Visual Studio Contract Job Trends

Microsoft Visual Studio
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Visual Studio skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 30 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 547 446 340
Rank change year-on-year -101 -106 +117
Contract jobs citing Visual Studio 109 98 241
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.21% 0.30% 0.60%
As % of the Development Applications category 1.76% 2.02% 4.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 53 48 163
10th Percentile £389 £359 £328
25th Percentile £425 £422 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% +0.96%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £619
90th Percentile £614 £708 £671
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £500 £520
% change year-on-year -15.00% -3.85% +9.47%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 18 31
10th Percentile £56.53 £64.03 £57.50
25th Percentile £62.19 - -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile - £66.31 -
90th Percentile £68.00 £67.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - - +23.81%

All Development Application Skills
UK

Visual Studio falls under the Development Applications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring development application skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for development application skills 6,199 4,843 5,038
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.70% 14.76% 12.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,977 3,281 3,331
10th Percentile £350 £322 £350
25th Percentile £413 £405 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £595 £625
90th Percentile £688 £688 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 258 105 220
10th Percentile £26.10 £23.65 £27.80
25th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £46.23
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year - - +4.00%
75th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £86.15 £84.65 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +3.85% - +5.69%

Visual Studio
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Visual Studio relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Visual Studio job vacancy trend in the UK

Visual Studio
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Visual Studio.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Visual Studio

Visual Studio
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Visual Studio over the 6 months to 30 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Visual Studio in the UK

Visual Studio
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Visual Studio.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Visual Studio

Visual Studio
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Visual Studio over the 6 months to 30 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Visual Studio in the UK

Visual Studio
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Visual Studio within the UK over the 6 months to 30 July 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 -94 97 £481 -3.90% 33
UK excluding London -95 61 £425 -15.00% 31
London -51 39 £525 -16.00% 4
Work from Home -65 31 £428 -22.27% 13
East of England -23 14 £510 +2.00% 3
Midlands -50 13 £421 +7.32% 6
West Midlands -53 13 £421 +8.71% 5
South East -61 13 £500 +2.04% 16
South West -28 12 £294 -17.54% 2
North of England -79 5 £494 +10.96% 4
Yorkshire -51 4 £494 +26.60%
Wales - 3 £700 -
Scotland -24 1 £368 -26.50%
North West -56 1 - - 3

Visual Studio
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 11 (10.09%) SharePoint
2 8 (7.34%) IIS
3 2 (1.83%) Confluence
3 2 (1.83%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.92%) CICS
4 1 (0.92%) CMS
4 1 (0.92%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (11.01%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (6.42%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (2.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (1.83%) MS Visio
4 2 (1.83%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.83%) Dynamics GP
2 1 (0.92%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.92%) Maximo
Cloud Services
1 44 (40.37%) Azure
2 33 (30.28%) Azure DevOps
3 22 (20.18%) Power Platform
4 20 (18.35%) Dynamics 365
5 17 (15.60%) PowerApps
6 16 (14.68%) Power Automate
7 15 (13.76%) GitHub
8 10 (9.17%) Microsoft Copilot
9 8 (7.34%) Copilot Studio
10 6 (5.50%) Entra ID
10 6 (5.50%) SaaS
10 6 (5.50%) Serverless
11 5 (4.59%) Azure Functions
12 4 (3.67%) Azure App Service
12 4 (3.67%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (3.67%) IaaS
12 4 (3.67%) PaaS
13 3 (2.75%) AWS
13 3 (2.75%) Azure API Management
13 3 (2.75%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 14 (12.84%) Ethernet
1 14 (12.84%) TCP/IP
2 4 (3.67%) Network Security
3 2 (1.83%) Wireshark
4 1 (0.92%) DHCP
4 1 (0.92%) DNS
4 1 (0.92%) Firewall
4 1 (0.92%) LAN
4 1 (0.92%) RS-232
4 1 (0.92%) RS-422
4 1 (0.92%) Unified Communications
4 1 (0.92%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (28.44%) SQL Server
2 8 (7.34%) Relational Database
2 8 (7.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 6 (5.50%) Azure SQL Database
3 6 (5.50%) MS Access
3 6 (5.50%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 4 (3.67%) Power BI
5 3 (2.75%) NoSQL
6 2 (1.83%) Oracle Database
7 1 (0.92%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.92%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.92%) Db2
7 1 (0.92%) DynamoDB
7 1 (0.92%) GIS
7 1 (0.92%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.92%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.92%) SSDT
7 1 (0.92%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 27 (24.77%) Git
2 20 (18.35%) Team Foundation Server
3 14 (12.84%) Eclipse
4 10 (9.17%) Jenkins
5 5 (4.59%) JIRA
5 5 (4.59%) Selenium
5 5 (4.59%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (3.67%) JetBrains Rider
6 4 (3.67%) JMeter
6 4 (3.67%) MSBuild
6 4 (3.67%) MSTest
6 4 (3.67%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (2.75%) GitLab
7 3 (2.75%) Rational DOORS
8 2 (1.83%) Fiddler
8 2 (1.83%) MSI
8 2 (1.83%) Postman
9 1 (0.92%) ClearCase
9 1 (0.92%) Rational Robot
9 1 (0.92%) XPEDITER
General
1 29 (26.61%) Finance
2 25 (22.94%) Social Skills
3 14 (12.84%) Military
4 8 (7.34%) Presentation Skills
5 6 (5.50%) Banking
6 5 (4.59%) Analytical Skills
7 4 (3.67%) General Ledger
7 4 (3.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 4 (3.67%) Public Sector
8 2 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
8 2 (1.83%) Health Technology
8 2 (1.83%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (1.83%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.92%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.92%) Aviation
9 1 (0.92%) Avionics
9 1 (0.92%) Back Office
9 1 (0.92%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.92%) Law
9 1 (0.92%) Retail
Job Titles
1 63 (57.80%) Developer
2 18 (16.51%) Software Engineer
3 14 (12.84%) Software Developer
4 13 (11.93%) C# Software Engineer
5 12 (11.01%) C# Developer
6 10 (9.17%) .NET Developer
7 9 (8.26%) C++ Software Engineer
8 8 (7.34%) Full-Stack Developer
8 8 (7.34%) Microsoft Developer
9 7 (6.42%) Dynamics 365 Developer
10 5 (4.59%) C# .NET Developer
10 5 (4.59%) DevOps Engineer
10 5 (4.59%) Lead
10 5 (4.59%) Senior
10 5 (4.59%) VB Developer
10 5 (4.59%) VB6 Developer
11 4 (3.67%) Lead Developer
11 4 (3.67%) Lead Software Developer
11 4 (3.67%) Lecturer
11 4 (3.67%) SQL Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (50.46%) .NET
2 23 (21.10%) Web Services
3 20 (18.35%) XML
4 19 (17.43%) .NET Framework
5 16 (14.68%) RESTful
6 15 (13.76%) WinForms
7 14 (12.84%) SOAP
8 13 (11.93%) ActiveX
8 13 (11.93%) Node.js
9 12 (11.01%) ASP.NET
10 11 (10.09%) Entity Framework
11 10 (9.17%) JSON
12 9 (8.26%) React
12 9 (8.26%) REST
13 8 (7.34%) .NET Core
13 8 (7.34%) WCF
14 7 (6.42%) ASP.NET Web API
14 7 (6.42%) HTML
14 7 (6.42%) XSLT
15 5 (4.59%) Apache FOP
Miscellaneous
1 8 (7.34%) Low-Code
2 6 (5.50%) Cloud Native
2 6 (5.50%) Replication
3 5 (4.59%) Self-Motivation
4 3 (2.75%) BYOD
4 3 (2.75%) Data Structures
4 3 (2.75%) Enterprise Software
5 2 (1.83%) AI Agents
5 2 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
5 2 (1.83%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 2 (1.83%) Greenfield Project
5 2 (1.83%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (0.92%) Credit Derivative
6 1 (0.92%) DataPower
6 1 (0.92%) Derivative
6 1 (0.92%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (0.92%) Mainframe
6 1 (0.92%) Management Information System
6 1 (0.92%) Virtual Team
6 1 (0.92%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 37 (33.94%) Windows
2 15 (13.76%) Linux
3 4 (3.67%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.92%) Unix
4 1 (0.92%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
4 1 (0.92%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 52 (47.71%) Agile
2 39 (35.78%) CI/CD
3 38 (34.86%) DevOps
4 34 (31.19%) Unit Testing
5 24 (22.02%) Software Engineering
6 20 (18.35%) Scrum
7 18 (16.51%) Continuous Integration
8 16 (14.68%) Continuous Delivery
9 15 (13.76%) AI
9 15 (13.76%) Continuous Improvement
9 15 (13.76%) TDD
10 14 (12.84%) Digital Twin
10 14 (12.84%) SDLC
10 14 (12.84%) Synthetic Environment
10 14 (12.84%) Validation
11 13 (11.93%) ERP
11 13 (11.93%) Verification and Validation
11 13 (11.93%) Visualisation
12 12 (11.01%) Full-Stack Development
12 12 (11.01%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 76 (69.72%) C#
2 37 (33.94%) SQL
3 29 (26.61%) C++
4 25 (22.94%) JavaScript
5 19 (17.43%) VBA
6 15 (13.76%) Java
6 15 (13.76%) X++
7 14 (12.84%) Python
7 14 (12.84%) VB
7 14 (12.84%) VB6
8 12 (11.01%) T-SQL
9 11 (10.09%) VB.NET
10 9 (8.26%) PL/SQL
11 8 (7.34%) PowerShell
11 8 (7.34%) TypeScript
12 6 (5.50%) XPath
13 5 (4.59%) C
13 5 (4.59%) VBScript
14 2 (1.83%) Bicep
14 2 (1.83%) XAML
Qualifications
1 47 (43.12%) Security Cleared
2 41 (37.61%) SC Cleared
3 16 (14.68%) Degree
4 13 (11.93%) BPSS Clearance
5 6 (5.50%) DV Cleared
6 5 (4.59%) ISTQB
7 4 (3.67%) DBS Check
7 4 (3.67%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 3 (2.75%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (1.83%) Master's Degree
9 2 (1.83%) PhD
10 1 (0.92%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.92%) ISEB
10 1 (0.92%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.92%) Numerate Degree
10 1 (0.92%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.92%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (4.59%) QA
2 4 (3.67%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.75%) HMG Security Policy Framework
3 3 (2.75%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (2.75%) SLA
4 1 (0.92%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.92%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 5 (4.59%) Docker
2 1 (0.92%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (9.17%) Single Sign-On
2 5 (4.59%) Terraform
3 4 (3.67%) Ansible
4 3 (2.75%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.92%) CA Endevor
5 1 (0.92%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.92%) PTC Integrity
5 1 (0.92%) SCCM
Vendors
1 53 (48.62%) Microsoft
2 11 (10.09%) Oracle
3 3 (2.75%) Citrix
3 3 (2.75%) IBM
4 2 (1.83%) ServiceNow
5 1 (0.92%) CrowdStrike
5 1 (0.92%) Databricks
5 1 (0.92%) F5
5 1 (0.92%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.92%) PTC