User Stories Contracts

User Story
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for User Stories skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited User Stories over the 6 months to 27 April 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
27 Apr 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 146 116 89
Rank change year-on-year -30 -27 +17
Contract jobs citing User Stories 725 1,308 2,533
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.67% 2.19% 2.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.94% 2.43% 3.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 508 909 1,781
10th Percentile £363 £400 £394
25th Percentile £425 £440 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £520 £505
Median % change year-on-year +3.37% +2.97% +6.32%
75th Percentile £591 £600 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £489 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -2.25% +5.26% +7.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 8 12
10th Percentile £31.71 £46.23 £35.70
25th Percentile £32.03 £60.25 £42.00
Median hourly rate £42.75 £64.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -33.72% +51.76% -15.00%
75th Percentile £62.94 £67.00 £59.44
90th Percentile £69.25 £73.00 £84.15
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £26.50 £42.00
% change year-on-year +164.15% -36.90% +9.80%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

User Stories is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 37,374 53,774 80,482
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.31% 89.91% 90.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,095 37,304 56,474
10th Percentile £300 £325 £340
25th Percentile £413 £438 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +4.76% +8.25%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% +9.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,422 1,763 1,928
10th Percentile £12.75 £11.00 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.00 £16.25 £15.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £37.34 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.27% +49.36% -
75th Percentile £59.44 £65.00 £49.25
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £63.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £36.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year - +80.00% -8.17%

User Stories
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing User Stories as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing User Stories.

Daily rate trend for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing User Stories over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Daily rate histogram for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing User Stories.

Hourly rate trend for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing User Stories over the 6 months to 27 April 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for User Stories in the UK

User Stories
Top 16 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing User Stories within the UK over the 6 months to 27 April 2024. 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 -27 588 £538 +2.38% 261
London +5 356 £550 +4.76% 118
Work from Home +4 336 £530 +1.92% 135
UK excluding London -41 280 £489 -2.25% 151
North of England -13 78 £475 -11.63% 37
South East -31 70 £475 - 34
Scotland 0 63 £500 +14.94% 5
Yorkshire +14 43 £463 -14.94% 12
Midlands -20 36 £475 -2.56% 26
North West -19 33 £475 -10.59% 22
South West -30 25 £590 +7.27% 33
West Midlands -8 24 £493 +3.68% 21
East Midlands +4 9 £438 -7.89% 5
East of England -9 6 £425 -5.56% 11
Wales +11 3 £650 +39.04% 7
North East +5 2 £454 -9.20% 3

User Stories
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 62 (8.55%) Confluence
2 33 (4.55%) SharePoint
3 16 (2.21%) CMS
4 7 (0.97%) Drupal
5 5 (0.69%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 5 (0.69%) Oracle Workflow
6 4 (0.55%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.41%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Exchange
8 2 (0.28%) SAS
9 1 (0.14%) Apache
9 1 (0.14%) BizTalk Server
9 1 (0.14%) Camunda
9 1 (0.14%) Joomla!
9 1 (0.14%) Moodle
9 1 (0.14%) Sitecore CMS
9 1 (0.14%) WordPress
Applications
1 31 (4.28%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (3.31%) MS Visio
3 21 (2.90%) Microsoft Excel
4 17 (2.34%) Sketch
5 14 (1.93%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 8 (1.10%) Adobe XD
7 7 (0.97%) InVision
8 5 (0.69%) Microsoft Project
8 5 (0.69%) Zeplin
9 4 (0.55%) Trello
10 1 (0.14%) Chatbot
10 1 (0.14%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 23 (3.17%) Dynamics CRM
2 14 (1.93%) SAP S/4HANA
3 7 (0.97%) Primavera
3 7 (0.97%) SAP PM
4 6 (0.83%) Shopify
5 5 (0.69%) SAP Hybris
6 4 (0.55%) SimCorp Dimension
7 3 (0.41%) Salesforce CRM
7 3 (0.41%) SAP QM
8 2 (0.28%) Magento
8 2 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
8 2 (0.28%) VisionPLUS
9 1 (0.14%) Dynamics AX
9 1 (0.14%) Sage X3
9 1 (0.14%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.14%) SAP LE
9 1 (0.14%) Softmar
Cloud Services
1 132 (18.21%) Azure
2 63 (8.69%) Power Platform
3 60 (8.28%) Azure DevOps
4 44 (6.07%) Dynamics 365
5 42 (5.79%) AWS
6 21 (2.90%) Figma
7 19 (2.62%) Power Automate
8 16 (2.21%) Microsoft 365
9 14 (1.93%) SaaS
10 9 (1.24%) GCP
10 9 (1.24%) PowerApps
11 7 (0.97%) Azure Service Bus
11 7 (0.97%) SAP Commerce Cloud
11 7 (0.97%) Serverless
12 6 (0.83%) Azure Data Factory
12 6 (0.83%) PaaS
12 6 (0.83%) Snowflake
13 5 (0.69%) BigCommerce
13 5 (0.69%) Miro
13 5 (0.69%) Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 7 (0.97%) PPP
1 7 (0.97%) Radio Access Network
2 6 (0.83%) DNS
3 5 (0.69%) SNA
3 5 (0.69%) Wi-Fi
4 4 (0.55%) DHCP
4 4 (0.55%) Firewall
5 3 (0.41%) Internet
6 2 (0.28%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.14%) 3GPP
7 1 (0.14%) 4G
7 1 (0.14%) 5G
7 1 (0.14%) Bluetooth
7 1 (0.14%) GSM
7 1 (0.14%) HTTP
7 1 (0.14%) LAN
7 1 (0.14%) SMS
7 1 (0.14%) UMTS
7 1 (0.14%) VPN
7 1 (0.14%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 46 (6.34%) Power BI
2 21 (2.90%) Data Warehouse
3 14 (1.93%) Data Lake
4 12 (1.66%) MongoDB
5 8 (1.10%) NoSQL
6 7 (0.97%) Tableau
7 6 (0.83%) BusinessObjects
7 6 (0.83%) Oracle Database
7 6 (0.83%) PostgreSQL
7 6 (0.83%) SQL Server
8 5 (0.69%) Siebel EIM
9 4 (0.55%) Amazon RDS
9 4 (0.55%) Azure SQL Database
9 4 (0.55%) GIS
9 4 (0.55%) Relational Database
10 3 (0.41%) Big Data
10 3 (0.41%) Data Mining
10 3 (0.41%) Geospatial Data
10 3 (0.41%) Oracle Reports
10 3 (0.41%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 115 (15.86%) JIRA
2 18 (2.48%) Git
3 17 (2.34%) Postman
3 17 (2.34%) Selenium
3 17 (2.34%) SoapUI
4 15 (2.07%) Cucumber
5 13 (1.79%) JMeter
6 10 (1.38%) JUnit
7 9 (1.24%) Appium
7 9 (1.24%) eggPlant
7 9 (1.24%) REST Assured
7 9 (1.24%) SOAtest
7 9 (1.24%) TestNG
7 9 (1.24%) WebDriver
8 7 (0.97%) Eclipse
9 6 (0.83%) GitLab
10 5 (0.69%) Axure RP
11 2 (0.28%) FitNesse
11 2 (0.28%) LoadRunner
11 2 (0.28%) SpecFlow
General
1 231 (31.86%) Social Skills
2 150 (20.69%) Finance
3 95 (13.10%) Analytical Skills
4 93 (12.83%) Public Sector
5 36 (4.97%) Banking
6 32 (4.41%) Telecoms
7 31 (4.28%) Marketing
8 28 (3.86%) Retail
9 22 (3.03%) Influencing Skills
10 21 (2.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 18 (2.48%) Presentation Skills
12 17 (2.34%) Back Office
13 14 (1.93%) Manufacturing
14 11 (1.52%) Organisational Skills
15 9 (1.24%) Publishing
16 8 (1.10%) Documentation Skills
16 8 (1.10%) Investment Banking
17 7 (0.97%) Local Government
18 6 (0.83%) Corporate Banking
19 5 (0.69%) Legal
Job Titles
1 329 (45.38%) Analyst
2 281 (38.76%) Business Analyst
3 86 (11.86%) Senior
4 61 (8.41%) Product Owner
5 51 (7.03%) Developer
6 49 (6.76%) Technical Analyst
7 40 (5.52%) Consultant
8 38 (5.24%) Product Manager
9 37 (5.10%) Senior Analyst
10 36 (4.97%) Designer
11 34 (4.69%) Technical Business Analyst
12 32 (4.41%) Senior Business Analyst
13 28 (3.86%) Lead
14 25 (3.45%) Data Analyst
15 24 (3.31%) Data Business Analyst
16 23 (3.17%) Agile Business Analyst
17 22 (3.03%) Project Manager
18 21 (2.90%) Financial Analyst
19 20 (2.76%) Architect
20 18 (2.48%) Finance Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (3.31%) .NET
2 21 (2.90%) React
3 19 (2.62%) HTML
4 18 (2.48%) .NET Framework
5 16 (2.21%) CSS
5 16 (2.21%) REST
6 11 (1.52%) Web Services
6 11 (1.52%) XML
7 10 (1.38%) SOAP
8 8 (1.10%) ASP.NET
9 7 (0.97%) Flask
9 7 (0.97%) JSON
9 7 (0.97%) LDAP
9 7 (0.97%) Node.js
10 6 (0.83%) ADO
10 6 (0.83%) AngularJS
10 6 (0.83%) ASP.NET Core
10 6 (0.83%) Gherkin
10 6 (0.83%) Swagger
11 5 (0.69%) VML
Miscellaneous
1 177 (24.41%) Product Ownership
2 22 (3.03%) Mobile App
3 13 (1.79%) Management Information System
4 10 (1.38%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (1.24%) CMDB
6 7 (0.97%) Analytical Mindset
6 7 (0.97%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 6 (0.83%) Algorithms
7 6 (0.83%) Data Centre
7 6 (0.83%) Data Protection Act
7 6 (0.83%) Reinsurance
7 6 (0.83%) Smart Meter
8 5 (0.69%) Cloud Native
8 5 (0.69%) Data Structures
8 5 (0.69%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (0.69%) Legacy Systems
8 5 (0.69%) Onboarding
9 4 (0.55%) Client/Server
9 4 (0.55%) Greenfield Project
9 4 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 10 (1.38%) Apple iOS
1 10 (1.38%) Linux
2 9 (1.24%) Android
2 9 (1.24%) Windows
3 4 (0.55%) Unix
4 2 (0.28%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.14%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 436 (60.14%) Agile
2 209 (28.83%) Acceptance Criteria
3 187 (25.79%) Scrum
4 150 (20.69%) Business Analysis
5 133 (18.34%) Requirements Gathering
6 130 (17.93%) Problem-Solving
7 120 (16.55%) Epics
8 119 (16.41%) DevOps
9 98 (13.52%) Roadmaps
10 90 (12.41%) User Acceptance Testing
11 86 (11.86%) Stakeholder Management
12 78 (10.76%) Workshop Facilitation
13 74 (10.21%) Product Backlog
14 73 (10.07%) Backlog Management
15 72 (9.93%) Project Management
16 70 (9.66%) User Research
17 66 (9.10%) Use Case
18 65 (8.97%) User Experience
19 63 (8.69%) Test Automation
20 62 (8.55%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 65 (8.97%) SQL
2 37 (5.10%) Python
3 29 (4.00%) Java
4 26 (3.59%) JavaScript
5 22 (3.03%) C#
6 9 (1.24%) PowerShell
7 7 (0.97%) TypeScript
8 4 (0.55%) C
8 4 (0.55%) Go
9 3 (0.41%) T-SQL
9 3 (0.41%) VBA
10 2 (0.28%) Ruby
10 2 (0.28%) Scala
11 1 (0.14%) Bicep
11 1 (0.14%) Data Analysis Expressions
11 1 (0.14%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.14%) R
11 1 (0.14%) Swift
Qualifications
1 113 (15.59%) Security Cleared
2 100 (13.79%) SC Cleared
3 70 (9.66%) Degree
4 12 (1.66%) DV Cleared
5 10 (1.38%) BPSS Clearance
5 10 (1.38%) Master's Degree
6 9 (1.24%) PMI Certification
7 8 (1.10%) PMP
8 7 (0.97%) CBAP
8 7 (0.97%) CSPO
9 6 (0.83%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.69%) ITIL Certification
10 5 (0.69%) MBA
11 3 (0.41%) DBS Check
11 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Certification
12 2 (0.28%) APMP
12 2 (0.28%) ISTQB
12 2 (0.28%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 2 (0.28%) SAP Certification
13 1 (0.14%) CITP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 96 (13.24%) QA
2 36 (4.97%) Data Quality
3 32 (4.41%) Accessibility
4 17 (2.34%) WCAG
5 10 (1.38%) GDPR
5 10 (1.38%) PCI DSS
6 7 (0.97%) PMO
7 6 (0.83%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 6 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 5 (0.69%) Disclosure Scotland
8 5 (0.69%) GxP
8 5 (0.69%) IFRS
8 5 (0.69%) IFRS 17
9 4 (0.55%) SLA
10 3 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.41%) Solvency II
11 2 (0.28%) IFRS 9
11 2 (0.28%) PSD2
11 2 (0.28%) Software Quality Assurance
12 1 (0.14%) GRC
System Software
1 6 (0.83%) Docker
2 1 (0.14%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.14%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 9 (1.24%) Kubernetes
1 9 (1.24%) Terraform
2 3 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
3 2 (0.28%) HP Quality Center
4 1 (0.14%) Matomo
4 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.14%) SCCM
Vendors
1 82 (11.31%) Microsoft
2 38 (5.24%) SAP
3 24 (3.31%) Salesforce
4 19 (2.62%) Oracle
5 18 (2.48%) ServiceNow
6 17 (2.34%) Adobe
7 10 (1.38%) Atlassian
7 10 (1.38%) Google
8 7 (0.97%) Pega
9 6 (0.83%) Cadence
9 6 (0.83%) Sitecore
10 5 (0.69%) CA Agile Central
10 5 (0.69%) Databricks
10 5 (0.69%) Siebel
11 4 (0.55%) Dell
11 4 (0.55%) Guidewire
11 4 (0.55%) Hotjar
11 4 (0.55%) Intel
11 4 (0.55%) Optimizely
11 4 (0.55%) Screaming Frog