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 23 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 290 222 292
Rank change year-on-year -68 +70 -54
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 411 350 333
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.85% 1.22% 0.78%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 8.80% 9.66% 6.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 232 247 227
10th Percentile £213 £225 £188
25th Percentile £375 £362 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £461 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -7.75% - +2.46%
75th Percentile £550 £624 £575
90th Percentile £638 £775 £647
UK excluding London median daily rate £460 £475 £488
% change year-on-year -3.16% -2.56% +8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 10 21
10th Percentile £21.25 £17.54 £16.00
25th Percentile £26.25 £20.88 £20.00
Median hourly rate £38.58 £52.25 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.16% -19.62% +7.04%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.69 -
90th Percentile - £65.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £45.25 £65.00
% change year-on-year -7.31% -30.38% +3.92%

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 4,669 3,622 5,376
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.61% 12.66% 12.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,871 2,249 3,212
10th Percentile £263 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £488
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% - -5.34%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 264 151 415
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £32.50 £37.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% -6.25% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.22 £58.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.78 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £39.02 £28.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year +39.36% -38.97% +154.89%

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 23 May 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 23 May 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 23 May 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 -49 352 £475 -5.00% 217
UK excluding London -35 249 £460 -3.16% 200
London -67 127 £475 - 52
Work from Home -78 92 £450 -18.18% 80
North of England -23 89 £450 +12.50% 37
South East -49 59 £510 +13.33% 63
North West +1 57 £540 +116.00% 22
East of England -17 37 £175 -59.30% 31
Midlands -54 34 £400 -27.27% 32
West Midlands -42 31 £388 -29.55% 19
Yorkshire -50 27 £447 -12.78% 12
Scotland +11 24 £537 +21.24% 10
South West -35 19 £500 -18.70% 25
Wales -11 7 £408 -9.44% 6
North East -24 5 £306 +22.50% 4
East Midlands -34 3 £625 +13.64% 13

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 18 (4.38%) Confluence
2 12 (2.92%) SharePoint
3 10 (2.43%) nginx
4 8 (1.95%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (0.97%) IIS
5 4 (0.97%) WebSphere
6 3 (0.73%) Apache
7 2 (0.49%) CICS
7 2 (0.49%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.49%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.49%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.49%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.49%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.24%) Traefik
Applications
1 28 (6.81%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.19%) MS Visio
3 4 (0.97%) Acrobat
4 3 (0.73%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (0.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.24%) Weka
Business Applications
1 1 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 94 (22.87%) AWS
2 93 (22.63%) Azure
3 68 (16.55%) Microsoft 365
4 28 (6.81%) Entra ID
4 28 (6.81%) GCP
5 26 (6.33%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 17 (4.14%) Amazon EC2
7 16 (3.89%) Amazon EKS
8 15 (3.65%) Amazon S3
9 14 (3.41%) OneDrive
9 14 (3.41%) Route 53
10 13 (3.16%) AWS Lambda
10 13 (3.16%) Serverless
11 11 (2.68%) GitHub
12 7 (1.70%) Akamai
12 7 (1.70%) AWS CloudFormation
12 7 (1.70%) Azure DevOps
12 7 (1.70%) Google Workspace
12 7 (1.70%) Nutanix
12 7 (1.70%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 228 (55.47%) DNS
2 143 (34.79%) Firewall
3 99 (24.09%) VPN
4 92 (22.38%) DHCP
5 72 (17.52%) HTTP
5 72 (17.52%) WAN
6 70 (17.03%) SSL
7 69 (16.79%) Network Security
8 66 (16.06%) LAN
9 55 (13.38%) VLAN
10 54 (13.14%) BGP
11 50 (12.17%) BIG-IP
12 44 (10.71%) OSPF
13 34 (8.27%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 34 (8.27%) Wi-Fi
14 31 (7.54%) Ethernet
14 31 (7.54%) Wireshark
15 27 (6.57%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 19 (4.62%) Wireless
17 14 (3.41%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.92%) Elasticsearch
2 11 (2.68%) SQL Server
3 7 (1.70%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (1.22%) MongoDB
5 3 (0.73%) Amazon RDS
6 2 (0.49%) MySQL
7 1 (0.24%) Amazon Aurora
7 1 (0.24%) BigQuery
7 1 (0.24%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.24%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 41 (9.98%) JIRA
2 27 (6.57%) Fiddler
3 23 (5.60%) GitLab
4 19 (4.62%) Git
5 14 (3.41%) Jenkins
6 12 (2.92%) Eclipse
6 12 (2.92%) Visual Studio
7 9 (2.19%) Browser DevTools
8 7 (1.70%) Bitbucket
8 7 (1.70%) SonarQube
9 4 (0.97%) CircleCI
9 4 (0.97%) Sonatype Nexus
10 3 (0.73%) Artifactory
11 2 (0.49%) Introscope
11 2 (0.49%) Subversion
12 1 (0.24%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.24%) Postman
12 1 (0.24%) Travis CI
General
1 140 (34.06%) Social Skills
2 54 (13.14%) Finance
3 48 (11.68%) Analytical Skills
4 38 (9.25%) Banking
5 28 (6.81%) Public Sector
6 23 (5.60%) Investment Banking
7 22 (5.35%) Presentation Skills
8 20 (4.87%) Military
9 19 (4.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 18 (4.38%) Documentation Skills
11 8 (1.95%) Telecoms
12 6 (1.46%) Front Office
13 5 (1.22%) Law
14 3 (0.73%) French Language
14 3 (0.73%) Manufacturing
14 3 (0.73%) Marketing
14 3 (0.73%) Organisational Skills
15 2 (0.49%) Games
15 2 (0.49%) Japanese Language
15 2 (0.49%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 100 (24.33%) Network Engineer
2 49 (11.92%) Analyst
3 35 (8.52%) Web Engineer
4 31 (7.54%) Senior
4 31 (7.54%) Support Engineer
5 27 (6.57%) Architect
5 27 (6.57%) Security Engineer
6 24 (5.84%) IT Support
7 22 (5.35%) Technical Engineer
8 20 (4.87%) IP Network Engineer
8 20 (4.87%) SOC Analyst
9 19 (4.62%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 18 (4.38%) Blue Coat Engineer
11 17 (4.14%) IT Engineer
11 17 (4.14%) Junior
11 17 (4.14%) Systems Engineer
12 15 (3.65%) Lead
13 13 (3.16%) Integration Engineer
13 13 (3.16%) Technical Support
14 12 (2.92%) Junior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (5.11%) LDAP
2 16 (3.89%) SAML
3 13 (3.16%) Web Services
4 12 (2.92%) Node.js
4 12 (2.92%) OpenID
5 11 (2.68%) JSON
6 10 (2.43%) 802.1X
7 8 (1.95%) REST
8 5 (1.22%) Kafka
8 5 (1.22%) OAuth
8 5 (1.22%) XML
9 3 (0.73%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.73%) Elastic Stack
9 3 (0.73%) HTML
9 3 (0.73%) Middleware
9 3 (0.73%) NETCONF
9 3 (0.73%) OpenConfig
9 3 (0.73%) RESTCONF
9 3 (0.73%) YANG
10 2 (0.49%) eBPF
Miscellaneous
1 38 (9.25%) Data Centre
2 33 (8.03%) Onboarding
3 24 (5.84%) Management Information System
3 24 (5.84%) Security Operations Centre
4 21 (5.11%) Cyberattack
5 16 (3.89%) Cyber Threat
6 15 (3.65%) Industry 4.0
6 15 (3.65%) Robotics
7 13 (3.16%) Security Posture
8 10 (2.43%) Enterprise Software
8 10 (2.43%) Public Cloud
9 9 (2.19%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 8 (1.95%) Data Protection Act
10 8 (1.95%) Driving Licence
11 7 (1.70%) PKI
12 6 (1.46%) Mainframe
12 6 (1.46%) NHS
12 6 (1.46%) Private Cloud
12 6 (1.46%) Self-Motivation
13 5 (1.22%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 169 (41.12%) Windows
2 93 (22.63%) Linux
3 47 (11.44%) Windows Server
4 23 (5.60%) Mac OS
5 16 (3.89%) Windows 10
6 15 (3.65%) Unix
7 11 (2.68%) Android
7 11 (2.68%) Apple iOS
8 10 (2.43%) Windows Server 2012
9 8 (1.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 7 (1.70%) Windows Server 2019
11 6 (1.46%) Ubuntu
11 6 (1.46%) zOS
12 4 (0.97%) Windows Server 2016
13 3 (0.73%) Debian
13 3 (0.73%) Windows 7
13 3 (0.73%) Windows Server 2003
14 2 (0.49%) AIX
14 2 (0.49%) Oracle Linux
14 2 (0.49%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 117 (28.47%) Problem-Solving
2 65 (15.82%) ITIL
3 55 (13.38%) Incident Response
4 49 (11.92%) Load Balancing
4 49 (11.92%) SIEM
5 48 (11.68%) Agile
5 48 (11.68%) Cybersecurity
6 45 (10.95%) DevOps
7 40 (9.73%) Security Operations
8 38 (9.25%) CI/CD
8 38 (9.25%) Migration
9 36 (8.76%) Customer Service
10 33 (8.03%) Validation
11 32 (7.79%) High Availability
11 32 (7.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 32 (7.79%) ITSM
12 30 (7.30%) Computer Science
12 30 (7.30%) Root Cause Analysis
13 29 (7.06%) Data Loss Prevention
13 29 (7.06%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 89 (21.65%) Python
2 42 (10.22%) Bash
3 40 (9.73%) PowerShell
4 26 (6.33%) JavaScript
5 20 (4.87%) SQL
6 18 (4.38%) C++
7 14 (3.41%) C#
8 9 (2.19%) Java
9 7 (1.70%) Shell Script
9 7 (1.70%) VBA
10 6 (1.46%) C
10 6 (1.46%) Go
11 5 (1.22%) Perl
12 2 (0.49%) Jython
12 2 (0.49%) Ruby
13 1 (0.24%) Groovy
13 1 (0.24%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 119 (28.95%) Security Cleared
2 97 (23.60%) SC Cleared
3 71 (17.27%) Degree
4 45 (10.95%) Cisco Certification
5 38 (9.25%) CCNP
6 30 (7.30%) CompTIA Security+
6 30 (7.30%) Computer Science Degree
7 27 (6.57%) DV Cleared
8 24 (5.84%) CCNA
9 18 (4.38%) CISSP
9 18 (4.38%) CompTIA CySA+
10 13 (3.16%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (2.19%) Azure Certification
11 9 (2.19%) MCSA
12 8 (1.95%) CCIE
12 8 (1.95%) MCSE
12 8 (1.95%) Network+ Certification
13 7 (1.70%) JNCIS
14 5 (1.22%) CISM
15 4 (0.97%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (2.68%) SLA
2 10 (2.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (1.70%) NIST
4 6 (1.46%) GDPR
5 4 (0.97%) QA
6 3 (0.73%) NCSC
7 2 (0.49%) RMADS
8 1 (0.24%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.24%) GRC
System Software
1 81 (19.71%) Active Directory
2 45 (10.95%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (4.62%) Docker
4 18 (4.38%) Firmware
5 13 (3.16%) Squid
6 9 (2.19%) VMware NSX
6 9 (2.19%) vSphere
7 8 (1.95%) Virtual Desktop
7 8 (1.95%) Virtual Machines
8 7 (1.70%) Hyper-V
9 5 (1.22%) KVM
10 4 (0.97%) NFS
11 2 (0.49%) Ceph
11 2 (0.49%) iptables
11 2 (0.49%) Lustre
11 2 (0.49%) RACF
11 2 (0.49%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 1 (0.24%) GPFS
12 1 (0.24%) RHEV
12 1 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 69 (16.79%) Ansible
2 38 (9.25%) Terraform
3 34 (8.27%) Kubernetes
4 27 (6.57%) Grafana
5 25 (6.08%) FortiGate
5 25 (6.08%) Microsoft Intune
5 25 (6.08%) SCCM
6 23 (5.60%) Single Sign-On
7 17 (4.14%) Prometheus
8 10 (2.43%) Nagios
8 10 (2.43%) WSUS
9 9 (2.19%) Consul
10 8 (1.95%) QRadar
11 6 (1.46%) CASB
11 6 (1.46%) Jamf Pro
12 5 (1.22%) Nessus
12 5 (1.22%) Puppet
12 5 (1.22%) Suricata
13 4 (0.97%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 4 (0.97%) Tivoli NetView
Vendors
1 104 (25.30%) Microsoft
2 67 (16.30%) F5
3 63 (15.33%) Cisco
4 62 (15.09%) VMware
5 41 (9.98%) Splunk
6 36 (8.76%) ServiceNow
7 32 (7.79%) Blue Coat
8 27 (6.57%) McAfee
8 27 (6.57%) Palo Alto
9 23 (5.60%) Fortinet
10 22 (5.35%) Red Hat
11 20 (4.87%) Citrix
11 20 (4.87%) Juniper
11 20 (4.87%) NetApp
12 17 (4.14%) Siemens
13 16 (3.89%) Zscaler
14 13 (3.16%) SolarWinds
15 12 (2.92%) CheckPoint
16 11 (2.68%) Bloomberg
16 11 (2.68%) Google