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

6 months to
28 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 280 236 246
Rank change year-on-year -44 +10 -13
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 489 368 368
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.91% 1.12% 0.95%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.61% 9.49% 7.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 267 200 223
10th Percentile £202 £200 £203
25th Percentile £310 £355 £260
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year -3.16% +5.56% -
75th Percentile £550 £602 £575
90th Percentile £675 £653 £645
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £425
% change year-on-year -0.06% +5.88% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 43 31 31
10th Percentile £26.33 £28.00 £30.00
25th Percentile £31.25 £47.88 £63.13
Median hourly rate £63.48 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.34% - +30.00%
75th Percentile £77.40 - -
90th Percentile £98.82 £83.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.48 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.34% - +33.33%

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 5,090 3,878 4,662
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.47% 11.85% 12.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,997 2,363 2,784
10th Percentile £250 £243 £220
25th Percentile £400 £365 £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 £476 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +0.21% -5.00% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 374 204 302
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -42.22% -10.00% -11.49%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.71 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.81 £42.50 £54.88
% change year-on-year -39.28% -22.55% -4.57%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 -35 449 £475 -5.00% 533
UK excluding London -30 266 £450 -0.06% 341
London -47 200 £470 -10.48% 257
Work from Home -66 116 £506 -5.55% 171
South East -22 82 £523 +36.07% 103
North of England -50 73 £425 -20.56% 76
South West +8 46 £644 +5.10% 46
Midlands -28 44 £402 -10.67% 43
North West -28 43 £295 -44.86% 40
West Midlands -39 36 £406 -9.72% 23
Yorkshire -47 26 £500 -9.09% 21
East of England -26 20 £423 -23.18% 38
Scotland -13 13 £210 -49.94% 22
East Midlands -12 8 £402 -26.91% 20
Wales -13 8 £425 +136.11% 9
North East -38 4 £438 +75.00% 18

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 50 (10.22%) SharePoint
2 31 (6.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (2.25%) Confluence
3 11 (2.25%) OpenStack
4 5 (1.02%) nginx
5 4 (0.82%) FactoryTalk
5 4 (0.82%) WebSphere
6 3 (0.61%) IIS
7 2 (0.41%) CICS
7 2 (0.41%) IBM HTTP Server
7 2 (0.41%) Oracle HTTP Server
7 2 (0.41%) WebSphere Application Server
7 2 (0.41%) WebSphere Portal
8 1 (0.20%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 18 (3.68%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (3.48%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (1.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.43%) 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 (1.64%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 169 (34.56%) Azure
2 123 (25.15%) Microsoft 365
3 110 (22.49%) AWS
4 76 (15.54%) Entra ID
5 36 (7.36%) OneDrive
6 33 (6.75%) GCP
7 22 (4.50%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 21 (4.29%) GitHub
9 15 (3.07%) OpenShift
10 14 (2.86%) Azure Monitor
11 12 (2.45%) Route 53
12 11 (2.25%) Amazon EC2
12 11 (2.25%) AWS CloudFormation
12 11 (2.25%) Google Workspace
13 10 (2.04%) GitHub Actions
14 9 (1.84%) Azure Sentinel
15 8 (1.64%) Amazon EKS
16 7 (1.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 7 (1.43%) Azure DevOps
17 6 (1.23%) Azure ExpressRoute
Communications & Networking
1 297 (60.74%) DNS
2 213 (43.56%) Firewall
3 190 (38.85%) DHCP
4 149 (30.47%) VPN
5 92 (18.81%) Network Security
5 92 (18.81%) WAN
6 80 (16.36%) LAN
7 72 (14.72%) VLAN
8 71 (14.52%) BGP
8 71 (14.52%) HTTP
9 56 (11.45%) SSL
10 45 (9.20%) OSPF
11 44 (9.00%) Wi-Fi
12 43 (8.79%) Wireless
13 42 (8.59%) BIG-IP
14 37 (7.57%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 27 (5.52%) SD-WAN
16 26 (5.32%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 22 (4.50%) Wireshark
18 19 (3.89%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (3.68%) PostgreSQL
2 15 (3.07%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.64%) MySQL
3 8 (1.64%) SQLite
4 7 (1.43%) NoSQL
5 6 (1.23%) MongoDB
6 5 (1.02%) Redis
7 4 (0.82%) Amazon RDS
8 3 (0.61%) KDB
9 2 (0.41%) BigQuery
10 1 (0.20%) Cloud Spanner
10 1 (0.20%) Elasticsearch
10 1 (0.20%) Kdb+
Development Applications
1 46 (9.41%) JIRA
2 37 (7.57%) Git
3 31 (6.34%) Jenkins
4 21 (4.29%) GitLab
5 16 (3.27%) Fiddler
6 9 (1.84%) Browser DevTools
7 8 (1.64%) Sonatype Nexus
8 6 (1.23%) Visual Studio
9 5 (1.02%) Artifactory
9 5 (1.02%) Eclipse
10 4 (0.82%) Selenium
11 2 (0.41%) Bitbucket
11 2 (0.41%) Introscope
11 2 (0.41%) Subversion
12 1 (0.20%) MSI
12 1 (0.20%) Postman
General
1 195 (39.88%) Social Skills
2 76 (15.54%) Analytical Skills
3 68 (13.91%) Finance
4 45 (9.20%) Banking
5 29 (5.93%) Public Sector
6 25 (5.11%) Telecoms
7 21 (4.29%) Investment Banking
8 14 (2.86%) Front Office
9 13 (2.66%) Documentation Skills
10 8 (1.64%) Military
11 7 (1.43%) Aerospace
12 6 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.23%) Manufacturing
13 5 (1.02%) Legal
13 5 (1.02%) Organisational Skills
13 5 (1.02%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (1.02%) Police
14 4 (0.82%) Automotive
15 3 (0.61%) Advertising
15 3 (0.61%) Retail
Job Titles
1 108 (22.09%) Network Engineer
2 71 (14.52%) Support Engineer
3 63 (12.88%) Senior
4 56 (11.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 50 (10.22%) IT Support
6 41 (8.38%) IT Engineer
7 37 (7.57%) Architect
8 36 (7.36%) Analyst
9 35 (7.16%) IT Support Engineer
10 26 (5.32%) Senior Network Engineer
11 23 (4.70%) Platform Engineer
12 22 (4.50%) Web Engineer
13 21 (4.29%) Security Engineer
13 21 (4.29%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
14 19 (3.89%) Linux Engineer
15 17 (3.48%) IP Network Engineer
16 16 (3.27%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
17 15 (3.07%) Blue Coat Engineer
17 15 (3.07%) Cloud Engineer
17 15 (3.07%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 87 (17.79%) Terraform
2 20 (4.09%) SAML
3 16 (3.27%) REST
4 13 (2.66%) ARM Templates
5 12 (2.45%) JSON
6 10 (2.04%) 802.1X
7 9 (1.84%) .NET
8 8 (1.64%) Kafka
8 8 (1.64%) LDAP
8 8 (1.64%) SPNEGO
9 7 (1.43%) HTML
10 6 (1.23%) Elastic Stack
10 6 (1.23%) Jinja
10 6 (1.23%) RabbitMQ
10 6 (1.23%) XML
11 5 (1.02%) FastAPI
11 5 (1.02%) NETCONF
11 5 (1.02%) OpenConfig
11 5 (1.02%) RESTCONF
11 5 (1.02%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 84 (17.18%) Data Centre
2 59 (12.07%) Onboarding
3 33 (6.75%) PKI
4 32 (6.54%) Hybrid Cloud
5 28 (5.73%) Management Information System
6 21 (4.29%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 20 (4.09%) Linux Command Line
8 17 (3.48%) Public Cloud
9 16 (3.27%) Driving Licence
9 16 (3.27%) Operational Technology
9 16 (3.27%) Self-Motivation
10 13 (2.66%) Cloud Native
10 13 (2.66%) SCADA
11 11 (2.25%) Cyber Threat
11 11 (2.25%) Video Conferencing
12 10 (2.04%) Analytical Mindset
12 10 (2.04%) Enterprise Storage
13 9 (1.84%) Distributed Systems
13 9 (1.84%) Private Cloud
13 9 (1.84%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 229 (46.83%) Windows
2 140 (28.63%) Linux
3 72 (14.72%) Windows Server
4 47 (9.61%) Windows 10
5 39 (7.98%) Mac OS
6 25 (5.11%) Unix
7 24 (4.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 18 (3.68%) Apple iOS
9 15 (3.07%) Ubuntu
10 14 (2.86%) Android
11 6 (1.23%) zOS
12 4 (0.82%) CentOS
13 3 (0.61%) Check Point GAiA
13 3 (0.61%) Windows Server 2012
13 3 (0.61%) Windows Server 2019
14 2 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
14 2 (0.41%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
14 2 (0.41%) Windows Server 2016
15 1 (0.20%) Data ONTAP
15 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 135 (27.61%) Problem-Solving
2 116 (23.72%) ITIL
3 79 (16.16%) CI/CD
3 79 (16.16%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 73 (14.93%) Infrastructure as Code
5 68 (13.91%) DevOps
6 63 (12.88%) Load Balancing
7 61 (12.47%) ITSM
8 58 (11.86%) Customer Service
9 57 (11.66%) Agile
9 57 (11.66%) Cybersecurity
10 53 (10.84%) Continuous Improvement
11 52 (10.63%) Migration
12 51 (10.43%) High Availability
13 50 (10.22%) Platform Engineering
14 47 (9.61%) Service Management
15 45 (9.20%) Incident Response
16 43 (8.79%) SIEM
16 43 (8.79%) Stakeholder Management
17 42 (8.59%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 151 (30.88%) Python
2 104 (21.27%) PowerShell
3 91 (18.61%) Bash
4 23 (4.70%) SQL
5 20 (4.09%) C++
6 16 (3.27%) JavaScript
7 15 (3.07%) Perl
8 13 (2.66%) Shell Script
9 11 (2.25%) Bicep
9 11 (2.25%) Java
10 10 (2.04%) C#
11 8 (1.64%) Korn
12 7 (1.43%) VBA
13 5 (1.02%) ActionScript
14 4 (0.82%) C
14 4 (0.82%) Go
15 3 (0.61%) Kusto Query Language
15 3 (0.61%) VBScript
16 2 (0.41%) Jython
16 2 (0.41%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 137 (28.02%) Security Cleared
2 84 (17.18%) SC Cleared
3 65 (13.29%) Degree
4 57 (11.66%) Cisco Certification
5 53 (10.84%) DV Cleared
6 43 (8.79%) CCNP
7 27 (5.52%) CCNA
8 26 (5.32%) Microsoft Certification
9 20 (4.09%) Computer Science Degree
10 18 (3.68%) A+ Certification
11 16 (3.27%) Network+ Certification
12 15 (3.07%) CCIE
13 13 (2.66%) Azure Certification
13 13 (2.66%) CISSP
13 13 (2.66%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 12 (2.45%) VCAP
15 11 (2.25%) AWS Certification
16 8 (1.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
17 5 (1.02%) JNCIE
17 5 (1.02%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.70%) SLA
2 13 (2.66%) QA
3 11 (2.25%) NIST
4 9 (1.84%) NCSC
5 8 (1.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (1.02%) GDPR
7 4 (0.82%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 4 (0.82%) GxP
7 4 (0.82%) NIST 800
7 4 (0.82%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.41%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.41%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.20%) ISO 8583
9 1 (0.20%) RMADS
System Software
1 153 (31.29%) Active Directory
2 93 (19.02%) VMware Infrastructure
3 39 (7.98%) Hyper-V
4 32 (6.54%) Docker
5 24 (4.91%) vSphere
6 23 (4.70%) VMware NSX
7 19 (3.89%) Firmware
8 13 (2.66%) Virtual Desktop
9 5 (1.02%) NFS
9 5 (1.02%) Squid
10 4 (0.82%) 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%) NDS
13 1 (0.20%) Snort
13 1 (0.20%) Veritas Cluster Server
13 1 (0.20%) Veritas Volume Manager
Systems Management
1 106 (21.68%) Ansible
2 61 (12.47%) Microsoft Intune
3 48 (9.82%) Kubernetes
4 33 (6.75%) SCCM
5 26 (5.32%) Grafana
6 23 (4.70%) Single Sign-On
7 18 (3.68%) FortiGate
8 16 (3.27%) VxRail
9 15 (3.07%) Prometheus
10 11 (2.25%) Jamf Pro
11 8 (1.64%) WSUS
12 6 (1.23%) systemd
13 5 (1.02%) Istio
13 5 (1.02%) Suricata
14 4 (0.82%) Puppet
15 3 (0.61%) Consul
15 3 (0.61%) SELinux
15 3 (0.61%) Tivoli
15 3 (0.61%) Tivoli NetView
15 3 (0.61%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 190 (38.85%) Microsoft
2 105 (21.47%) VMware
3 99 (20.25%) Cisco
4 61 (12.47%) F5
5 60 (12.27%) ServiceNow
6 31 (6.34%) Fortinet
7 25 (5.11%) Zscaler
8 24 (4.91%) Google
8 24 (4.91%) NetApp
9 21 (4.29%) Juniper
10 20 (4.09%) Blue Coat
10 20 (4.09%) Palo Alto
11 18 (3.68%) Citrix
11 18 (3.68%) Infoblox
11 18 (3.68%) McAfee
12 17 (3.48%) Red Hat
13 15 (3.07%) CheckPoint
13 15 (3.07%) Splunk
14 14 (2.86%) Bloomberg
15 10 (2.04%) IBM