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

6 months to
5 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 555 454 339
Rank change year-on-year -101 -115 +119
Contract jobs citing Visual Studio 108 97 243
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.20% 0.29% 0.62%
As % of the Development Applications category 1.73% 1.98% 4.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 46 158
10th Percentile £388 £358 £336
25th Percentile £423 £451 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £520
Median % change year-on-year - -3.85% -
75th Percentile £553 £575 £619
90th Percentile £616 £720 £671
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £500 £514
% change year-on-year -15.00% -2.72% +8.21%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 19 33
10th Percentile £56.53 £64.35 £57.50
25th Percentile £62.19 - -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile - £66.13 -
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 6,235 4,896 5,018
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.72% 14.88% 12.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,998 3,319 3,304
10th Percentile £350 £325 £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% -0.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 263 109 214
10th Percentile £27.19 £25.24 £26.59
25th Percentile £56.25 £50.00 £46.20
Median hourly rate £67.47 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.80% - -
75th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £87.34 £84.05 £73.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £68.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.62% - +2.46%

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 5 August 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 5 August 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 5 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 -107 96 £486 -2.80% 42
UK excluding London -105 61 £425 -15.00% 33
London -35 38 £527 -15.68% 10
Work from Home -68 30 £425 -27.66% 12
East of England -25 14 £510 +2.00% 2
West Midlands -46 13 £421 +8.71% 4
Midlands -47 13 £421 +9.42% 5
South East -60 13 £500 -0.70% 13
South West -38 12 £294 -17.54% 7
North of England -69 5 £494 +10.96% 5
Yorkshire -50 4 £494 +26.60%
Wales - 3 £700 - 1
Scotland -22 1 £368 -26.50%
North West -56 1 - - 4

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 10 (9.26%) SharePoint
2 8 (7.41%) IIS
3 2 (1.85%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.93%) CMS
4 1 (0.93%) Confluence
4 1 (0.93%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (11.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (6.48%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (2.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (1.85%) MS Visio
4 2 (1.85%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (1.85%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (1.85%) Dynamics GP
2 1 (0.93%) Maximo
Cloud Services
1 44 (40.74%) Azure
2 33 (30.56%) Azure DevOps
3 22 (20.37%) Power Platform
4 21 (19.44%) Dynamics 365
5 18 (16.67%) PowerApps
6 17 (15.74%) Power Automate
7 15 (13.89%) GitHub
8 10 (9.26%) Microsoft Copilot
9 8 (7.41%) Copilot Studio
10 7 (6.48%) Serverless
11 6 (5.56%) Azure Functions
11 6 (5.56%) Entra ID
11 6 (5.56%) SaaS
12 4 (3.70%) Azure API Management
12 4 (3.70%) Azure App Service
12 4 (3.70%) Azure Data Factory
12 4 (3.70%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (3.70%) Azure Service Bus
12 4 (3.70%) IaaS
12 4 (3.70%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 14 (12.96%) Ethernet
1 14 (12.96%) TCP/IP
2 4 (3.70%) Network Security
3 2 (1.85%) Wireshark
4 1 (0.93%) DHCP
4 1 (0.93%) DNS
4 1 (0.93%) Firewall
4 1 (0.93%) LAN
4 1 (0.93%) RS-232
4 1 (0.93%) RS-422
4 1 (0.93%) Unified Communications
4 1 (0.93%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (27.78%) SQL Server
2 9 (8.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 8 (7.41%) Relational Database
4 6 (5.56%) Azure SQL Database
4 6 (5.56%) MS Access
4 6 (5.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 4 (3.70%) Power BI
6 3 (2.78%) NoSQL
7 2 (1.85%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.93%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.93%) DynamoDB
8 1 (0.93%) GIS
8 1 (0.93%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.93%) Snowflake Schema
8 1 (0.93%) SSDT
8 1 (0.93%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 28 (25.93%) Git
2 20 (18.52%) Team Foundation Server
3 14 (12.96%) Eclipse
4 10 (9.26%) Jenkins
5 5 (4.63%) Selenium
5 5 (4.63%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 4 (3.70%) JetBrains Rider
6 4 (3.70%) JIRA
6 4 (3.70%) JMeter
6 4 (3.70%) MSBuild
6 4 (3.70%) MSTest
6 4 (3.70%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (2.78%) Rational DOORS
8 2 (1.85%) Fiddler
8 2 (1.85%) GitLab
8 2 (1.85%) MSI
8 2 (1.85%) Postman
9 1 (0.93%) Rational Robot
9 1 (0.93%) Visual Studio Code
9 1 (0.93%) Visual Studio Coded UI
General
1 28 (25.93%) Finance
2 25 (23.15%) Social Skills
3 14 (12.96%) Military
4 8 (7.41%) Presentation Skills
5 6 (5.56%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (5.56%) Banking
6 4 (3.70%) General Ledger
6 4 (3.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 4 (3.70%) Public Sector
7 2 (1.85%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (1.85%) Health Technology
7 2 (1.85%) Influencing Skills
7 2 (1.85%) Pharmaceutical
8 1 (0.93%) Aerospace
8 1 (0.93%) Aviation
8 1 (0.93%) Avionics
8 1 (0.93%) Back Office
8 1 (0.93%) Law
8 1 (0.93%) Legal
8 1 (0.93%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 63 (58.33%) Developer
2 18 (16.67%) Software Engineer
3 14 (12.96%) Software Developer
4 13 (12.04%) C# Software Engineer
5 12 (11.11%) C# Developer
6 10 (9.26%) .NET Developer
7 9 (8.33%) C++ Software Engineer
8 8 (7.41%) Dynamics 365 Developer
8 8 (7.41%) Full-Stack Developer
8 8 (7.41%) Microsoft Developer
9 5 (4.63%) C# .NET Developer
9 5 (4.63%) DevOps Engineer
9 5 (4.63%) Lead
9 5 (4.63%) Senior
9 5 (4.63%) VB Developer
9 5 (4.63%) VB6 Developer
10 4 (3.70%) Lead Developer
10 4 (3.70%) Lead Software Developer
10 4 (3.70%) Lecturer
10 4 (3.70%) SQL Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (50.93%) .NET
2 22 (20.37%) Web Services
3 20 (18.52%) .NET Framework
3 20 (18.52%) XML
4 15 (13.89%) RESTful
4 15 (13.89%) WinForms
5 13 (12.04%) ActiveX
5 13 (12.04%) Node.js
5 13 (12.04%) SOAP
6 12 (11.11%) ASP.NET
7 11 (10.19%) Entity Framework
8 9 (8.33%) JSON
8 9 (8.33%) React
8 9 (8.33%) REST
9 8 (7.41%) .NET Core
9 8 (7.41%) ASP.NET Web API
9 8 (7.41%) WCF
10 7 (6.48%) HTML
11 6 (5.56%) XSLT
12 5 (4.63%) Apache FOP
Miscellaneous
1 8 (7.41%) Low-Code
2 6 (5.56%) Replication
3 5 (4.63%) Cloud Native
3 5 (4.63%) Self-Motivation
4 3 (2.78%) BYOD
4 3 (2.78%) Data Structures
4 3 (2.78%) Enterprise Software
5 2 (1.85%) AI Agents
5 2 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
5 2 (1.85%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 2 (1.85%) Greenfield Project
5 2 (1.85%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (0.93%) Credit Derivative
6 1 (0.93%) Derivative
6 1 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (0.93%) Management Information System
6 1 (0.93%) Team-Oriented Environment
6 1 (0.93%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 37 (34.26%) Windows
2 15 (13.89%) Linux
3 4 (3.70%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.93%) Unix
4 1 (0.93%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 52 (48.15%) Agile
2 39 (36.11%) CI/CD
3 37 (34.26%) DevOps
4 34 (31.48%) Unit Testing
5 24 (22.22%) Software Engineering
6 21 (19.44%) Scrum
7 18 (16.67%) Continuous Integration
8 16 (14.81%) Continuous Delivery
9 15 (13.89%) AI
9 15 (13.89%) Continuous Improvement
9 15 (13.89%) TDD
10 14 (12.96%) Digital Twin
10 14 (12.96%) SDLC
10 14 (12.96%) Synthetic Environment
10 14 (12.96%) Validation
11 13 (12.04%) ERP
11 13 (12.04%) Problem-Solving
11 13 (12.04%) Verification and Validation
11 13 (12.04%) Visualisation
12 12 (11.11%) Full-Stack Development
Programming Languages
1 76 (70.37%) C#
2 38 (35.19%) SQL
3 29 (26.85%) C++
4 26 (24.07%) JavaScript
5 19 (17.59%) VBA
6 15 (13.89%) X++
7 14 (12.96%) Java
7 14 (12.96%) VB
7 14 (12.96%) VB6
8 13 (12.04%) Python
9 12 (11.11%) T-SQL
10 11 (10.19%) VB.NET
11 9 (8.33%) PL/SQL
11 9 (8.33%) TypeScript
12 8 (7.41%) PowerShell
13 5 (4.63%) C
13 5 (4.63%) VBScript
13 5 (4.63%) XPath
14 2 (1.85%) Bicep
14 2 (1.85%) XAML
Qualifications
1 48 (44.44%) Security Cleared
2 41 (37.96%) SC Cleared
3 16 (14.81%) Degree
4 13 (12.04%) BPSS Clearance
5 6 (5.56%) DV Cleared
6 5 (4.63%) ISTQB
7 4 (3.70%) DBS Check
7 4 (3.70%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 3 (2.78%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (1.85%) Master's Degree
9 2 (1.85%) Microsoft Certification
9 2 (1.85%) PhD
10 1 (0.93%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.93%) ISEB
10 1 (0.93%) Numerate Degree
10 1 (0.93%) PMI Certification
10 1 (0.93%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (4.63%) QA
2 4 (3.70%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.78%) HMG Security Policy Framework
3 3 (2.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (2.78%) SLA
4 1 (0.93%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.93%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 4 (3.70%) Docker
2 1 (0.93%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (9.26%) Single Sign-On
2 4 (3.70%) Ansible
2 4 (3.70%) Terraform
3 3 (2.78%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (0.93%) PTC Integrity
4 1 (0.93%) SCCM
Vendors
1 54 (50.00%) Microsoft
2 11 (10.19%) Oracle
3 3 (2.78%) Citrix
4 2 (1.85%) IBM
4 2 (1.85%) ServiceNow
5 1 (0.93%) CrowdStrike
5 1 (0.93%) Databricks
5 1 (0.93%) F5
5 1 (0.93%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.93%) PTC