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

6 months to
1 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 251 184 227
Rank change year-on-year -67 +43 +4
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 448 430 454
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.08% 1.41% 1.02%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.61% 10.73% 7.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 255 286 309
10th Percentile £202 £222 £187
25th Percentile £350 £400 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -12.38% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £588 £675 £575
90th Percentile £653 £788 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £460 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -8.00% +11.11% -6.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 8 22
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.55 £16.73
25th Percentile £21.25 £20.56 £27.50
Median hourly rate £41.94 £43.50 £55.75
Median % change year-on-year -3.59% -21.97% -14.24%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.06 £57.25
90th Percentile - £67.63 £69.62
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year +29.05% -42.47% -13.09%

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 4,221 4,008 6,009
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.17% 13.17% 13.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,753 2,414 3,601
10th Percentile £204 £208 £205
25th Percentile £363 £360 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £500 £480
Median % change year-on-year -3.75% +4.17% -7.43%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £470 £475
% change year-on-year -0.21% -1.05% +1.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 174 132 390
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.52 £14.27
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.46 £19.99
Median hourly rate £35.50 £35.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.43% -12.50% +105.13%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.88 £74.10
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £31.79 £50.00
% change year-on-year +31.93% -36.42% +163.16%

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 1 March 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 1 March 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 1 March 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 -29 391 £475 -9.52% 253
UK excluding London -25 293 £460 -8.00% 232
London -63 118 £496 -0.80% 55
Work from Home -55 111 £425 -29.98% 94
North of England -13 99 £447 -5.40% 58
East of England 0 60 £381 -18.01% 34
North West -3 59 £555 +48.00% 32
South East -28 53 £500 -9.09% 67
Yorkshire -48 37 £443 -30.59% 18
West Midlands -19 36 £173 -18.34% 16
Midlands -31 36 £173 -61.67% 25
South West -25 35 £638 +3.66% 35
Scotland +22 28 £388 -13.36% 16
Wales -13 4 £250 -37.50% 7
North East -16 3 £200 +6.67% 11

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 23 (5.13%) SharePoint
2 22 (4.91%) Microsoft Exchange
3 20 (4.46%) Confluence
4 14 (3.13%) Skype for Business
5 9 (2.01%) nginx
6 7 (1.56%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.67%) Apache
8 2 (0.45%) WordPress
9 1 (0.22%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.22%) IIS
9 1 (0.22%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.22%) Traefik
Applications
1 45 (10.04%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.01%) MS Visio
3 6 (1.34%) Weka
4 5 (1.12%) Acrobat
5 3 (0.67%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.67%) 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
1 105 (23.44%) AWS
2 97 (21.65%) Azure
3 83 (18.53%) Microsoft 365
4 28 (6.25%) GCP
4 28 (6.25%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 24 (5.36%) Amazon S3
6 23 (5.13%) Amazon EC2
7 21 (4.69%) Entra ID
8 13 (2.90%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 13 (2.90%) Amazon ELB
9 12 (2.68%) Route 53
10 11 (2.46%) OneDrive
11 10 (2.23%) Amazon EKS
11 10 (2.23%) GitHub
12 9 (2.01%) AWS CloudFormation
12 9 (2.01%) AWS Lambda
12 9 (2.01%) Serverless
13 7 (1.56%) Cloud Computing
14 6 (1.34%) Google Workspace
14 6 (1.34%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 254 (56.70%) DNS
2 149 (33.26%) Firewall
3 121 (27.01%) VPN
4 116 (25.89%) DHCP
5 79 (17.63%) WAN
6 76 (16.96%) SSL
7 73 (16.29%) LAN
8 62 (13.84%) VLAN
9 60 (13.39%) HTTP
9 60 (13.39%) Network Security
10 42 (9.38%) Wireshark
11 40 (8.93%) BIG-IP
12 39 (8.71%) Wi-Fi
13 36 (8.04%) BGP
14 35 (7.81%) Ethernet
15 31 (6.92%) OSPF
16 26 (5.80%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
16 26 (5.80%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
17 19 (4.24%) Wireless
18 14 (3.13%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (4.02%) SQL Server
2 12 (2.68%) 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 33 (7.37%) JIRA
2 31 (6.92%) GitLab
3 30 (6.70%) Fiddler
4 26 (5.80%) Git
5 23 (5.13%) Jenkins
6 16 (3.57%) Eclipse
6 16 (3.57%) Visual Studio
7 7 (1.56%) Bitbucket
7 7 (1.56%) SonarQube
8 4 (0.89%) CircleCI
9 3 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
10 2 (0.45%) Maven
10 2 (0.45%) Subversion
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%) TeamCity
11 1 (0.22%) Travis CI
General
1 162 (36.16%) Social Skills
2 64 (14.29%) Analytical Skills
3 37 (8.26%) Public Sector
4 36 (8.04%) Finance
5 33 (7.37%) Presentation Skills
6 32 (7.14%) Banking
7 29 (6.47%) Military
8 24 (5.36%) Investment Banking
9 18 (4.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 14 (3.13%) Documentation Skills
11 10 (2.23%) Telecoms
12 9 (2.01%) Front Office
13 7 (1.56%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (1.12%) Law
14 5 (1.12%) Legal
15 3 (0.67%) French Language
15 3 (0.67%) Local Government
15 3 (0.67%) Manufacturing
15 3 (0.67%) Marketing
16 2 (0.45%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 108 (24.11%) Network Engineer
2 61 (13.62%) Analyst
3 52 (11.61%) Support Engineer
4 43 (9.60%) Senior
5 31 (6.92%) Web Engineer
6 30 (6.70%) IT Support
7 29 (6.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 27 (6.03%) IT Engineer
9 26 (5.80%) Architect
10 21 (4.69%) Security Engineer
10 21 (4.69%) SOC Analyst
11 20 (4.46%) Technical Engineer
12 19 (4.24%) Technical Analyst
13 18 (4.02%) 2nd Line Support
13 18 (4.02%) IT Support Engineer
13 18 (4.02%) Junior
13 18 (4.02%) Technical Support
14 17 (3.79%) Blue Coat Engineer
14 17 (3.79%) IP Network Engineer
14 17 (3.79%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (4.46%) Web Services
2 17 (3.79%) LDAP
3 16 (3.57%) Node.js
4 10 (2.23%) Middleware
4 10 (2.23%) OpenID
5 7 (1.56%) 802.1X
6 6 (1.34%) JSON
6 6 (1.34%) REST
7 5 (1.12%) FIX Protocol
7 5 (1.12%) SAML
8 4 (0.89%) .NET
8 4 (0.89%) React
8 4 (0.89%) SOAP
8 4 (0.89%) Ultra Messaging
9 3 (0.67%) AngularJS
9 3 (0.67%) Kafka
9 3 (0.67%) NETCONF
9 3 (0.67%) OpenConfig
9 3 (0.67%) RESTCONF
9 3 (0.67%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 33 (7.37%) Management Information System
2 27 (6.03%) Data Centre
3 21 (4.69%) Security Operations Centre
4 20 (4.46%) Cyberattack
4 20 (4.46%) Onboarding
5 16 (3.57%) Public Cloud
6 15 (3.35%) Industry 4.0
6 15 (3.35%) Robotics
7 13 (2.90%) Analytical Mindset
7 13 (2.90%) CMDB
7 13 (2.90%) NHS
7 13 (2.90%) Security Posture
8 12 (2.68%) Driving Licence
8 12 (2.68%) PKI
9 11 (2.46%) Cyber Threat
9 11 (2.46%) Private Cloud
10 9 (2.01%) Self-Motivation
11 8 (1.79%) Enterprise Software
12 6 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
12 6 (1.34%) Grid Computing
Operating Systems
1 203 (45.31%) Windows
2 128 (28.57%) Linux
3 53 (11.83%) Windows Server
4 31 (6.92%) Windows 10
5 14 (3.13%) Android
6 13 (2.90%) Unix
7 11 (2.46%) Mac OS
8 9 (2.01%) Windows Server 2019
9 8 (1.79%) Apple iOS
9 8 (1.79%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (1.34%) Windows Server 2016
11 5 (1.12%) Ubuntu
11 5 (1.12%) VMS
12 4 (0.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 4 (0.89%) Windows Server 2003
12 4 (0.89%) zOS
13 3 (0.67%) Debian
13 3 (0.67%) Windows 7
14 2 (0.45%) AIX
14 2 (0.45%) CentOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (29.69%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (13.84%) ITIL
3 59 (13.17%) Incident Response
4 57 (12.72%) CI/CD
5 56 (12.50%) Agile
5 56 (12.50%) SIEM
6 53 (11.83%) DevOps
7 52 (11.61%) Cybersecurity
8 47 (10.49%) Infrastructure as Code
8 47 (10.49%) Load Balancing
9 43 (9.60%) Root Cause Analysis
10 41 (9.15%) Customer Service
11 39 (8.71%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 34 (7.59%) Security Operations
12 34 (7.59%) Validation
13 31 (6.92%) Data Loss Prevention
13 31 (6.92%) Decision-Making
13 31 (6.92%) Mentoring
14 30 (6.70%) Knowledge Transfer
15 29 (6.47%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 115 (25.67%) Python
2 77 (17.19%) PowerShell
3 63 (14.06%) Bash
4 23 (5.13%) JavaScript
5 22 (4.91%) SQL
6 21 (4.69%) C#
6 21 (4.69%) C++
7 14 (3.13%) Java
8 10 (2.23%) Perl
9 8 (1.79%) Go
10 7 (1.56%) Shell Script
11 6 (1.34%) C
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
1 145 (32.37%) Security Cleared
2 112 (25.00%) SC Cleared
3 64 (14.29%) Degree
4 42 (9.38%) Cisco Certification
5 41 (9.15%) DV Cleared
6 34 (7.59%) CCNP
7 32 (7.14%) CompTIA Security+
8 24 (5.36%) Computer Science Degree
9 22 (4.91%) Microsoft Certification
10 20 (4.46%) CCNA
11 19 (4.24%) CISSP
12 17 (3.79%) CompTIA CySA+
13 15 (3.35%) Network+ Certification
14 11 (2.46%) Azure Certification
14 11 (2.46%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 10 (2.23%) JNCIS
16 9 (2.01%) MCSE
17 7 (1.56%) CCIE
17 7 (1.56%) MCSA
18 6 (1.34%) ECDL
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (2.90%) GDPR
2 11 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 9 (2.01%) SLA
4 8 (1.79%) NIST
5 5 (1.12%) NCSC
5 5 (1.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 4 (0.89%) HIPAA
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%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.22%) RMADS
8 1 (0.22%) SOC 2
System Software
1 97 (21.65%) Active Directory
2 53 (11.83%) VMware Infrastructure
3 46 (10.27%) Docker
4 19 (4.24%) Firmware
5 17 (3.79%) Hyper-V
6 11 (2.46%) Virtual Machines
6 11 (2.46%) VMware NSX
7 10 (2.23%) vSphere
8 8 (1.79%) Squid
9 7 (1.56%) Lustre
9 7 (1.56%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 6 (1.34%) GPFS
10 6 (1.34%) KVM
11 5 (1.12%) NDS
11 5 (1.12%) NetIQ eDirectory
11 5 (1.12%) Virtual Desktop
11 5 (1.12%) VMware ESXi
12 3 (0.67%) NFS
13 2 (0.45%) Ceph
14 1 (0.22%) iptables
Systems Management
1 83 (18.53%) Ansible
2 51 (11.38%) Terraform
3 42 (9.38%) Kubernetes
4 35 (7.81%) SCCM
5 29 (6.47%) Microsoft Intune
6 23 (5.13%) Grafana
7 20 (4.46%) Prometheus
8 17 (3.79%) FortiGate
8 17 (3.79%) Single Sign-On
9 10 (2.23%) QRadar
10 9 (2.01%) Nagios
10 9 (2.01%) WSUS
11 8 (1.79%) Consul
11 8 (1.79%) Puppet
12 5 (1.12%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (1.12%) CASB
12 5 (1.12%) Nessus
12 5 (1.12%) Tivoli NetView
13 4 (0.89%) Progress Chef
13 4 (0.89%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 127 (28.35%) Microsoft
2 77 (17.19%) VMware
3 72 (16.07%) F5
4 54 (12.05%) Cisco
5 45 (10.04%) Splunk
6 44 (9.82%) Palo Alto
7 35 (7.81%) Blue Coat
8 32 (7.14%) McAfee
9 30 (6.70%) CheckPoint
10 28 (6.25%) ServiceNow
11 23 (5.13%) Juniper
12 22 (4.91%) NetApp
13 19 (4.24%) Fortinet
13 19 (4.24%) Red Hat
14 15 (3.35%) Oracle
14 15 (3.35%) Siemens
15 14 (3.13%) SolarWinds
16 13 (2.90%) Citrix
16 13 (2.90%) Zscaler
17 11 (2.46%) Meraki