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 18 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 283 235 254
Rank change year-on-year -48 +19 -23
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 487 372 353
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.91% 1.13% 0.91%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.64% 9.59% 7.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 262 209 222
10th Percentile £205 £200 £203
25th Percentile £313 £350 £261
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.50% +11.11% -
75th Percentile £569 £600 £560
90th Percentile £675 £653 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +2.78% - +12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 31 32
10th Percentile £26.54 £20.75 £31.63
25th Percentile £31.25 £43.60 £63.44
Median hourly rate £64.24 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.17% - +30.00%
75th Percentile £72.01 - -
90th Percentile £98.82 £83.00 £67.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £64.24 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -1.17% - +36.84%

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 5,052 3,881 4,738
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.43% 11.81% 12.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,987 2,350 2,889
10th Percentile £250 £245 £221
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £487 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.58% -5.00% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 363 203 315
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.14 £46.25 £49.00
Median % change year-on-year -43.48% -5.61% -10.91%
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% -2.86%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -41 449 £492 -1.60% 438
UK excluding London -29 273 £463 +2.78% 281
London -37 191 £475 -17.39% 208
Work from Home -55 113 £518 -4.83% 120
South East -35 82 £523 +36.07% 88
North of England -60 81 £463 -7.50% 59
North West -22 51 £410 -18.81% 29
South West -2 47 £644 +4.04% 39
Midlands -30 43 £402 -5.63% 39
West Midlands -29 35 £406 +1.06% 25
Yorkshire -51 26 £500 - 19
East of England -33 22 £425 -20.93% 32
Scotland -11 12 £213 -49.34% 17
East Midlands -13 8 £402 -26.91% 14
Wales -15 7 £408 +126.39% 4
North East -38 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 (9.86%) SharePoint
2 27 (5.54%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (2.46%) Confluence
4 9 (1.85%) OpenStack
5 6 (1.23%) nginx
6 4 (0.82%) FactoryTalk
6 4 (0.82%) WebSphere
7 3 (0.62%) 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
Applications
1 20 (4.11%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (3.49%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.64%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.41%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.41%) Houdini
5 2 (0.41%) NUKE
6 1 (0.21%) Weka
Business Applications
1 8 (1.64%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.21%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 169 (34.70%) Azure
2 117 (24.02%) Microsoft 365
3 116 (23.82%) AWS
4 75 (15.40%) Entra ID
5 38 (7.80%) GCP
6 35 (7.19%) OneDrive
7 25 (5.13%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 21 (4.31%) GitHub
9 13 (2.67%) OpenShift
9 13 (2.67%) Route 53
10 12 (2.46%) Amazon EC2
10 12 (2.46%) Azure Monitor
11 11 (2.26%) AWS CloudFormation
11 11 (2.26%) Google Workspace
12 10 (2.05%) GitHub Actions
13 9 (1.85%) Amazon EKS
14 8 (1.64%) Akamai
14 8 (1.64%) Azure Sentinel
15 7 (1.44%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 7 (1.44%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 290 (59.55%) DNS
2 213 (43.74%) Firewall
3 179 (36.76%) DHCP
4 146 (29.98%) VPN
5 93 (19.10%) WAN
6 90 (18.48%) Network Security
7 81 (16.63%) LAN
8 74 (15.20%) HTTP
9 73 (14.99%) VLAN
10 71 (14.58%) BGP
11 57 (11.70%) SSL
12 45 (9.24%) Wi-Fi
13 43 (8.83%) BIG-IP
13 43 (8.83%) OSPF
14 42 (8.62%) Wireless
15 38 (7.80%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 27 (5.54%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 26 (5.34%) SD-WAN
18 24 (4.93%) Ethernet
19 23 (4.72%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (3.08%) SQL Server
2 10 (2.05%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (1.23%) MySQL
4 5 (1.03%) NoSQL
5 4 (0.82%) Amazon RDS
5 4 (0.82%) MongoDB
6 3 (0.62%) Redis
7 2 (0.41%) BigQuery
7 2 (0.41%) Elasticsearch
7 2 (0.41%) KDB
7 2 (0.41%) SQLite
8 1 (0.21%) Cloud Spanner
Development Applications
1 45 (9.24%) JIRA
2 28 (5.75%) Git
3 25 (5.13%) Jenkins
4 20 (4.11%) GitLab
5 17 (3.49%) Fiddler
6 14 (2.87%) Visual Studio
7 13 (2.67%) Eclipse
8 10 (2.05%) Browser DevTools
9 8 (1.64%) Sonatype Nexus
10 5 (1.03%) Artifactory
11 3 (0.62%) Bitbucket
12 2 (0.41%) Introscope
12 2 (0.41%) Selenium
12 2 (0.41%) Subversion
13 1 (0.21%) MSI
13 1 (0.21%) Postman
13 1 (0.21%) SonarQube
General
1 197 (40.45%) Social Skills
2 72 (14.78%) Analytical Skills
3 66 (13.55%) Finance
4 45 (9.24%) Banking
5 30 (6.16%) Public Sector
6 23 (4.72%) Telecoms
7 22 (4.52%) Investment Banking
8 16 (3.29%) Military
9 13 (2.67%) Documentation Skills
10 12 (2.46%) Front Office
11 7 (1.44%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.23%) Manufacturing
13 5 (1.03%) Aerospace
13 5 (1.03%) Legal
13 5 (1.03%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.03%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (1.03%) Police
14 4 (0.82%) Automotive
15 3 (0.62%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 109 (22.38%) Network Engineer
2 67 (13.76%) Support Engineer
3 58 (11.91%) Senior
4 52 (10.68%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 46 (9.45%) IT Support
6 39 (8.01%) IT Engineer
7 38 (7.80%) Architect
8 36 (7.39%) Analyst
9 32 (6.57%) IT Support Engineer
10 24 (4.93%) Security Engineer
10 24 (4.93%) Web Engineer
11 22 (4.52%) Platform Engineer
11 22 (4.52%) Senior Network Engineer
12 19 (3.90%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 18 (3.70%) IP Network Engineer
14 16 (3.29%) Blue Coat Engineer
15 15 (3.08%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
15 15 (3.08%) Software Engineer
16 14 (2.87%) C# Software Engineer
16 14 (2.87%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (4.11%) SAML
2 15 (3.08%) REST
3 13 (2.67%) Node.js
3 13 (2.67%) Web Services
4 12 (2.46%) 802.1X
4 12 (2.46%) JSON
5 11 (2.26%) ARM Templates
6 9 (1.85%) .NET
7 8 (1.64%) LDAP
8 6 (1.23%) Kafka
8 6 (1.23%) NETCONF
8 6 (1.23%) OpenConfig
8 6 (1.23%) RESTCONF
8 6 (1.23%) XML
8 6 (1.23%) YANG
9 5 (1.03%) HTML
9 5 (1.03%) OAuth
9 5 (1.03%) OpenID
9 5 (1.03%) RESTful
9 5 (1.03%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 84 (17.25%) Data Centre
2 57 (11.70%) Onboarding
3 32 (6.57%) PKI
4 30 (6.16%) Hybrid Cloud
5 28 (5.75%) Management Information System
6 24 (4.93%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 19 (3.90%) Linux Command Line
8 17 (3.49%) Driving Licence
8 17 (3.49%) Public Cloud
9 16 (3.29%) Operational Technology
9 16 (3.29%) Self-Motivation
10 13 (2.67%) SCADA
11 12 (2.46%) Cloud Native
12 11 (2.26%) Analytical Mindset
12 11 (2.26%) Cyber Threat
12 11 (2.26%) Security Posture
13 9 (1.85%) Distributed Systems
13 9 (1.85%) Private Cloud
13 9 (1.85%) Security Operations Centre
13 9 (1.85%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 227 (46.61%) Windows
2 134 (27.52%) Linux
3 67 (13.76%) Windows Server
4 43 (8.83%) Windows 10
5 37 (7.60%) Mac OS
6 22 (4.52%) Unix
7 17 (3.49%) Apple iOS
8 16 (3.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 13 (2.67%) Android
9 13 (2.67%) Ubuntu
10 5 (1.03%) zOS
11 3 (0.62%) CentOS
11 3 (0.62%) Check Point GAiA
11 3 (0.62%) Windows Server 2012
12 2 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
12 2 (0.41%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2016
12 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2019
13 1 (0.21%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.21%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 129 (26.49%) Problem-Solving
2 109 (22.38%) ITIL
3 82 (16.84%) CI/CD
4 76 (15.61%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 70 (14.37%) Infrastructure as Code
6 63 (12.94%) Agile
7 62 (12.73%) DevOps
7 62 (12.73%) Load Balancing
8 59 (12.11%) ITSM
9 58 (11.91%) Cybersecurity
10 55 (11.29%) Customer Service
11 49 (10.06%) High Availability
11 49 (10.06%) Migration
12 48 (9.86%) Continuous Improvement
12 48 (9.86%) Incident Response
13 46 (9.45%) Service Management
13 46 (9.45%) SIEM
13 46 (9.45%) Technical Leadership
14 44 (9.03%) Validation
15 42 (8.62%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 145 (29.77%) Python
2 97 (19.92%) PowerShell
3 81 (16.63%) Bash
4 28 (5.75%) C++
5 24 (4.93%) JavaScript
6 21 (4.31%) SQL
7 17 (3.49%) C#
8 12 (2.46%) Java
9 10 (2.05%) Shell Script
10 9 (1.85%) Bicep
10 9 (1.85%) Perl
11 7 (1.44%) VBA
12 5 (1.03%) ActionScript
13 4 (0.82%) C
13 4 (0.82%) Go
14 3 (0.62%) VBScript
15 2 (0.41%) Jython
15 2 (0.41%) Korn
15 2 (0.41%) Objective-C
15 2 (0.41%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 142 (29.16%) Security Cleared
2 93 (19.10%) SC Cleared
3 65 (13.35%) Degree
4 62 (12.73%) Cisco Certification
5 50 (10.27%) DV Cleared
6 46 (9.45%) CCNP
7 31 (6.37%) CCNA
8 24 (4.93%) Microsoft Certification
9 22 (4.52%) Computer Science Degree
10 16 (3.29%) A+ Certification
10 16 (3.29%) CCIE
10 16 (3.29%) Network+ Certification
11 13 (2.67%) CISSP
12 12 (2.46%) Azure Certification
12 12 (2.46%) VCAP
13 11 (2.26%) AWS Certification
13 11 (2.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 7 (1.44%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
15 6 (1.23%) JNCIE
16 5 (1.03%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.72%) SLA
2 11 (2.26%) NIST
2 11 (2.26%) QA
3 9 (1.85%) NCSC
4 8 (1.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (1.03%) GDPR
6 4 (0.82%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 4 (0.82%) GxP
6 4 (0.82%) NIST 800
6 4 (0.82%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.41%) Government Security Classifications
7 2 (0.41%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.21%) ISO 8583
8 1 (0.21%) RMADS
System Software
1 147 (30.18%) Active Directory
2 90 (18.48%) VMware Infrastructure
3 35 (7.19%) Hyper-V
4 29 (5.95%) Docker
5 24 (4.93%) vSphere
6 23 (4.72%) VMware NSX
7 19 (3.90%) Firmware
8 13 (2.67%) Virtual Desktop
9 6 (1.23%) Squid
10 4 (0.82%) NFS
11 3 (0.62%) Virtual Machines
11 3 (0.62%) VirtualBox
11 3 (0.62%) VMware ESXi
12 2 (0.41%) KVM
12 2 (0.41%) RACF
13 1 (0.21%) GPFS
13 1 (0.21%) iptables
13 1 (0.21%) NDS
13 1 (0.21%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.21%) Snort
Systems Management
1 103 (21.15%) Ansible
2 86 (17.66%) Terraform
3 59 (12.11%) Microsoft Intune
4 48 (9.86%) Kubernetes
5 31 (6.37%) SCCM
6 24 (4.93%) Grafana
6 24 (4.93%) Single Sign-On
7 18 (3.70%) FortiGate
8 16 (3.29%) VxRail
9 13 (2.67%) Prometheus
10 11 (2.26%) Jamf Pro
11 8 (1.64%) WSUS
12 6 (1.23%) systemd
13 5 (1.03%) Suricata
14 4 (0.82%) Consul
14 4 (0.82%) Istio
15 3 (0.62%) Puppet
15 3 (0.62%) SELinux
15 3 (0.62%) Tivoli
15 3 (0.62%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 191 (39.22%) Microsoft
2 102 (20.94%) VMware
3 94 (19.30%) Cisco
4 63 (12.94%) F5
5 57 (11.70%) ServiceNow
6 30 (6.16%) Fortinet
7 26 (5.34%) Google
8 25 (5.13%) Zscaler
9 23 (4.72%) Juniper
9 23 (4.72%) Palo Alto
10 21 (4.31%) Blue Coat
11 19 (3.90%) McAfee
11 19 (3.90%) NetApp
12 18 (3.70%) CheckPoint
12 18 (3.70%) Citrix
12 18 (3.70%) Infoblox
13 16 (3.29%) Red Hat
13 16 (3.29%) Splunk
14 12 (2.46%) Bloomberg
15 11 (2.26%) Aruba