Shell Script Contract Job Trends

Shell Scripting (Shell Programming)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Shell Script skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 12 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 322 291 316
Rank change year-on-year -31 +25 -48
Contract jobs citing Shell Script 297 253 312
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.75% 0.82% 0.70%
As % of the Programming Languages category 2.46% 2.43% 2.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 197 126 215
10th Percentile £331 £353 £400
25th Percentile £400 £414 £454
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £454 £498 £525
Median % change year-on-year -8.84% -5.14% -2.78%
75th Percentile £544 £580 £628
90th Percentile £624 £700 £728
UK excluding London median daily rate £471 £470 £470
% change year-on-year +0.21% - -12.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 10 5
10th Percentile £52.09 £64.85 £34.49
25th Percentile £62.00 £68.19 £55.00
Median hourly rate £68.00 £83.75 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.81% +34.00% -14.38%
75th Percentile - £96.56 £75.00
90th Percentile £76.40 £97.50 £76.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £68.00 £66.50 £62.50
% change year-on-year +2.26% +6.40% -14.38%

All Programming Languages
UK

Shell Script 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 12,070 10,429 13,100
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 30.31% 33.67% 29.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,002 6,651 9,272
10th Percentile £350 £356 £350
25th Percentile £413 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -4.89%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £650
90th Percentile £719 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 469 234 502
10th Percentile £41.25 £21.48 £35.53
25th Percentile £52.50 £36.00 £46.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £62.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% +4.17% -7.69%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £85.00 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £63.75 £62.50
% change year-on-year +1.97% +1.99% -3.85%

Shell Script
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Shell Script job vacancy trend in the UK

Shell Script
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Shell Script

Shell Script
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Shell Script over the 6 months to 12 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Shell Script in the UK

Shell Script
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Shell Script

Shell Script
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Shell Script over the 6 months to 12 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Shell Script in the UK

Shell Script
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Shell Script within the UK over the 6 months to 12 February 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 -37 242 £475 -8.65% 43
UK excluding London -15 164 £471 +0.21% 36
London -54 91 £440 -16.19% 21
Work from Home -23 86 £450 -8.72% 33
Midlands -32 39 £516 +12.17% 6
West Midlands -29 38 £525 +14.13% 4
North of England -45 36 £466 -16.69% 1
South East -24 28 £420 -16.00% 13
East of England -9 22 £473 +19.39% 6
Yorkshire -46 22 £475 -20.67% 1
South West -8 20 £525 -4.55% 1
Scotland -11 20 £454 -3.40% 10
North West -20 13 £453 +25.83%
Wales +1 2 £305 - 1
East Midlands -23 1 £425 +19.38% 2

Shell Script
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 17 (5.72%) Apache
2 12 (4.04%) Apache Spark
3 9 (3.03%) JBoss
4 8 (2.69%) Apache Airflow
5 6 (2.02%) Confluence
5 6 (2.02%) IIS
5 6 (2.02%) iPlanet
5 6 (2.02%) WebSphere
5 6 (2.02%) WebSphere Application Server
6 3 (1.01%) nginx
6 3 (1.01%) SharePoint
6 3 (1.01%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.67%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.67%) Oracle Spatial
7 2 (0.67%) SAS
7 2 (0.67%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.34%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 1 (0.34%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 5 (1.68%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.01%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 5 (1.68%) Oracle Applications
2 4 (1.35%) Oracle EBS
3 3 (1.01%) Oracle 11i
3 3 (1.01%) Oracle EBS R12
3 3 (1.01%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.34%) ION MarketView
4 1 (0.34%) Oracle Assets
4 1 (0.34%) Oracle Cash Management
4 1 (0.34%) Oracle Payables
4 1 (0.34%) Oracle Receivables
4 1 (0.34%) Oracle Retail
Cloud Services
1 102 (34.34%) AWS
2 44 (14.81%) Azure
3 41 (13.80%) GitHub
4 34 (11.45%) OpenShift
5 30 (10.10%) Serverless
6 23 (7.74%) Amazon EC2
6 23 (7.74%) Amazon S3
7 22 (7.41%) AWS CloudFormation
8 21 (7.07%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 21 (7.07%) AWS Lambda
9 17 (5.72%) Amazon EKS
10 16 (5.39%) GCP
10 16 (5.39%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (3.37%) Azure DevOps
12 9 (3.03%) PaaS
13 8 (2.69%) Amazon ECS
14 7 (2.36%) Azure AKS
14 7 (2.36%) IaaS
14 7 (2.36%) Pulumi
15 6 (2.02%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 16 (5.39%) SSH
2 12 (4.04%) DNS
3 10 (3.37%) TCP/IP
4 8 (2.69%) Firewall
5 7 (2.36%) Kerberos
6 6 (2.02%) SAN
7 5 (1.68%) HTTP
7 5 (1.68%) Network Security
8 2 (0.67%) HTTPS
8 2 (0.67%) NAS
8 2 (0.67%) Reverse Proxy
9 1 (0.34%) AMQP
9 1 (0.34%) BGP
9 1 (0.34%) BIG-IP
9 1 (0.34%) DHCP
9 1 (0.34%) IPsec
9 1 (0.34%) LAN
9 1 (0.34%) SNMP
9 1 (0.34%) VLAN
9 1 (0.34%) VRRP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (12.12%) MongoDB
1 36 (12.12%) Oracle Database
2 30 (10.10%) Amazon RDS
3 24 (8.08%) Relational Database
4 21 (7.07%) NoSQL
5 18 (6.06%) PostgreSQL
6 15 (5.05%) Data Warehouse
7 13 (4.38%) DB2
7 13 (4.38%) MySQL
8 12 (4.04%) Hadoop
9 9 (3.03%) Apache Hive
10 8 (2.69%) Elasticsearch
11 7 (2.36%) Big Data
12 6 (2.02%) Couchbase
12 6 (2.02%) HBase
12 6 (2.02%) Oracle Reports
12 6 (2.02%) SQL Server
13 5 (1.68%) Amazon Redshift
13 5 (1.68%) DynamoDB
13 5 (1.68%) InfluxDB
Development Applications
1 75 (25.25%) Jenkins
2 49 (16.50%) GitLab
3 43 (14.48%) Git
4 20 (6.73%) JUnit
5 19 (6.40%) JIRA
6 9 (3.03%) Maven
6 9 (3.03%) Sonatype Nexus
7 7 (2.36%) Mockito
8 6 (2.02%) Bitbucket Server
8 6 (2.02%) CA Release Automation
9 5 (1.68%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 5 (1.68%) PyCharm
9 5 (1.68%) PyUnit
9 5 (1.68%) Subversion
9 5 (1.68%) Terragrunt
10 4 (1.35%) CircleCI
10 4 (1.35%) Postman
11 3 (1.01%) ClearCase
11 3 (1.01%) Selenium
12 2 (0.67%) WebDriver
General
1 85 (28.62%) Social Skills
2 48 (16.16%) Analytical Skills
3 44 (14.81%) Finance
4 35 (11.78%) Banking
5 26 (8.75%) Public Sector
6 20 (6.73%) Investment Banking
7 11 (3.70%) Front Office
8 9 (3.03%) Retail
9 8 (2.69%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (2.02%) Aerospace
11 4 (1.35%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.35%) Law
11 4 (1.35%) Multimedia
11 4 (1.35%) Telecoms
12 3 (1.01%) Local Government
12 3 (1.01%) Manufacturing
12 3 (1.01%) Military
12 3 (1.01%) Wearables
13 1 (0.34%) Aviation
13 1 (0.34%) Private Banking
Job Titles
1 80 (26.94%) Developer
2 38 (12.79%) Java Developer
3 30 (10.10%) DevOps Engineer
4 29 (9.76%) Senior
5 27 (9.09%) Administrator
6 20 (6.73%) Site Reliability Engineer
7 18 (6.06%) Support Engineer
8 17 (5.72%) AWS Engineer
8 17 (5.72%) Site Engineer
9 16 (5.39%) DBA
10 13 (4.38%) Data Engineer
10 13 (4.38%) SQL Developer
11 12 (4.04%) Investment Banking Java Developer
11 12 (4.04%) Lead
11 12 (4.04%) Linux Administrator
11 12 (4.04%) Oracle DBA
11 12 (4.04%) Product Engineer
11 12 (4.04%) Products Support Engineer
11 12 (4.04%) Software Support Engineer
12 11 (3.70%) Python Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (14.48%) Kafka
2 25 (8.42%) Spring
3 21 (7.07%) Middleware
4 20 (6.73%) Node.js
5 18 (6.06%) Elastic Stack
5 18 (6.06%) REST
6 16 (5.39%) RESTful
7 15 (5.05%) LDAP
8 13 (4.38%) Spring Boot
9 12 (4.04%) JMS
9 12 (4.04%) JSON
9 12 (4.04%) SOAP
10 10 (3.37%) OpenAPI
10 10 (3.37%) XML
11 8 (2.69%) .NET
11 8 (2.69%) React
12 7 (2.36%) OpenID
12 7 (2.36%) Spark Streaming
12 7 (2.36%) XSD
13 6 (2.02%) Lambda Expressions
Miscellaneous
1 17 (5.72%) Cloud Native
1 17 (5.72%) Equities
2 15 (5.05%) Data Structures
2 15 (5.05%) Management Information System
3 14 (4.71%) Data Centre
4 10 (3.37%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (2.36%) Distributed Systems
5 7 (2.36%) Enterprise Cloud
5 7 (2.36%) Legacy Applications
5 7 (2.36%) Linux Command Line
5 7 (2.36%) Onboarding
5 7 (2.36%) Replication
6 5 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
6 5 (1.68%) PKI
6 5 (1.68%) Security Operations Centre
7 4 (1.35%) DataPower
7 4 (1.35%) Derivative
7 4 (1.35%) Hedge funds
7 4 (1.35%) Legacy Code
7 4 (1.35%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 206 (69.36%) Linux
2 96 (32.32%) Unix
3 39 (13.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 30 (10.10%) Windows
5 16 (5.39%) Ubuntu
6 15 (5.05%) CentOS
7 7 (2.36%) Android
7 7 (2.36%) Apple iOS
8 6 (2.02%) Windows Server
9 5 (1.68%) VMS
10 3 (1.01%) AIX
11 2 (0.67%) Debian
11 2 (0.67%) Solaris
12 1 (0.34%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (38.05%) CI/CD
2 83 (27.95%) Problem-Solving
3 77 (25.93%) Agile
4 57 (19.19%) DevOps
5 52 (17.51%) Performance Tuning
6 48 (16.16%) Infrastructure as Code
7 46 (15.49%) Containerisation
8 38 (12.79%) Task Automation
9 33 (11.11%) SDLC
9 33 (11.11%) Software Engineering
10 31 (10.44%) Observability
11 27 (9.09%) Analytics
12 26 (8.75%) Microservices
12 26 (8.75%) Migration
12 26 (8.75%) Root Cause Analysis
13 24 (8.08%) Site Reliability Engineering
14 23 (7.74%) Configuration Management
15 22 (7.41%) Data Modelling
16 21 (7.07%) ITIL
17 20 (6.73%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 139 (46.80%) Python
2 117 (39.39%) SQL
3 94 (31.65%) Java
4 46 (15.49%) JavaScript
5 29 (9.76%) Bash
6 20 (6.73%) PL/SQL
7 18 (6.06%) C++
8 17 (5.72%) C
8 17 (5.72%) TypeScript
9 16 (5.39%) Perl
10 14 (4.71%) Go
11 12 (4.04%) Ada
12 9 (3.03%) Groovy
13 8 (2.69%) Korn
14 7 (2.36%) MATLAB
15 5 (1.68%) PowerShell
15 5 (1.68%) ProC
16 3 (1.01%) PHP
17 2 (0.67%) C#
17 2 (0.67%) VBA
Qualifications
1 87 (29.29%) Security Cleared
2 67 (22.56%) SC Cleared
3 22 (7.41%) BPSS Clearance
4 17 (5.72%) Degree
5 15 (5.05%) DV Cleared
6 14 (4.71%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (2.02%) OCP
7 6 (2.02%) Oracle Certification
8 5 (1.68%) AWS Certification
9 3 (1.01%) Azure Certification
9 3 (1.01%) RHCE
10 2 (0.67%) Master's Degree
10 2 (0.67%) RHCSA
11 1 (0.34%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
11 1 (0.34%) AWS Certified Developer
11 1 (0.34%) RHCA
11 1 (0.34%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.73%) SLA
2 13 (4.38%) Data Quality
3 10 (3.37%) QA
4 4 (1.35%) GDPR
4 4 (1.35%) NCSC
5 3 (1.01%) FATCA
6 2 (0.67%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 59 (19.87%) Docker
2 18 (6.06%) Active Directory
3 9 (3.03%) Virtual Machines
4 8 (2.69%) HDFS
5 6 (2.02%) Tivoli Directory Server
6 5 (1.68%) KVM
7 4 (1.35%) VMware Infrastructure
8 2 (0.67%) GridGain
8 2 (0.67%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.34%) Apache ZooKeeper
9 1 (0.34%) Postfix
9 1 (0.34%) Squid
9 1 (0.34%) Varnish
9 1 (0.34%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 72 (24.24%) Kubernetes
2 66 (22.22%) Terraform
3 59 (19.87%) Ansible
4 37 (12.46%) Grafana
5 36 (12.12%) Prometheus
6 22 (7.41%) Progress Chef
7 15 (5.05%) Red Hat Satellite
8 12 (4.04%) Puppet
9 9 (3.03%) Podman
9 9 (3.03%) Single Sign-On
10 7 (2.36%) Check_MK
10 7 (2.36%) Hadoop YARN
10 7 (2.36%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 7 (2.36%) Tivoli
11 6 (2.02%) CA Single Sign-On
11 6 (2.02%) CA Wily
12 5 (1.68%) Dell DRAC
12 5 (1.68%) Oracle RMAN
12 5 (1.68%) Packer
13 4 (1.35%) Data Guard
Vendors
1 78 (26.26%) Oracle
2 50 (16.84%) Red Hat
3 42 (14.14%) Splunk
4 28 (9.43%) Microsoft
5 19 (6.40%) IBM
6 18 (6.06%) Sybase
7 16 (5.39%) VMware
8 12 (4.04%) ServiceNow
9 9 (3.03%) AppDynamics
9 9 (3.03%) Dell
10 8 (2.69%) Confluent
11 7 (2.36%) Dynatrace
11 7 (2.36%) Google
12 6 (2.02%) Broadcom
12 6 (2.02%) MuleSoft
12 6 (2.02%) Murex
13 5 (1.68%) Informatica
13 5 (1.68%) NetApp
13 5 (1.68%) Talend
14 4 (1.35%) Okta