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

6 months to
7 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 274 220 198
Rank change year-on-year -54 -22 +12
Contract jobs citing TCP/IP 508 413 459
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.93% 1.25% 1.22%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.01% 10.91% 10.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 266 228 258
10th Percentile £197 £184 £203
25th Percentile £300 £286 £262
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.63% - +5.56%
75th Percentile £573 £600 £600
90th Percentile £673 £695 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £425
% change year-on-year - +5.88% +6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 37 29
10th Percentile £25.76 £18.79 £43.00
25th Percentile £33.08 £33.00 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £68.75 - -
90th Percentile £93.16 £73.55 £65.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - - +30.00%

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 5,076 3,787 4,497
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.24% 11.47% 11.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,928 2,396 2,585
10th Percentile £236 £219 £225
25th Percentile £391 £360 £368
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £606
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £485
% change year-on-year +5.56% -7.22% +6.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 438 198 194
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.28
25th Percentile £19.50 £20.94 £24.39
Median hourly rate £32.50 £41.23 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.16% -17.55% -11.49%
75th Percentile £68.75 £64.31 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £75.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -38.49% -25.89% -0.26%

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 7 October 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 7 October 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 7 October 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 -62 466 £475 -3.46% 753
UK excluding London -46 291 £450 - 479
London -53 195 £475 -13.83% 316
Work from Home -74 124 £500 -4.76% 238
South East -46 74 £527 +40.60% 143
North of England -64 72 £406 -21.50% 105
South West -7 52 £600 -5.88% 56
Midlands -38 43 £475 +27.73% 58
North West -27 42 £240 -55.76% 60
East of England -17 41 £425 -10.53% 65
West Midlands -45 38 £488 +26.32% 28
Yorkshire -43 26 £500 - 34
Scotland -19 17 £210 -53.33% 31
Wales -5 7 £376 +109.03% 13
East Midlands -13 5 £326 +97.58% 30
North East -38 4 £438 +75.00% 14

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 48 (9.45%) SharePoint
2 36 (7.09%) Microsoft Exchange
3 13 (2.56%) Confluence
4 12 (2.36%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.98%) nginx
6 4 (0.79%) FactoryTalk
7 2 (0.39%) CICS
7 2 (0.39%) IIS
7 2 (0.39%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.39%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.20%) Traefik
Applications
1 21 (4.13%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (3.15%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (1.18%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.39%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.39%) Houdini
5 2 (0.39%) NUKE
5 2 (0.39%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.20%) Weka
Business Applications
1 8 (1.57%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.20%) Payment Gateway
Cloud Services
1 169 (33.27%) Azure
2 123 (24.21%) Microsoft 365
3 108 (21.26%) AWS
4 77 (15.16%) Entra ID
5 36 (7.09%) OneDrive
6 33 (6.50%) GCP
7 25 (4.92%) GitHub
8 19 (3.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 16 (3.15%) Azure Monitor
10 15 (2.95%) OpenShift
11 12 (2.36%) AWS CloudFormation
11 12 (2.36%) Azure Sentinel
11 12 (2.36%) GitHub Actions
12 11 (2.17%) Route 53
13 10 (1.97%) Google Workspace
14 8 (1.57%) Amazon EC2
14 8 (1.57%) Azure ExpressRoute
14 8 (1.57%) SaaS
15 7 (1.38%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 7 (1.38%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 295 (58.07%) DNS
2 219 (43.11%) Firewall
3 201 (39.57%) DHCP
4 151 (29.72%) VPN
5 95 (18.70%) Network Security
6 87 (17.13%) WAN
7 81 (15.94%) LAN
8 79 (15.55%) VLAN
9 73 (14.37%) BGP
10 68 (13.39%) HTTP
11 56 (11.02%) SSL
12 52 (10.24%) Wi-Fi
13 48 (9.45%) Wireless
14 47 (9.25%) OSPF
15 30 (5.91%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 29 (5.71%) BIG-IP
17 26 (5.12%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
17 26 (5.12%) SD-WAN
18 24 (4.72%) Ethernet
19 21 (4.13%) SSH
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (3.54%) PostgreSQL
2 16 (3.15%) SQL Server
3 8 (1.57%) MySQL
3 8 (1.57%) NoSQL
3 8 (1.57%) SQLite
4 7 (1.38%) MongoDB
5 6 (1.18%) Amazon RDS
5 6 (1.18%) Redis
6 3 (0.59%) BigQuery
6 3 (0.59%) KDB
7 1 (0.20%) Cloud Spanner
7 1 (0.20%) Kdb+
7 1 (0.20%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 47 (9.25%) Git
2 45 (8.86%) JIRA
3 37 (7.28%) Jenkins
4 30 (5.91%) GitLab
5 13 (2.56%) Fiddler
5 13 (2.56%) Visual Studio
6 12 (2.36%) Eclipse
7 9 (1.77%) Sonatype Nexus
8 6 (1.18%) Artifactory
9 5 (0.98%) Selenium
10 2 (0.39%) Bitbucket
11 1 (0.20%) Browser DevTools
11 1 (0.20%) Cucumber
11 1 (0.20%) MSI
11 1 (0.20%) Postman
11 1 (0.20%) REST Assured
General
1 203 (39.96%) Social Skills
2 76 (14.96%) Analytical Skills
3 61 (12.01%) Finance
4 36 (7.09%) Banking
5 32 (6.30%) Public Sector
6 28 (5.51%) Telecoms
7 19 (3.74%) Military
8 16 (3.15%) Investment Banking
9 13 (2.56%) Front Office
10 12 (2.36%) Documentation Skills
11 9 (1.77%) Aerospace
11 9 (1.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 7 (1.38%) Legal
13 6 (1.18%) Manufacturing
13 6 (1.18%) Organisational Skills
13 6 (1.18%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.98%) Pharmaceutical
14 5 (0.98%) Police
15 4 (0.79%) Automotive
15 4 (0.79%) Multimedia
Job Titles
1 115 (22.64%) Network Engineer
2 68 (13.39%) Support Engineer
3 64 (12.60%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 63 (12.40%) Senior
5 53 (10.43%) IT Support
6 45 (8.86%) IT Engineer
7 37 (7.28%) IT Support Engineer
8 33 (6.50%) Analyst
9 32 (6.30%) Architect
10 27 (5.31%) Senior Network Engineer
11 23 (4.53%) Platform Engineer
12 22 (4.33%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 21 (4.13%) Linux Engineer
14 20 (3.94%) Security Engineer
15 17 (3.35%) Cloud Engineer
15 17 (3.35%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
16 16 (3.15%) IP Network Engineer
16 16 (3.15%) Support Analyst
17 14 (2.76%) Consultant
17 14 (2.76%) Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 95 (18.70%) Terraform
2 19 (3.74%) REST
3 14 (2.76%) ARM Templates
4 12 (2.36%) Node.js
4 12 (2.36%) Web Services
5 11 (2.17%) JSON
5 11 (2.17%) SAML
6 9 (1.77%) .NET
6 9 (1.77%) Kafka
7 8 (1.57%) 802.1X
7 8 (1.57%) Elastic Stack
7 8 (1.57%) Jinja
7 8 (1.57%) SPNEGO
8 7 (1.38%) LDAP
9 6 (1.18%) CSS
9 6 (1.18%) FastAPI
9 6 (1.18%) HTML
9 6 (1.18%) pytest
9 6 (1.18%) Software Packaging
9 6 (1.18%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 87 (17.13%) Data Centre
2 59 (11.61%) Onboarding
3 35 (6.89%) Hybrid Cloud
3 35 (6.89%) PKI
4 30 (5.91%) Management Information System
5 22 (4.33%) Linux Command Line
6 19 (3.74%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 19 (3.74%) Self-Motivation
7 18 (3.54%) Public Cloud
7 18 (3.54%) Video Conferencing
8 17 (3.35%) Operational Technology
9 14 (2.76%) Cloud Native
9 14 (2.76%) Driving Licence
10 13 (2.56%) SCADA
11 11 (2.17%) Cyber Threat
12 10 (1.97%) Enterprise Storage
12 10 (1.97%) IoT
12 10 (1.97%) Replication
12 10 (1.97%) Security Posture
13 9 (1.77%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 252 (49.61%) Windows
2 170 (33.46%) Linux
3 84 (16.54%) Windows Server
4 51 (10.04%) Windows 10
5 41 (8.07%) Mac OS
6 31 (6.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 31 (6.10%) Unix
7 19 (3.74%) Apple iOS
8 16 (3.15%) Android
9 14 (2.76%) Ubuntu
10 5 (0.98%) CentOS
10 5 (0.98%) zOS
11 3 (0.59%) Check Point GAiA
11 3 (0.59%) Windows Server 2019
12 2 (0.39%) SUSE
12 2 (0.39%) Windows Server 2012
13 1 (0.20%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.20%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
13 1 (0.20%) VMS
13 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 127 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
2 109 (21.46%) ITIL
3 94 (18.50%) CI/CD
4 89 (17.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 88 (17.32%) Infrastructure as Code
6 79 (15.55%) DevOps
7 69 (13.58%) Load Balancing
8 67 (13.19%) ITSM
9 63 (12.40%) Agile
9 63 (12.40%) Customer Service
10 60 (11.81%) Cybersecurity
11 54 (10.63%) Continuous Improvement
12 52 (10.24%) Migration
12 52 (10.24%) Platform Engineering
12 52 (10.24%) Validation
13 48 (9.45%) Change Management
13 48 (9.45%) Incident Response
14 47 (9.25%) Service Management
15 46 (9.06%) Stakeholder Management
16 44 (8.66%) SIEM
Programming Languages
1 151 (29.72%) Python
2 114 (22.44%) PowerShell
3 91 (17.91%) Bash
4 26 (5.12%) C++
5 23 (4.53%) SQL
6 18 (3.54%) C#
6 18 (3.54%) JavaScript
7 17 (3.35%) Shell Script
8 14 (2.76%) Bicep
8 14 (2.76%) Java
9 13 (2.56%) Perl
10 8 (1.57%) Korn
11 7 (1.38%) Go
12 6 (1.18%) ActionScript
13 4 (0.79%) VBA
14 3 (0.59%) Kusto Query Language
14 3 (0.59%) VBScript
15 2 (0.39%) C
15 2 (0.39%) Objective-C
15 2 (0.39%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 142 (27.95%) Security Cleared
2 78 (15.35%) SC Cleared
3 64 (12.60%) Degree
4 62 (12.20%) DV Cleared
5 58 (11.42%) Cisco Certification
6 47 (9.25%) CCNP
7 27 (5.31%) CCNA
7 27 (5.31%) Microsoft Certification
8 21 (4.13%) A+ Certification
9 18 (3.54%) Computer Science Degree
10 15 (2.95%) CCIE
10 15 (2.95%) Network+ Certification
11 14 (2.76%) CISSP
12 13 (2.56%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 12 (2.36%) AWS Certification
13 12 (2.36%) VCAP
14 9 (1.77%) Azure Certification
15 8 (1.57%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 6 (1.18%) JNCIS
17 5 (0.98%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (4.92%) SLA
2 16 (3.15%) QA
3 10 (1.97%) NCSC
4 8 (1.57%) NIST
5 7 (1.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 4 (0.79%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 4 (0.79%) GxP
6 4 (0.79%) NIST 800
6 4 (0.79%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.59%) GDPR
8 2 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.39%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (0.39%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.20%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.20%) ISO 8583
9 1 (0.20%) RMADS
System Software
1 173 (34.06%) Active Directory
2 102 (20.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 42 (8.27%) Hyper-V
4 36 (7.09%) Docker
5 35 (6.89%) vSphere
6 23 (4.53%) Firmware
6 23 (4.53%) VMware NSX
7 16 (3.15%) Virtual Desktop
8 6 (1.18%) Virtual Machines
8 6 (1.18%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.98%) NFS
10 4 (0.79%) Squid
10 4 (0.79%) VirtualBox
11 2 (0.39%) KVM
11 2 (0.39%) RACF
11 2 (0.39%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 2 (0.39%) Virtual Servers
12 1 (0.20%) Veritas Cluster Server
12 1 (0.20%) Veritas Volume Manager
12 1 (0.20%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 113 (22.24%) Ansible
2 69 (13.58%) Microsoft Intune
3 51 (10.04%) Kubernetes
4 36 (7.09%) SCCM
5 30 (5.91%) Grafana
6 18 (3.54%) Prometheus
7 16 (3.15%) Single Sign-On
7 16 (3.15%) VxRail
8 14 (2.76%) Jamf Pro
9 13 (2.56%) FortiGate
10 9 (1.77%) Nagios
11 6 (1.18%) Istio
11 6 (1.18%) Puppet
11 6 (1.18%) systemd
11 6 (1.18%) vCenter Server
12 5 (0.98%) WSUS
13 4 (0.79%) Consul
13 4 (0.79%) Suricata
13 4 (0.79%) ZABBIX
14 3 (0.59%) Packer
Vendors
1 205 (40.35%) Microsoft
2 119 (23.43%) VMware
3 104 (20.47%) Cisco
4 62 (12.20%) ServiceNow
5 54 (10.63%) F5
6 25 (4.92%) Fortinet
6 25 (4.92%) Google
7 24 (4.72%) Palo Alto
8 23 (4.53%) Zscaler
9 22 (4.33%) NetApp
10 19 (3.74%) Juniper
10 19 (3.74%) Splunk
11 18 (3.54%) SolarWinds
12 17 (3.35%) Infoblox
13 16 (3.15%) Blue Coat
13 16 (3.15%) Red Hat
14 15 (2.95%) Citrix
14 15 (2.95%) McAfee
15 14 (2.76%) CheckPoint
16 12 (2.36%) Bloomberg