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 17 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 576 | 471 | 370 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -105 | -101 | +73 |
| Contract jobs citing Visual Studio | 115 | 97 | 195 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.21% | 0.29% | 0.52% |
| As % of the Development Applications category | 1.77% | 1.89% | 3.91% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 57 | 41 | 97 |
| 10th Percentile | £358 | £358 | £323 |
| 25th Percentile | £406 | £425 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £450 | £500 | £475 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -10.00% | +5.26% | -13.64% |
| 75th Percentile | £530 | £575 | £588 |
| 90th Percentile | £575 | £713 | £655 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £416 | £500 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | -16.75% | +5.26% | -9.52% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 21 | 22 | 30 |
| 10th Percentile | £52.50 | - | £47.00 |
| 25th Percentile | - | - | - |
| Median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.00 |
| 75th Percentile | £75.00 | £65.19 | - |
| 90th Percentile | £79.00 | £67.00 | £65.25 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.00 |
| % change year-on-year | - | - | +35.42% |
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.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for development application skills | 6,510 | 5,140 | 4,987 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 11.78% | 15.44% | 13.31% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 4,181 | 3,476 | 3,116 |
| 10th Percentile | £351 | £328 | £350 |
| 25th Percentile | £413 | £406 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £500 | £520 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | -3.85% | -5.45% |
| 75th Percentile | £600 | £600 | £625 |
| 90th Percentile | £688 | £688 | £723 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £475 | £475 | £493 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -3.65% | -3.33% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 285 | 118 | 166 |
| 10th Percentile | £22.68 | £19.63 | £32.16 |
| 25th Percentile | £50.00 | £44.94 | £51.25 |
| Median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.00 |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £68.75 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £76.00 | £75.75 | £72.81 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.00 |
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 Daily Rate Trend
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 17 October 2026.
Visual Studio Hourly Rate Trend
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 17 October 2026.
Visual Studio 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 Visual Studio within the UK over the 6 months to 17 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 | -96 | 108 | £438 | -6.67% | 111 |
| UK excluding London | -115 | 61 | £416 | -16.75% | 82 |
| London | -68 | 47 | £490 | -10.91% | 34 |
| Work from Home | -78 | 35 | £425 | -8.11% | 55 |
| East of England | -29 | 22 | £294 | -41.30% | 20 |
| Midlands | -28 | 16 | £425 | +10.39% | 14 |
| West Midlands | -28 | 15 | £421 | +8.71% | 8 |
| North of England | -68 | 10 | £398 | -27.68% | 8 |
| South West | -33 | 7 | £213 | -40.35% | 12 |
| South East | -64 | 5 | £330 | -17.76% | 21 |
| Yorkshire | -28 | 4 | £494 | -10.23% | 5 |
| North West | -43 | 4 | £344 | - | 3 |
| North East | -40 | 2 | - | - | |
| East Midlands | -12 | 1 | £500 | +29.87% | 6 |
| Scotland | -34 | 1 | £368 | -26.50% | 6 |
Visual Studio Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Development Applications
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Git | 31.3% | 36 |
| 2 | Team Foundation Server | 20.0% | 23 |
| 3 | Eclipse | 10.4% | 12 |
| 4 | Jenkins | 8.7% | 10 |
| 5 | Visual Studio Code | 7.8% | 9 |
| 6 | Rational DOORS | 7.0% | 8 |
| 7 | SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) | 6.1% | 7 |
| 8 | JIRA | 4.3% | 5 |
| 8 | MSBuild | 4.3% | 5 |
| 8 | NUnit | 4.3% | 5 |
| 11 | GitLab | 3.5% | 4 |
| 11 | JetBrains Rider | 3.5% | 4 |
| 11 | MSTest | 3.5% | 4 |
| 11 | Sonatype Nexus | 3.5% | 4 |
| 15 | ClearCase | 1.7% | 2 |
| 15 | Fiddler | 1.7% | 2 |
| 15 | MSI | 1.7% | 2 |
| 15 | Postman | 1.7% | 2 |
| 15 | Rational Robot | 1.7% | 2 |
| 15 | Selenium | 1.7% | 2 |