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

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 249 185 221
Rank change year-on-year -64 +36 +10
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 448 442 472
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.10% 1.43% 1.07%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.68% 10.90% 8.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 257 286 313
10th Percentile £200 £213 £186
25th Percentile £325 £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 30
10th Percentile £15.50 £20.15 £22.53
25th Percentile £21.25 £26.25 £37.34
Median hourly rate £34.00 £54.50 £51.70
Median % change year-on-year -37.61% +5.43% -20.47%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.38 £56.49
90th Percentile - £68.50 £69.62
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £47.50 £55.75
% change year-on-year -42.11% -14.79% -14.24%

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 4,195 4,055 5,881
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.30% 13.16% 13.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,740 2,421 3,508
10th Percentile £204 £210 £205
25th Percentile £356 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £487
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +2.72% -6.39%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £453 £470 £475
% change year-on-year -3.62% -1.05% +0.48%
Number of hourly rates quoted 171 127 399
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.93 £14.34
25th Percentile £18.94 £21.46 £20.00
Median hourly rate £28.88 £32.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.14% -31.58% +143.59%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.06 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.54 £26.75 £51.42
% change year-on-year +51.55% -47.98% +157.87%

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 19 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 19 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 19 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 -30 388 £460 -12.38% 294
UK excluding London -10 292 £450 -9.46% 262
London -69 120 £492 -1.60% 73
Work from Home -65 117 £425 -30.73% 102
North of England -35 91 £445 -5.93% 60
South East -14 60 £500 -10.31% 73
East of England +4 56 £350 -24.73% 45
North West +2 52 £563 +104.55% 30
West Midlands -29 38 £200 -5.88% 16
Midlands -47 38 £200 -55.56% 26
Yorkshire -42 36 £443 -30.59% 20
South West -22 33 £638 +3.66% 40
Scotland +21 32 £421 -4.27% 20
Wales -11 4 £250 -23.08% 7
North East -20 3 £200 +6.67% 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 25 (5.58%) SharePoint
2 22 (4.91%) Microsoft Exchange
3 19 (4.24%) Confluence
4 14 (3.13%) Skype for Business
5 8 (1.79%) nginx
6 7 (1.56%) 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 (10.27%) 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
1 107 (23.88%) AWS
2 98 (21.88%) Azure
3 84 (18.75%) Microsoft 365
4 25 (5.58%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 24 (5.36%) GCP
6 23 (5.13%) Amazon S3
7 22 (4.91%) Amazon EC2
8 21 (4.69%) Entra ID
9 13 (2.90%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 13 (2.90%) Amazon ELB
10 11 (2.46%) GitHub
10 11 (2.46%) OneDrive
10 11 (2.46%) Route 53
11 9 (2.01%) Amazon EKS
11 9 (2.01%) AWS CloudFormation
12 8 (1.79%) AWS Lambda
12 8 (1.79%) Serverless
13 7 (1.56%) Cloud Computing
14 6 (1.34%) Google Workspace
14 6 (1.34%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 265 (59.15%) DNS
2 148 (33.04%) Firewall
3 125 (27.90%) DHCP
4 124 (27.68%) VPN
5 79 (17.63%) WAN
6 77 (17.19%) SSL
7 76 (16.96%) LAN
8 64 (14.29%) VLAN
9 62 (13.84%) Network Security
10 61 (13.62%) HTTP
11 43 (9.60%) Wireshark
12 40 (8.93%) BIG-IP
13 36 (8.04%) Wi-Fi
14 33 (7.37%) BGP
15 30 (6.70%) OSPF
16 28 (6.25%) Ethernet
17 26 (5.80%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 26 (5.80%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 18 (4.02%) Wireless
19 16 (3.57%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (4.02%) 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 (7.14%) JIRA
2 31 (6.92%) GitLab
3 30 (6.70%) Fiddler
4 27 (6.03%) Git
5 22 (4.91%) Jenkins
6 9 (2.01%) Eclipse
6 9 (2.01%) Visual Studio
7 6 (1.34%) Bitbucket
7 6 (1.34%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.89%) CircleCI
9 3 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (0.67%) Subversion
10 2 (0.45%) Maven
10 2 (0.45%) TeamCity
11 1 (0.22%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.22%) Cucumber
11 1 (0.22%) GCC
11 1 (0.22%) IntelliJ
11 1 (0.22%) MSI
11 1 (0.22%) Travis CI
General
1 154 (34.38%) Social Skills
2 68 (15.18%) Analytical Skills
3 37 (8.26%) Public Sector
4 35 (7.81%) Finance
5 32 (7.14%) Banking
6 27 (6.03%) Presentation Skills
7 24 (5.36%) Investment Banking
8 22 (4.91%) Military
9 18 (4.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 13 (2.90%) Documentation Skills
11 11 (2.46%) Telecoms
12 9 (2.01%) Front Office
13 7 (1.56%) 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
1 102 (22.77%) Network Engineer
2 62 (13.84%) Analyst
3 58 (12.95%) Support Engineer
4 43 (9.60%) Senior
5 35 (7.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 32 (7.14%) IT Support
7 29 (6.47%) Web Engineer
8 26 (5.80%) Architect
8 26 (5.80%) IT Engineer
9 21 (4.69%) SOC Analyst
10 20 (4.46%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (4.46%) Technical Engineer
11 19 (4.24%) Junior
11 19 (4.24%) Technical Analyst
12 18 (4.02%) Developer
12 18 (4.02%) DevOps Engineer
12 18 (4.02%) IT Support Engineer
12 18 (4.02%) Security Engineer
12 18 (4.02%) Technical Support
13 17 (3.79%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (3.57%) LDAP
2 13 (2.90%) Web Services
3 11 (2.46%) Middleware
4 10 (2.23%) REST
5 9 (2.01%) Node.js
5 9 (2.01%) OpenID
6 7 (1.56%) SOAP
7 6 (1.34%) JSON
8 5 (1.12%) FIX Protocol
8 5 (1.12%) SAML
9 4 (0.89%) .NET
9 4 (0.89%) Kafka
9 4 (0.89%) React
9 4 (0.89%) Ultra Messaging
10 3 (0.67%) 802.1X
10 3 (0.67%) AngularJS
10 3 (0.67%) ASP.NET Web API
10 3 (0.67%) Bootstrap
10 3 (0.67%) Express.js
10 3 (0.67%) WCF
Miscellaneous
1 33 (7.37%) Management Information System
2 25 (5.58%) Data Centre
3 23 (5.13%) Security Operations Centre
4 22 (4.91%) Onboarding
5 19 (4.24%) Cyberattack
6 18 (4.02%) Analytical Mindset
7 16 (3.57%) Public Cloud
8 15 (3.35%) Industry 4.0
8 15 (3.35%) Robotics
9 13 (2.90%) CMDB
9 13 (2.90%) NHS
9 13 (2.90%) 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 (45.54%) Windows
2 132 (29.46%) Linux
3 52 (11.61%) Windows Server
4 33 (7.37%) Windows 10
5 18 (4.02%) 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 (30.13%) Problem-Solving
2 71 (15.85%) ITIL
3 59 (13.17%) Incident Response
4 57 (12.72%) Cybersecurity
4 57 (12.72%) SIEM
5 54 (12.05%) DevOps
6 50 (11.16%) Agile
6 50 (11.16%) CI/CD
7 48 (10.71%) Load Balancing
8 45 (10.04%) Infrastructure as Code
8 45 (10.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 42 (9.38%) Customer Service
9 42 (9.38%) Root Cause Analysis
10 36 (8.04%) Security Operations
11 34 (7.59%) Migration
12 30 (6.70%) Data Loss Prevention
12 30 (6.70%) Decision-Making
12 30 (6.70%) Knowledge Transfer
13 29 (6.47%) Continuous Improvement
13 29 (6.47%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 116 (25.89%) Python
2 77 (17.19%) PowerShell
3 63 (14.06%) Bash
4 22 (4.91%) SQL
5 16 (3.57%) JavaScript
6 14 (3.13%) C#
6 14 (3.13%) C++
6 14 (3.13%) Java
7 11 (2.46%) Perl
8 10 (2.23%) Shell Script
9 8 (1.79%) Go
10 6 (1.34%) C
11 3 (0.67%) Search Processing Language
11 3 (0.67%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.45%) Kusto Query Language
12 2 (0.45%) Ruby
12 2 (0.45%) VBA
12 2 (0.45%) VBScript
13 1 (0.22%) Bicep
13 1 (0.22%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 139 (31.03%) Security Cleared
2 104 (23.21%) SC Cleared
3 62 (13.84%) Degree
4 41 (9.15%) DV Cleared
5 37 (8.26%) Cisco Certification
6 31 (6.92%) CompTIA Security+
7 30 (6.70%) CCNP
8 28 (6.25%) Microsoft Certification
9 20 (4.46%) Computer Science Degree
9 20 (4.46%) Network+ Certification
10 19 (4.24%) CISSP
11 17 (3.79%) Azure Certification
11 17 (3.79%) CCNA
12 16 (3.57%) CompTIA CySA+
13 11 (2.46%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 11 (2.46%) Server+ Certification
14 10 (2.23%) JNCIS
15 9 (2.01%) MCSE
16 8 (1.79%) CCIE
17 7 (1.56%) 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 (21.88%) Active Directory
2 60 (13.39%) VMware Infrastructure
3 46 (10.27%) Docker
4 23 (5.13%) Hyper-V
5 18 (4.02%) Firmware
6 11 (2.46%) Virtual Machines
6 11 (2.46%) VMware NSX
6 11 (2.46%) vSphere
7 7 (1.56%) Lustre
7 7 (1.56%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 7 (1.56%) 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 85 (18.97%) Ansible
2 50 (11.16%) Terraform
3 42 (9.38%) Kubernetes
4 36 (8.04%) SCCM
5 30 (6.70%) Microsoft Intune
6 22 (4.91%) Grafana
7 19 (4.24%) Prometheus
8 16 (3.57%) FortiGate
8 16 (3.57%) 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 (1.56%) 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%) ITRS Geneos
Vendors
1 128 (28.57%) Microsoft
2 84 (18.75%) VMware
3 70 (15.63%) F5
4 57 (12.72%) Cisco
5 49 (10.94%) Splunk
6 42 (9.38%) Palo Alto
7 35 (7.81%) Blue Coat
8 32 (7.14%) McAfee
9 30 (6.70%) CheckPoint
10 28 (6.25%) ServiceNow
11 22 (4.91%) Fortinet
11 22 (4.91%) Juniper
11 22 (4.91%) NetApp
12 19 (4.24%) Red Hat
13 17 (3.79%) SolarWinds
14 15 (3.35%) Oracle
14 15 (3.35%) Siemens
15 14 (3.13%) Citrix
16 13 (2.90%) Meraki
16 13 (2.90%) Zscaler