TCP/IP Contract Job Trends

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring TCP/IP skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 275 230 259
Rank change year-on-year -45 +29 -33
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 492 376 353
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 1.14% 0.91%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.72% 9.61% 7.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 263 212 222
10th Percentile £205 £200 £203
25th Percentile £313 £350 £262
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £569 £602 £560
90th Percentile £674 £653 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +5.56% - +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 49 31 32
10th Percentile £26.17 £20.75 £31.63
25th Percentile £31.25 £43.60 £63.44
Median hourly rate £63.48 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.34% - +33.33%
75th Percentile £71.43 - -
90th Percentile £98.82 £83.00 £67.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.48 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.34% - +48.06%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

TCP/IP falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 5,063 3,911 4,738
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.43% 11.82% 12.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,994 2,376 2,888
10th Percentile £250 £242 £220
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £489 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.95% -5.00% +8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 367 203 321
10th Percentile £15.22 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.14 £46.25 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year -43.48% -4.76% -11.71%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £81.95 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £45.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -41.91% -18.00% -3.58%

TCP/IP
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing TCP/IP relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

TCP/IP job vacancy trend in the UK

TCP/IP
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP

TCP/IP
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing TCP/IP over the 6 months to 16 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for TCP/IP in the UK

TCP/IP
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing TCP/IP

TCP/IP
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing TCP/IP over the 6 months to 16 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for TCP/IP in the UK

TCP/IP
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 TCP/IP within the UK over the 6 months to 16 August 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 -32 456 £491 -1.80% 227
UK excluding London -19 277 £475 +5.56% 203
London -41 192 £475 -15.56% 60
Work from Home -68 113 £515 -5.29% 79
South East -31 84 £520 +35.42% 71
North of England -55 83 £475 -5.00% 50
North West -14 53 £423 -16.34% 25
South West -10 46 £644 +4.04% 24
Midlands -26 42 £402 -10.67% 29
West Midlands -35 34 £406 +1.06% 21
East of England -28 26 £375 -30.23% 18
Yorkshire -51 26 £500 -1.23% 14
Scotland -12 11 £215 -48.75% 6
East Midlands -13 8 £402 -26.91% 8
Wales -12 6 £425 +136.11% 6
North East -39 4 £438 +75.00% 14

TCP/IP
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 48 (9.76%) SharePoint
2 26 (5.28%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (2.44%) Confluence
4 9 (1.83%) OpenStack
5 7 (1.42%) nginx
6 4 (0.81%) FactoryTalk
6 4 (0.81%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.61%) IIS
8 2 (0.41%) CICS
8 2 (0.41%) IBM HTTP Server
8 2 (0.41%) Oracle HTTP Server
8 2 (0.41%) WebSphere Application Server
8 2 (0.41%) WebSphere Portal
9 1 (0.20%) Traefik
Applications
1 25 (5.08%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (3.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.63%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.41%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.41%) Houdini
5 2 (0.41%) NUKE
6 1 (0.20%) Weka
Business Applications
1 8 (1.63%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 168 (34.15%) Azure
2 117 (23.78%) AWS
3 115 (23.37%) Microsoft 365
4 74 (15.04%) Entra ID
5 37 (7.52%) GCP
6 34 (6.91%) OneDrive
7 25 (5.08%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 21 (4.27%) GitHub
9 13 (2.64%) OpenShift
9 13 (2.64%) Route 53
10 12 (2.44%) Amazon EC2
11 11 (2.24%) AWS CloudFormation
11 11 (2.24%) Azure Monitor
11 11 (2.24%) Google Workspace
12 10 (2.03%) GitHub Actions
13 9 (1.83%) Amazon EKS
14 8 (1.63%) Akamai
14 8 (1.63%) Azure Sentinel
15 7 (1.42%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 7 (1.42%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 290 (58.94%) DNS
2 214 (43.50%) Firewall
3 178 (36.18%) DHCP
4 145 (29.47%) VPN
5 93 (18.90%) WAN
6 91 (18.50%) Network Security
7 82 (16.67%) LAN
8 74 (15.04%) HTTP
9 73 (14.84%) VLAN
10 72 (14.63%) BGP
11 58 (11.79%) SSL
12 44 (8.94%) OSPF
12 44 (8.94%) Wi-Fi
13 43 (8.74%) BIG-IP
14 41 (8.33%) Wireless
15 38 (7.72%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 29 (5.89%) Ethernet
17 27 (5.49%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
18 26 (5.28%) SD-WAN
19 23 (4.67%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (3.25%) SQL Server
2 10 (2.03%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (1.22%) MySQL
4 5 (1.02%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.81%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (0.81%) MongoDB
6 3 (0.61%) Redis
7 2 (0.41%) BigQuery
7 2 (0.41%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.41%) KDB
7 2 (0.41%) SQLite
8 1 (0.20%) Cloud Spanner
Development Applications
1 45 (9.15%) JIRA
2 28 (5.69%) Git
3 25 (5.08%) Jenkins
4 20 (4.07%) GitLab
5 17 (3.46%) Fiddler
6 14 (2.85%) Visual Studio
7 13 (2.64%) Eclipse
8 10 (2.03%) Browser DevTools
9 8 (1.63%) Sonatype Nexus
10 5 (1.02%) Artifactory
11 3 (0.61%) Bitbucket
12 2 (0.41%) Introscope
12 2 (0.41%) Selenium
12 2 (0.41%) Subversion
13 1 (0.20%) MSI
13 1 (0.20%) Postman
13 1 (0.20%) SonarQube
General
1 200 (40.65%) Social Skills
2 73 (14.84%) Analytical Skills
3 67 (13.62%) Finance
4 44 (8.94%) Banking
5 30 (6.10%) Public Sector
6 23 (4.67%) Telecoms
7 22 (4.47%) Investment Banking
8 16 (3.25%) Military
9 13 (2.64%) Documentation Skills
10 12 (2.44%) Front Office
10 12 (2.44%) Presentation Skills
11 11 (2.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.22%) Manufacturing
13 5 (1.02%) Aerospace
13 5 (1.02%) Legal
13 5 (1.02%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.02%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (1.02%) Police
14 4 (0.81%) Automotive
15 3 (0.61%) Retail
Job Titles
1 109 (22.15%) Network Engineer
2 66 (13.41%) Support Engineer
3 58 (11.79%) Senior
4 52 (10.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 45 (9.15%) IT Support
6 38 (7.72%) Architect
6 38 (7.72%) IT Engineer
7 36 (7.32%) Analyst
8 31 (6.30%) IT Support Engineer
9 24 (4.88%) Security Engineer
9 24 (4.88%) Web Engineer
10 23 (4.67%) Platform Engineer
11 22 (4.47%) Senior Network Engineer
12 19 (3.86%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 18 (3.66%) IP Network Engineer
14 16 (3.25%) Blue Coat Engineer
14 16 (3.25%) Systems Engineer
15 15 (3.05%) Cloud Engineer
15 15 (3.05%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
15 15 (3.05%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (4.07%) SAML
2 15 (3.05%) REST
3 13 (2.64%) Node.js
3 13 (2.64%) Web Services
4 12 (2.44%) 802.1X
4 12 (2.44%) JSON
5 11 (2.24%) ARM Templates
6 10 (2.03%) LDAP
7 9 (1.83%) .NET
8 6 (1.22%) Kafka
8 6 (1.22%) NETCONF
8 6 (1.22%) OpenConfig
8 6 (1.22%) RESTCONF
8 6 (1.22%) XML
8 6 (1.22%) YANG
9 5 (1.02%) HTML
9 5 (1.02%) OAuth
9 5 (1.02%) OpenID
9 5 (1.02%) RESTful
9 5 (1.02%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 83 (16.87%) Data Centre
2 57 (11.59%) Onboarding
3 32 (6.50%) PKI
4 30 (6.10%) Hybrid Cloud
5 28 (5.69%) Management Information System
6 24 (4.88%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 19 (3.86%) Linux Command Line
8 17 (3.46%) Driving Licence
8 17 (3.46%) Public Cloud
9 16 (3.25%) Operational Technology
9 16 (3.25%) Self-Motivation
10 13 (2.64%) SCADA
10 13 (2.64%) Security Posture
11 12 (2.44%) Cloud Native
12 11 (2.24%) Analytical Mindset
12 11 (2.24%) Cyber Threat
13 9 (1.83%) Distributed Systems
13 9 (1.83%) Private Cloud
13 9 (1.83%) Robotics
13 9 (1.83%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 227 (46.14%) Windows
2 136 (27.64%) Linux
3 67 (13.62%) Windows Server
4 42 (8.54%) Windows 10
5 37 (7.52%) Mac OS
6 24 (4.88%) Unix
7 17 (3.46%) Apple iOS
8 16 (3.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 13 (2.64%) Android
9 13 (2.64%) Ubuntu
10 5 (1.02%) zOS
11 4 (0.81%) Windows Server 2012
12 3 (0.61%) CentOS
12 3 (0.61%) Check Point GAiA
13 2 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
13 2 (0.41%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.20%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.20%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (27.03%) Problem-Solving
2 108 (21.95%) ITIL
3 81 (16.46%) CI/CD
4 76 (15.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 70 (14.23%) Infrastructure as Code
6 63 (12.80%) Agile
7 62 (12.60%) DevOps
8 61 (12.40%) Load Balancing
9 58 (11.79%) Customer Service
9 58 (11.79%) Cybersecurity
10 57 (11.59%) ITSM
11 50 (10.16%) High Availability
12 49 (9.96%) Migration
13 48 (9.76%) Continuous Improvement
13 48 (9.76%) Incident Response
14 46 (9.35%) SIEM
14 46 (9.35%) Technical Leadership
15 45 (9.15%) Service Management
16 44 (8.94%) Validation
17 42 (8.54%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 145 (29.47%) Python
2 96 (19.51%) PowerShell
3 82 (16.67%) Bash
4 28 (5.69%) C++
5 24 (4.88%) JavaScript
6 21 (4.27%) SQL
7 17 (3.46%) C#
8 12 (2.44%) Java
9 9 (1.83%) Bicep
9 9 (1.83%) Perl
9 9 (1.83%) Shell Script
10 7 (1.42%) VBA
11 5 (1.02%) ActionScript
11 5 (1.02%) Go
12 4 (0.81%) C
13 3 (0.61%) VBScript
14 2 (0.41%) Jython
14 2 (0.41%) Korn
14 2 (0.41%) Objective-C
14 2 (0.41%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 141 (28.66%) Security Cleared
2 93 (18.90%) SC Cleared
3 71 (14.43%) Degree
4 62 (12.60%) Cisco Certification
5 49 (9.96%) DV Cleared
6 46 (9.35%) CCNP
7 30 (6.10%) CCNA
8 26 (5.28%) Microsoft Certification
9 22 (4.47%) Computer Science Degree
10 16 (3.25%) CCIE
10 16 (3.25%) Network+ Certification
11 15 (3.05%) CISSP
12 14 (2.85%) A+ Certification
13 12 (2.44%) Azure Certification
13 12 (2.44%) VCAP
14 10 (2.03%) AWS Certification
14 10 (2.03%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
15 7 (1.42%) MCSA
15 7 (1.42%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 6 (1.22%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (4.47%) SLA
2 11 (2.24%) NIST
2 11 (2.24%) QA
3 9 (1.83%) NCSC
4 8 (1.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (1.02%) GDPR
6 4 (0.81%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 4 (0.81%) GxP
6 4 (0.81%) NIST 800
6 4 (0.81%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.41%) Government Security Classifications
7 2 (0.41%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.20%) ISO 8583
8 1 (0.20%) RMADS
System Software
1 146 (29.67%) Active Directory
2 90 (18.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 35 (7.11%) Hyper-V
4 29 (5.89%) Docker
5 24 (4.88%) vSphere
6 23 (4.67%) VMware NSX
7 18 (3.66%) Firmware
8 13 (2.64%) Virtual Desktop
9 6 (1.22%) Squid
10 4 (0.81%) NFS
11 3 (0.61%) Virtual Machines
11 3 (0.61%) VirtualBox
11 3 (0.61%) VMware ESXi
12 2 (0.41%) KVM
12 2 (0.41%) RACF
13 1 (0.20%) GPFS
13 1 (0.20%) iptables
13 1 (0.20%) NDS
13 1 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.20%) Snort
Systems Management
1 103 (20.93%) Ansible
2 86 (17.48%) Terraform
3 58 (11.79%) Microsoft Intune
4 48 (9.76%) Kubernetes
5 29 (5.89%) SCCM
6 24 (4.88%) Grafana
6 24 (4.88%) Single Sign-On
7 18 (3.66%) FortiGate
8 16 (3.25%) VxRail
9 13 (2.64%) Prometheus
10 11 (2.24%) Jamf Pro
11 8 (1.63%) WSUS
12 6 (1.22%) systemd
13 5 (1.02%) Suricata
14 4 (0.81%) Consul
14 4 (0.81%) Istio
15 3 (0.61%) CASB
15 3 (0.61%) Nagios
15 3 (0.61%) SELinux
15 3 (0.61%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 188 (38.21%) Microsoft
2 102 (20.73%) VMware
3 94 (19.11%) Cisco
4 63 (12.80%) F5
5 57 (11.59%) ServiceNow
6 30 (6.10%) Fortinet
7 26 (5.28%) Google
8 25 (5.08%) Zscaler
9 24 (4.88%) Juniper
10 23 (4.67%) Palo Alto
11 21 (4.27%) Blue Coat
12 19 (3.86%) Citrix
12 19 (3.86%) McAfee
12 19 (3.86%) NetApp
13 18 (3.66%) CheckPoint
13 18 (3.66%) Infoblox
14 17 (3.46%) Splunk
15 16 (3.25%) Red Hat
16 12 (2.44%) Bloomberg
16 12 (2.44%) SolarWinds