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

6 months to
18 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 243 177 225
Rank change year-on-year -66 +48 +11
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 447 444 474
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.10% 1.45% 1.07%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.66% 10.99% 7.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 256 282 313
10th Percentile £200 £213 £186
25th Percentile £323 £400 £275
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £525 £488
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% +7.69% -7.14%
75th Percentile £575 £675 £575
90th Percentile £653 £775 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £497 £425
% change year-on-year -9.46% +16.94% -15.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 7 31
10th Percentile £15.50 £20.15 £23.25
25th Percentile £21.25 £26.25 £38.44
Median hourly rate £34.00 £54.50 £50.39
Median % change year-on-year -37.61% +8.16% -22.48%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.38 £56.49
90th Percentile - £68.50 £69.62
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £47.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year -42.11% -13.64% -15.38%

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 4,193 4,041 5,938
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.34% 13.17% 13.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,745 2,398 3,534
10th Percentile £204 £210 £205
25th Percentile £356 £361 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £486
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +2.99% -6.63%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £469 £475
% change year-on-year -4.00% -1.32% +1.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 172 126 401
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.85 £14.36
25th Percentile £18.97 £21.46 £20.00
Median hourly rate £31.44 £32.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -3.26% -31.58% +143.59%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.09 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.54 £26.00 £51.42
% change year-on-year +55.92% -49.44% +158.65%

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 February 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 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for TCP/IP in the UK

TCP/IP
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 TCP/IP within the UK over the 6 months to 18 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 -36 387 £458 -12.76% 295
UK excluding London -20 291 £450 -9.46% 273
London -59 120 £492 -1.60% 64
Work from Home -65 117 £425 -31.45% 101
North of England -16 90 £445 -8.59% 65
South East -13 60 £500 -11.50% 73
East of England -1 56 £350 -24.73% 50
North West 0 51 £563 +104.55% 30
West Midlands -20 37 £200 -5.88% 16
Midlands -38 37 £200 -55.56% 26
Yorkshire -35 36 £443 -36.79% 23
South West -26 33 £700 +13.82% 41
Scotland +21 32 £421 -4.27% 20
Wales -10 4 £250 -23.08% 8
North East -18 3 £200 +6.67% 15

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 25 (5.59%) SharePoint
2 22 (4.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (4.25%) Confluence
4 14 (3.13%) Skype for Business
5 8 (1.79%) nginx
6 7 (1.57%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.67%) Apache
8 2 (0.45%) IIS
8 2 (0.45%) WordPress
9 1 (0.22%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.22%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.22%) Traefik
Applications
1 46 (10.29%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.79%) MS Visio
3 6 (1.34%) Weka
4 5 (1.12%) Acrobat
5 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
5 2 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.22%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.22%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.22%) RMDS
1 1 (0.22%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 108 (24.16%) AWS
2 98 (21.92%) Azure
3 84 (18.79%) Microsoft 365
4 26 (5.82%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 24 (5.37%) Amazon S3
5 24 (5.37%) GCP
6 23 (5.15%) Amazon EC2
7 21 (4.70%) Entra ID
8 14 (3.13%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 14 (3.13%) Amazon ELB
9 11 (2.46%) GitHub
9 11 (2.46%) OneDrive
9 11 (2.46%) Route 53
10 9 (2.01%) Amazon EKS
10 9 (2.01%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (1.79%) AWS Lambda
11 8 (1.79%) Serverless
12 7 (1.57%) Cloud Computing
13 6 (1.34%) Google Workspace
13 6 (1.34%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 265 (59.28%) DNS
2 149 (33.33%) Firewall
3 125 (27.96%) DHCP
3 125 (27.96%) VPN
4 79 (17.67%) WAN
5 77 (17.23%) SSL
6 76 (17.00%) LAN
7 64 (14.32%) VLAN
8 63 (14.09%) Network Security
9 60 (13.42%) HTTP
10 42 (9.40%) Wireshark
11 39 (8.72%) BIG-IP
12 36 (8.05%) Wi-Fi
13 33 (7.38%) BGP
14 30 (6.71%) OSPF
15 28 (6.26%) Ethernet
16 25 (5.59%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 25 (5.59%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 18 (4.03%) Wireless
18 16 (3.58%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (4.03%) SQL Server
2 14 (3.13%) Elasticsearch
3 11 (2.46%) PostgreSQL
4 4 (0.89%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
5 1 (0.22%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.22%) Apache Cassandra
5 1 (0.22%) Apache Hive
5 1 (0.22%) Big Data
5 1 (0.22%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.22%) Impala
5 1 (0.22%) MySQL
5 1 (0.22%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Reports
5 1 (0.22%) Power BI
5 1 (0.22%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.22%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 32 (7.16%) GitLab
1 32 (7.16%) JIRA
2 29 (6.49%) Fiddler
3 28 (6.26%) Git
4 23 (5.15%) Jenkins
5 9 (2.01%) Eclipse
5 9 (2.01%) Visual Studio
6 6 (1.34%) Bitbucket
6 6 (1.34%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.89%) CircleCI
8 3 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (0.67%) Subversion
9 2 (0.45%) Maven
9 2 (0.45%) TeamCity
10 1 (0.22%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 1 (0.22%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.22%) GCC
10 1 (0.22%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.22%) MSI
10 1 (0.22%) Travis CI
General
1 154 (34.45%) Social Skills
2 68 (15.21%) Analytical Skills
3 37 (8.28%) Public Sector
4 35 (7.83%) Finance
5 31 (6.94%) Banking
6 27 (6.04%) Presentation Skills
7 23 (5.15%) Investment Banking
8 22 (4.92%) Military
9 18 (4.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 13 (2.91%) Documentation Skills
11 11 (2.46%) Telecoms
12 9 (2.01%) Front Office
13 7 (1.57%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (1.12%) Legal
15 4 (0.89%) Law
15 4 (0.89%) Local Government
16 3 (0.67%) French Language
16 3 (0.67%) Manufacturing
16 3 (0.67%) Marketing
17 2 (0.45%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 101 (22.60%) Network Engineer
2 62 (13.87%) Analyst
3 58 (12.98%) Support Engineer
4 44 (9.84%) Senior
5 36 (8.05%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 32 (7.16%) IT Support
7 28 (6.26%) Web Engineer
8 26 (5.82%) Architect
8 26 (5.82%) IT Engineer
9 21 (4.70%) SOC Analyst
10 20 (4.47%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (4.47%) Technical Engineer
11 19 (4.25%) Junior
11 19 (4.25%) Technical Analyst
12 18 (4.03%) Developer
12 18 (4.03%) DevOps Engineer
12 18 (4.03%) IT Support Engineer
12 18 (4.03%) Security Engineer
12 18 (4.03%) Technical Support
13 17 (3.80%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (3.58%) LDAP
2 13 (2.91%) Web Services
3 11 (2.46%) Middleware
4 9 (2.01%) Node.js
4 9 (2.01%) OpenID
4 9 (2.01%) REST
5 7 (1.57%) SOAP
6 6 (1.34%) JSON
7 5 (1.12%) FIX Protocol
7 5 (1.12%) SAML
8 4 (0.89%) .NET
8 4 (0.89%) Kafka
8 4 (0.89%) React
8 4 (0.89%) Ultra Messaging
9 3 (0.67%) 802.1X
9 3 (0.67%) AngularJS
9 3 (0.67%) Bootstrap
9 3 (0.67%) Express.js
9 3 (0.67%) WCF
9 3 (0.67%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 32 (7.16%) Management Information System
2 25 (5.59%) Data Centre
3 23 (5.15%) Security Operations Centre
4 22 (4.92%) Onboarding
5 19 (4.25%) Cyberattack
6 18 (4.03%) Analytical Mindset
7 16 (3.58%) Public Cloud
8 15 (3.36%) Industry 4.0
8 15 (3.36%) Robotics
9 13 (2.91%) CMDB
9 13 (2.91%) NHS
9 13 (2.91%) Security Posture
10 12 (2.68%) Driving Licence
11 11 (2.46%) Cyber Threat
11 11 (2.46%) PKI
11 11 (2.46%) Private Cloud
12 8 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
12 8 (1.79%) Self-Motivation
13 6 (1.34%) Grid Computing
14 5 (1.12%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 204 (45.64%) Windows
2 132 (29.53%) Linux
3 52 (11.63%) Windows Server
4 33 (7.38%) Windows 10
5 18 (4.03%) Unix
6 14 (3.13%) Android
7 11 (2.46%) Mac OS
7 11 (2.46%) Windows Server 2019
8 8 (1.79%) Apple iOS
8 8 (1.79%) Windows Server 2012
8 8 (1.79%) Windows Server 2016
9 5 (1.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 5 (1.12%) Ubuntu
9 5 (1.12%) VMS
10 4 (0.89%) Windows Server 2003
10 4 (0.89%) zOS
11 3 (0.67%) Debian
11 3 (0.67%) Windows 7
12 2 (0.45%) AIX
12 2 (0.45%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 135 (30.20%) Problem-Solving
2 71 (15.88%) ITIL
3 60 (13.42%) Incident Response
4 57 (12.75%) Cybersecurity
4 57 (12.75%) SIEM
5 55 (12.30%) DevOps
6 51 (11.41%) CI/CD
7 50 (11.19%) Agile
8 47 (10.51%) Load Balancing
9 46 (10.29%) Infrastructure as Code
9 46 (10.29%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 43 (9.62%) Root Cause Analysis
11 42 (9.40%) Customer Service
12 36 (8.05%) Security Operations
13 34 (7.61%) Migration
14 30 (6.71%) Decision-Making
14 30 (6.71%) Knowledge Transfer
15 29 (6.49%) Continuous Improvement
15 29 (6.49%) Data Loss Prevention
15 29 (6.49%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 117 (26.17%) Python
2 77 (17.23%) PowerShell
3 64 (14.32%) Bash
4 21 (4.70%) SQL
5 16 (3.58%) JavaScript
6 14 (3.13%) C#
6 14 (3.13%) C++
7 13 (2.91%) Java
8 11 (2.46%) Perl
9 10 (2.24%) Shell Script
10 8 (1.79%) Go
11 6 (1.34%) C
12 3 (0.67%) Search Processing Language
12 3 (0.67%) T-SQL
13 2 (0.45%) Kusto Query Language
13 2 (0.45%) Ruby
13 2 (0.45%) VBA
13 2 (0.45%) VBScript
14 1 (0.22%) Bicep
14 1 (0.22%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 138 (30.87%) Security Cleared
2 103 (23.04%) SC Cleared
3 62 (13.87%) Degree
4 41 (9.17%) DV Cleared
5 37 (8.28%) Cisco Certification
6 31 (6.94%) CompTIA Security+
7 30 (6.71%) CCNP
8 28 (6.26%) Microsoft Certification
9 20 (4.47%) Computer Science Degree
9 20 (4.47%) Network+ Certification
10 19 (4.25%) CISSP
11 17 (3.80%) Azure Certification
11 17 (3.80%) CCNA
12 16 (3.58%) CompTIA CySA+
13 11 (2.46%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 11 (2.46%) Server+ Certification
14 10 (2.24%) JNCIS
15 9 (2.01%) MCSE
16 8 (1.79%) CCIE
17 7 (1.57%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.13%) GDPR
2 11 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (1.79%) NIST
3 8 (1.79%) SLA
4 6 (1.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 5 (1.12%) NCSC
6 4 (0.89%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.45%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.45%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.45%) QA
8 1 (0.22%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.22%) Government Security Classifications
8 1 (0.22%) GRC
8 1 (0.22%) RMADS
8 1 (0.22%) SOC 2
System Software
1 98 (21.92%) Active Directory
2 59 (13.20%) VMware Infrastructure
3 46 (10.29%) Docker
4 23 (5.15%) Hyper-V
5 17 (3.80%) Firmware
6 11 (2.46%) Virtual Machines
6 11 (2.46%) VMware NSX
6 11 (2.46%) vSphere
7 7 (1.57%) Lustre
7 7 (1.57%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 7 (1.57%) Squid
8 6 (1.34%) GPFS
8 6 (1.34%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (1.12%) KVM
9 5 (1.12%) NDS
9 5 (1.12%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 5 (1.12%) Virtual Desktop
10 4 (0.89%) NFS
11 2 (0.45%) Ceph
11 2 (0.45%) Veritas Volume Manager
Systems Management
1 86 (19.24%) Ansible
2 51 (11.41%) Terraform
3 41 (9.17%) Kubernetes
4 36 (8.05%) SCCM
5 30 (6.71%) Microsoft Intune
6 22 (4.92%) Grafana
7 19 (4.25%) Prometheus
8 16 (3.58%) FortiGate
8 16 (3.58%) Single Sign-On
9 11 (2.46%) QRadar
10 9 (2.01%) WSUS
11 8 (1.79%) Nagios
11 8 (1.79%) Puppet
12 7 (1.57%) Consul
13 6 (1.34%) Nessus
14 5 (1.12%) Active Directory Federation Services
14 5 (1.12%) CASB
14 5 (1.12%) Red Hat Satellite
14 5 (1.12%) Tivoli NetView
15 4 (0.89%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 128 (28.64%) Microsoft
2 83 (18.57%) VMware
3 70 (15.66%) F5
4 57 (12.75%) Cisco
5 49 (10.96%) Splunk
6 43 (9.62%) Palo Alto
7 34 (7.61%) Blue Coat
8 31 (6.94%) CheckPoint
8 31 (6.94%) McAfee
9 28 (6.26%) ServiceNow
10 22 (4.92%) Fortinet
10 22 (4.92%) Juniper
11 21 (4.70%) NetApp
12 19 (4.25%) Red Hat
13 17 (3.80%) SolarWinds
14 15 (3.36%) Oracle
14 15 (3.36%) Siemens
15 14 (3.13%) Citrix
16 13 (2.91%) Meraki
16 13 (2.91%) Zscaler