Job Vacancy Trend Daily Rate Trend Daily Rate Histogram Hourly Rate Trend Hourly Rate Histogram Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 25 November 2020

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 November 2020 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 Nov 2020		 Same period 2019 Same period 2018
Rank 305 270 270
Rank change year-on-year -35 0 -21
Contract jobs citing Microsoft Certification 271 814 1,029
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.74% 0.99% 1.00%
As % of the Qualifications category 3.15% 4.85% 5.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 195 484 643
Median daily rate £463 £375 £360
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +23.33% +4.17% +10.77%
10th Percentile £155 £130 £158
90th Percentile £588 £574 £563
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £350 £363
% change year-on-year +32.14% -3.45% +11.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 53 95
Median hourly rate £21.67 £22.34 £17.41
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year -2.99% +28.29% +8.81%
10th Percentile £14.05 £15.25 £14.75
90th Percentile £35.00 £77.90 £44.27
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.00 £22.34 £15.85
% change year-on-year -10.45% +40.91% -0.06%

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 8,613 16,780 19,388
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 23.58% 20.44% 18.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 5,176 10,271 11,511
Median daily rate £475 £463 £450
Median daily rate % change year-on-year +2.70% +2.78% +5.88%
10th Percentile £283 £260 £255
90th Percentile £638 £638 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £425
% change year-on-year - +5.88% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 546 846 934
Median hourly rate £35.00 £35.00 £25.56
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year - +36.92% +0.25%
10th Percentile £15.04 £14.94 £13.00
90th Percentile £64.50 £59.68 £51.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £35.00 £26.50
% change year-on-year - +32.08% -2.75%

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 November 2020.

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 November 2020.

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 November 2020. 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 -27 215 £450 +20.00% 224
UK excluding London +23 186 £463 +32.14% 189
London +8 70 £450 +16.13% 48
South East +35 56 £404 +13.80% 47
Work from Home -111 36 £469 +21.75% 58
Scotland +36 34 £493 +40.71% 9
East of England +61 24 £500 +66.67% 20
North of England +44 23 £550 +69.23% 36
South West +51 19 £413 -8.23% 20
North West +67 18 £550 +57.14% 19
Midlands +15 18 £500 +25.00% 53
Wales +48 11 £198 -24.57% 1
West Midlands +32 11 £500 -2.91% 38
East Midlands +20 7 - - 14
Yorkshire +20 5 £325 +10.64% 8
Northern Ireland +11 2 £160 -36.63% 3

For the 6 months to 25 November 2020, 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.

1 226 (83.39%) Microsoft
2 152 (56.09%) Windows
3 150 (55.35%) Active Directory
4 112 (41.33%) MCSE
5 92 (33.95%) Windows Server
6 91 (33.58%) Security Cleared
7 87 (32.10%) Azure
8 75 (27.68%) VMware
9 74 (27.31%) Office 365
10 69 (25.46%) ITIL
11 65 (23.99%) VMware Infrastructure
12 63 (23.25%) PowerShell
13 61 (22.51%) SC Cleared
14 60 (22.14%) Migration
14 60 (22.14%) Windows 10
15 55 (20.30%) MCSA
16 50 (18.45%) DNS
16 50 (18.45%) Microsoft Office
17 45 (16.61%) SharePoint
18 44 (16.24%) Cisco
19 43 (15.87%) SQL Server
20 42 (15.50%) Windows Server 2012
21 41 (15.13%) Cisco Certification
22 39 (14.39%) DV Cleared
22 39 (14.39%) DevOps
23 38 (14.02%) Windows Server 2008
23 38 (14.02%) HP
23 38 (14.02%) MS Exchange
24 37 (13.65%) SCCM
25 36 (13.28%) Agile Software Development

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 45 (16.61%) SharePoint
2 38 (14.02%) MS Exchange
3 30 (11.07%) Skype for Business
4 24 (8.86%) Exchange Server 2010
5 16 (5.90%) IIS
6 11 (4.06%) Exchange Server 2013
7 10 (3.69%) Confluence
7 10 (3.69%) Exchange Server 2007
8 8 (2.95%) ArcGIS
8 8 (2.95%) Exchange Server 2003
8 8 (2.95%) Office Communications Server
9 3 (1.11%) CMS
9 3 (1.11%) nginx
9 3 (1.11%) OpenStack
10 2 (0.74%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
10 2 (0.74%) SAS
11 1 (0.37%) Apache
11 1 (0.37%) BizTalk Server
11 1 (0.37%) IBM Notes
11 1 (0.37%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 50 (18.45%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (5.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (3.32%) MS Visio
4 8 (2.95%) Photoshop
5 4 (1.48%) InfoPath
5 4 (1.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.74%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 6 (2.21%) Dynamics CRM
2 5 (1.85%) Teamcenter
3 3 (1.11%) Infor M3
3 3 (1.11%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.74%) ION MarketView
Cloud Services
1 87 (32.10%) Azure
2 74 (27.31%) Office 365
3 20 (7.38%) Azure Active Directory
3 20 (7.38%) PaaS
4 17 (6.27%) AWS
5 15 (5.54%) IaaS
6 12 (4.43%) Power Automate
6 12 (4.43%) Power Platform
7 6 (2.21%) GCP
7 6 (2.21%) PowerApps
8 3 (1.11%) Azure Functions
8 3 (1.11%) Dynamics 365
8 3 (1.11%) OneDrive
8 3 (1.11%) SaaS
8 3 (1.11%) Serverless
9 2 (0.74%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 2 (0.74%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (0.74%) Logic Apps
9 2 (0.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 1 (0.37%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 50 (18.45%) DNS
2 32 (11.81%) Skype
3 28 (10.33%) DHCP
4 27 (9.96%) Firewall
5 22 (8.12%) LAN
5 22 (8.12%) WAN
6 17 (6.27%) VPN
7 16 (5.90%) Kerberos
8 15 (5.54%) X.500
9 12 (4.43%) SAN
10 10 (3.69%) Network Security
10 10 (3.69%) TCP/IP
10 10 (3.69%) Wi-Fi
11 9 (3.32%) VLAN
12 7 (2.58%) iSCSI
13 6 (2.21%) PBX
14 5 (1.85%) IPsec
14 5 (1.85%) NetScaler
14 5 (1.85%) SMTP
15 4 (1.48%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (15.87%) SQL Server
2 11 (4.06%) Big Data
2 11 (4.06%) Power BI
3 10 (3.69%) Data Lake
4 9 (3.32%) HDInsight
5 8 (2.95%) GIS
6 6 (2.21%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (1.85%) SQL Server 2008
8 4 (1.48%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (1.11%) Azure SQL Database
9 3 (1.11%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 2 (0.74%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.74%) Microsoft Analysis Services
10 2 (0.74%) MySQL
10 2 (0.74%) OLTP
10 2 (0.74%) PowerPivot
10 2 (0.74%) SQL Server 2012
10 2 (0.74%) SQL Server 2014
11 1 (0.37%) Data Warehouse
11 1 (0.37%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 13 (4.80%) JIRA
2 6 (2.21%) Bitbucket
3 5 (1.85%) Visual Studio
4 4 (1.48%) MSI
5 3 (1.11%) Atlassian Bamboo
5 3 (1.11%) Git (software)
5 3 (1.11%) Jenkins
5 3 (1.11%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.74%) GitLab
6 2 (0.74%) InstallShield
6 2 (0.74%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.37%) HP UFT
7 1 (0.37%) JMeter
7 1 (0.37%) LoadRunner
7 1 (0.37%) SonarQube
General
1 25 (9.23%) Finance
2 15 (5.54%) Public Sector
3 14 (5.17%) Manufacturing
4 11 (4.06%) Banking
5 9 (3.32%) Telecoms
6 7 (2.58%) Retail
7 6 (2.21%) Military
8 4 (1.48%) Electronics
8 4 (1.48%) Front Office
8 4 (1.48%) Marketing
9 3 (1.11%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (0.74%) Aerospace
10 2 (0.74%) French Language
10 2 (0.74%) German Language
10 2 (0.74%) International Banking
10 2 (0.74%) Investment Banking
10 2 (0.74%) Legal
11 1 (0.37%) Italian Language
11 1 (0.37%) Local Government
11 1 (0.37%) Russian Language
Job Titles
1 39 (14.39%) Architect
2 30 (11.07%) Consultant
3 27 (9.96%) Analyst
4 24 (8.86%) Desktop Support
4 24 (8.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 17 (6.27%) Support Analyst
6 12 (4.43%) Desktop Analyst
6 12 (4.43%) Desktop Support Analyst
7 11 (4.06%) Data Architect
7 11 (4.06%) Enterprise Architect
7 11 (4.06%) Support Engineer
8 10 (3.69%) Azure Engineer
8 10 (3.69%) Enterprise Data Architect
8 10 (3.69%) Wintel Engineer
9 8 (2.95%) Administrator
9 8 (2.95%) Azure Architect
9 8 (2.95%) Azure Consultant
9 8 (2.95%) Cloud Architect
9 8 (2.95%) Developer
9 8 (2.95%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (7.38%) .NET
2 18 (6.64%) LDAP
3 7 (2.58%) CSS
3 7 (2.58%) Web Services
4 6 (2.21%) HTML
4 6 (2.21%) XML
5 5 (1.85%) jQuery
6 4 (1.48%) 802.1X
7 3 (1.11%) .NET Framework
7 3 (1.11%) SailPoint
7 3 (1.11%) XSL
8 2 (0.74%) Entity Framework
8 2 (0.74%) Flask
8 2 (0.74%) Itk
8 2 (0.74%) LINQ
8 2 (0.74%) Node.js
8 2 (0.74%) REST
9 1 (0.37%) ASP.NET Web API
9 1 (0.37%) ModSecurity
9 1 (0.37%) React
Miscellaneous
1 31 (11.44%) Data Centre
1 31 (11.44%) PKI
2 28 (10.33%) Management Information System
3 25 (9.23%) Analytical Skills
4 21 (7.75%) Replication
5 15 (5.54%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (2.95%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (2.58%) Blackberry
7 7 (2.58%) Driving Licence
8 6 (2.21%) NHS
9 5 (1.85%) Enterprise Cloud
9 5 (1.85%) Private Cloud
10 4 (1.48%) Hybrid Cloud
11 3 (1.11%) Clustering
11 3 (1.11%) CMDB
11 3 (1.11%) HP StoreVirtual
11 3 (1.11%) Linux Command Line
11 3 (1.11%) Public Cloud
12 2 (0.74%) CESG
12 2 (0.74%) IVR
Operating Systems
1 152 (56.09%) Windows
2 92 (33.95%) Windows Server
3 60 (22.14%) Windows 10
4 42 (15.50%) Windows Server 2012
5 38 (14.02%) Windows Server 2008
6 29 (10.70%) Windows 7
7 28 (10.33%) Windows Server 2016
8 21 (7.75%) Linux
9 14 (5.17%) Windows Server 2019
10 10 (3.69%) Windows 8
10 10 (3.69%) Windows Server 2003
11 8 (2.95%) Apple iOS
12 3 (1.11%) Mac OS X
13 2 (0.74%) Android
13 2 (0.74%) CentOS
13 2 (0.74%) Mac OS
13 2 (0.74%) Unix
13 2 (0.74%) Windows XP
14 1 (0.37%) SUSE
14 1 (0.37%) Windows 2000
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (25.46%) ITIL
2 60 (22.14%) Migration
3 39 (14.39%) DevOps
4 36 (13.28%) Agile Software Development
5 30 (11.07%) Change Management
6 29 (10.70%) Service Management
7 24 (8.86%) Business Intelligence
7 24 (8.86%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 23 (8.49%) Problem-Solving
9 20 (7.38%) Disaster Recovery
10 19 (7.01%) Computer Science
11 18 (6.64%) Enterprise Architecture
12 17 (6.27%) Continuous Improvement
12 17 (6.27%) Data Migration
13 16 (5.90%) TOGAF
14 15 (5.54%) ITSM
15 14 (5.17%) Continuous Integration
15 14 (5.17%) Stakeholder Management
16 13 (4.80%) Load Balancing
17 12 (4.43%) Test Scripting
Programming Languages
1 63 (23.25%) PowerShell
2 35 (12.92%) SQL
3 14 (5.17%) C
4 10 (3.69%) JavaScript
5 9 (3.32%) VB
6 8 (2.95%) C#
7 7 (2.58%) Python
7 7 (2.58%) T-SQL
8 6 (2.21%) Java
8 6 (2.21%) VBScript
9 4 (1.48%) Bash Shell
9 4 (1.48%) C++
9 4 (1.48%) Data Analysis Expressions (DAX)
9 4 (1.48%) VB.NET
10 2 (0.74%) Perl
10 2 (0.74%) Ruby
10 2 (0.74%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.74%) VBA
11 1 (0.37%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 112 (41.33%) MCSE
2 91 (33.58%) Security Cleared
3 61 (22.51%) SC Cleared
4 55 (20.30%) MCSA
5 41 (15.13%) Cisco Certification
6 39 (14.39%) DV Cleared
7 34 (12.55%) Degree
8 31 (11.44%) MCP
9 27 (9.96%) CCNA
10 23 (8.49%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 16 (5.90%) ITIL Certification
12 13 (4.80%) TOGAF Certification
13 10 (3.69%) CCNP
13 10 (3.69%) CISSP
14 9 (3.32%) MCAD
14 9 (3.32%) MCITP
15 8 (2.95%) Computer Science Degree
16 7 (2.58%) Citrix Certification
16 7 (2.58%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 6 (2.21%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (2.95%) SLA
2 7 (2.58%) HMG Security Policy Framework
2 7 (2.58%) NCSC
3 6 (2.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.48%) Government Security Classifications
5 3 (1.11%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.74%) QA
7 1 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.37%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.37%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 1 (0.37%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 150 (55.35%) Active Directory
2 65 (23.99%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (5.54%) Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services
4 12 (4.43%) VMware NSX
5 10 (3.69%) VMware ESXi
5 10 (3.69%) vSphere
6 9 (3.32%) Hyper-V
7 8 (2.95%) XenApp
8 7 (2.58%) Microsoft App-V
8 7 (2.58%) Virtual Machines
9 5 (1.85%) NFS
9 5 (1.85%) XenDesktop
10 4 (1.48%) BitLocker
10 4 (1.48%) vCloud
10 4 (1.48%) Virtual Desktop
11 3 (1.11%) Docker
12 2 (0.74%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 2 (0.74%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.37%) UAG
Systems Management
1 37 (13.65%) SCCM
2 19 (7.01%) Ansible
3 18 (6.64%) Microsoft Intune
4 9 (3.32%) Single Sign-On
4 9 (3.32%) WSUS
5 8 (2.95%) Terraform
6 6 (2.21%) Kubernetes
7 5 (1.85%) SCOM
7 5 (1.85%) vRealize
8 4 (1.48%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
8 4 (1.48%) NetBackup
9 3 (1.11%) EMC VPLEX
9 3 (1.11%) HAProxy
9 3 (1.11%) McAfee ePO
9 3 (1.11%) Puppet
9 3 (1.11%) vCenter Server
10 2 (0.74%) Nessus
10 2 (0.74%) Norton AntiVirus
10 2 (0.74%) OfficeScan
10 2 (0.74%) Trend Micro Deep Security
Vendors
1 226 (83.39%) Microsoft
2 75 (27.68%) VMware
3 44 (16.24%) Cisco
4 38 (14.02%) HP
5 25 (9.23%) Citrix
6 18 (6.64%) Dell
7 12 (4.43%) Oracle
8 10 (3.69%) Databricks
8 10 (3.69%) Lumension
8 10 (3.69%) Palo Alto
8 10 (3.69%) Sophos
9 8 (2.95%) ESRI
9 8 (2.95%) SolarWinds
10 7 (2.58%) EMC
10 7 (2.58%) IronPort
11 6 (2.21%) SAP
11 6 (2.21%) Veeam
12 5 (1.85%) F5
12 5 (1.85%) Google
13 4 (1.48%) Atlassian