 (0.36%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 82 (14.83%) SCCM
2 48 (8.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 33 (5.97%) Microsoft Intune
4 24 (4.34%) WSUS
5 22 (3.98%) Single Sign-On
6 18 (3.25%) vCenter Server
7 16 (2.89%) Ansible
8 13 (2.35%) SCOM
8 13 (2.35%) Terraform
9 9 (1.63%) Microsoft Clustering
10 8 (1.45%) Kubernetes
10 8 (1.45%) vRealize
11 7 (1.27%) AirWatch
12 6 (1.08%) Cisco CUCM
13 5 (0.90%) OpenView Configuration Management
14 4 (0.72%) NetBackup
14 4 (0.72%) ZABBIX
15 3 (0.54%) DatAdvantage
15 3 (0.54%) McAfee ePO
15 3 (0.54%) Puppet
Vendors
1 433 (78.30%) Microsoft
2 141 (25.50%) VMware
3 98 (17.72%) Cisco
4 91 (16.46%) Citrix
5 47 (8.50%) ServiceNow
6 32 (5.79%) Dell
7 31 (5.61%) HP
8 29 (5.24%) Oracle
9 23 (4.16%) Apple
10 20 (3.62%) Sophos
11 19 (3.44%) CheckPoint
12 18 (3.25%) Fortinet
13 16 (2.89%) ForgeRock
13 16 (2.89%) Lumension
14 14 (2.53%) SolarWinds
15 13 (2.35%) EMC
15 13 (2.35%) IBM
15 13 (2.35%) Polycom
16 12 (2.17%) ESRI
16 12 (2.17%) Juniper
424 Microsoft Certification job vacancies Nationwide