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

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 574 464 344
Rank change year-on-year -110 -120 +115
Contract jobs citing Visual Studio 107 95 235
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.20% 0.29% 0.61%
As % of the Development Applications category 1.69% 1.90% 4.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 40 136
10th Percentile £363 £357 £363
25th Percentile £409 £417 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year -7.50% -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £538 £556 £619
90th Percentile £575 £694 £654
UK excluding London median daily rate £418 £500 £513
% change year-on-year -16.50% -2.49% +0.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 23 35
10th Percentile £56.53 - £51.20
25th Percentile - - -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile - £65.13 -
90th Percentile £78.30 £67.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - - +29.35%

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 6,318 5,013 5,075
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.56% 15.22% 13.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,049 3,372 3,242
10th Percentile £355 £325 £350
25th Percentile £414 £405 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £691 £688 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 260 112 175
10th Percentile £25.68 £31.28 £28.09
25th Percentile £51.31 £50.75 £51.13
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.00 £87.05 £73.00
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 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 17 September 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 17 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Visual Studio in the UK

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 September 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 -103 99 £438 -10.71% 146
UK excluding London -123 55 £418 -16.50% 98
London -67 44 £508 -9.78% 56
Work from Home -68 30 £425 -10.53% 54
East of England -38 18 £294 -41.30% 25
Midlands -37 15 £421 +9.42% 17
West Midlands -40 14 £418 +7.74% 11
South West -39 9 £213 -40.35% 11
North of England -81 7 £494 -1.25% 7
South East -73 5 £330 -24.57% 29
Yorkshire -45 4 £494 +26.60% 2
North East -40 2 - - 1
East Midlands -8 1 £500 +29.87% 6
Scotland -35 1 £368 -26.50% 9
North West -45 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 11 (10.28%) SharePoint
2 7 (6.54%) IIS
3 3 (2.80%) Confluence
4 2 (1.87%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.93%) CMS
5 1 (0.93%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (11.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (6.54%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (2.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (1.87%) MS Visio
4 2 (1.87%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (3.74%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (1.87%) Dynamics GP
3 1 (0.93%) Sage 50
Cloud Services
1 46 (42.99%) Azure
2 35 (32.71%) Azure DevOps
3 27 (25.23%) Power Platform
4 26 (24.30%) Dynamics 365
5 22 (20.56%) PowerApps
6 21 (19.63%) Power Automate
7 14 (13.08%) GitHub
8 12 (11.21%) Microsoft Copilot
9 10 (9.35%) Copilot Studio
10 8 (7.48%) Azure Functions
10 8 (7.48%) Serverless
11 7 (6.54%) SaaS
12 6 (5.61%) Azure Service Bus
12 6 (5.61%) Entra ID
13 5 (4.67%) Azure API Management
13 5 (4.67%) Azure Data Factory
14 4 (3.74%) Azure App Service
14 4 (3.74%) Azure Logic Apps
14 4 (3.74%) Azure Monitor
14 4 (3.74%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (12.15%) Ethernet
1 13 (12.15%) TCP/IP
2 4 (3.74%) Network Security
3 2 (1.87%) 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 29 (27.10%) SQL Server
2 10 (9.35%) Relational Database
2 10 (9.35%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 6 (5.61%) Azure SQL Database
3 6 (5.61%) MS Access
3 6 (5.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 4 (3.74%) Power BI
5 2 (1.87%) NoSQL
5 2 (1.87%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.93%) Data Lake
6 1 (0.93%) Data Warehouse
6 1 (0.93%) GIS
6 1 (0.93%) MySQL
6 1 (0.93%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.93%) SSDT
6 1 (0.93%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 29 (27.10%) Git
2 21 (19.63%) Team Foundation Server
3 12 (11.21%) Eclipse
4 10 (9.35%) Jenkins
5 6 (5.61%) Rational DOORS
5 6 (5.61%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 5 (4.67%) JIRA
6 5 (4.67%) Visual Studio Code
7 4 (3.74%) JetBrains Rider
7 4 (3.74%) MSBuild
7 4 (3.74%) Sonatype Nexus
8 3 (2.80%) GitLab
9 2 (1.87%) Fiddler
9 2 (1.87%) MSI
9 2 (1.87%) Postman
9 2 (1.87%) Selenium
10 1 (0.93%) Cypress.io
10 1 (0.93%) JMeter
10 1 (0.93%) NUnit
10 1 (0.93%) Rational Robot
General
1 31 (28.97%) Finance
2 28 (26.17%) Social Skills
3 12 (11.21%) Military
4 11 (10.28%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (6.54%) Banking
6 6 (5.61%) Presentation Skills
7 5 (4.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (3.74%) General Ledger
8 4 (3.74%) Public Sector
9 3 (2.80%) Aerospace
10 2 (1.87%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.87%) Health Technology
10 2 (1.87%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (1.87%) Marketing
10 2 (1.87%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (1.87%) Retail
11 1 (0.93%) Aviation
11 1 (0.93%) Avionics
11 1 (0.93%) Back Office
11 1 (0.93%) French Language
Job Titles
1 67 (62.62%) Developer
2 17 (15.89%) Software Engineer
3 15 (14.02%) C# Developer
4 13 (12.15%) Dynamics 365 Developer
5 12 (11.21%) Software Developer
6 10 (9.35%) .NET Developer
6 10 (9.35%) C# Software Engineer
7 8 (7.48%) C++ Software Engineer
7 8 (7.48%) Microsoft Developer
8 6 (5.61%) C# .NET Developer
9 5 (4.67%) Full-Stack Developer
9 5 (4.67%) Lead
9 5 (4.67%) VB Developer
9 5 (4.67%) VB6 Developer
10 4 (3.74%) DevOps Engineer
10 4 (3.74%) Lead Developer
10 4 (3.74%) Lead Software Developer
10 4 (3.74%) Lecturer
10 4 (3.74%) SQL Developer
11 3 (2.80%) .NET Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (51.40%) .NET
2 22 (20.56%) XML
3 18 (16.82%) .NET Framework
3 18 (16.82%) Web Services
4 15 (14.02%) REST
5 14 (13.08%) ActiveX
5 14 (13.08%) SOAP
6 13 (12.15%) WinForms
7 12 (11.21%) ASP.NET
7 12 (11.21%) Node.js
7 12 (11.21%) RESTful
8 10 (9.35%) ASP.NET Web API
9 9 (8.41%) .NET Core
10 8 (7.48%) Entity Framework
10 8 (7.48%) JSON
10 8 (7.48%) WCF
10 8 (7.48%) WPF
11 7 (6.54%) HTML
11 7 (6.54%) XSLT
12 6 (5.61%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 8 (7.48%) Low-Code
2 6 (5.61%) Replication
2 6 (5.61%) Self-Motivation
3 5 (4.67%) Cloud Native
4 3 (2.80%) BYOD
4 3 (2.80%) Data Protection Act
4 3 (2.80%) Data Structures
4 3 (2.80%) Enterprise Software
5 2 (1.87%) AI Agents
5 2 (1.87%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 2 (1.87%) Legacy Applications
5 2 (1.87%) Legacy Systems
5 2 (1.87%) Onboarding
5 2 (1.87%) Team-Oriented Environment
6 1 (0.93%) Credit Derivative
6 1 (0.93%) Derivative
6 1 (0.93%) Driving Licence
6 1 (0.93%) Greenfield Project
6 1 (0.93%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 34 (31.78%) Windows
2 13 (12.15%) Linux
3 5 (4.67%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.93%) Unix
4 1 (0.93%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.93%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 52 (48.60%) Agile
2 44 (41.12%) CI/CD
3 38 (35.51%) DevOps
4 26 (24.30%) Software Engineering
5 25 (23.36%) Unit Testing
6 22 (20.56%) Scrum
7 19 (17.76%) Continuous Integration
8 18 (16.82%) Continuous Improvement
9 17 (15.89%) AI
9 17 (15.89%) Continuous Delivery
10 16 (14.95%) Validation
11 14 (13.08%) Problem-Solving
11 14 (13.08%) TDD
11 14 (13.08%) Verification and Validation
12 13 (12.15%) ERP
12 13 (12.15%) SDLC
13 12 (11.21%) Data Management
13 12 (11.21%) Digital Twin
13 12 (11.21%) Synthetic Environment
13 12 (11.21%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 77 (71.96%) C#
2 35 (32.71%) SQL
3 25 (23.36%) C++
4 23 (21.50%) JavaScript
5 20 (18.69%) VBA
6 16 (14.95%) X++
7 15 (14.02%) VB
7 15 (14.02%) VB6
8 14 (13.08%) Java
9 11 (10.28%) Python
9 11 (10.28%) T-SQL
9 11 (10.28%) VB.NET
10 9 (8.41%) PL/SQL
10 9 (8.41%) PowerShell
11 8 (7.48%) TypeScript
12 5 (4.67%) VBScript
12 5 (4.67%) XPath
13 2 (1.87%) Bicep
13 2 (1.87%) XAML
14 1 (0.93%) Ada 95
Qualifications
1 39 (36.45%) Security Cleared
2 30 (28.04%) SC Cleared
3 17 (15.89%) Degree
4 14 (13.08%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (6.54%) DV Cleared
6 4 (3.74%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (3.74%) DBS Check
7 3 (2.80%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (1.87%) ISTQB
8 2 (1.87%) Master's Degree
8 2 (1.87%) PhD
9 1 (0.93%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.93%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.93%) ISEB
9 1 (0.93%) Numerate Degree
9 1 (0.93%) PMI Certification
9 1 (0.93%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (4.67%) QA
2 4 (3.74%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.80%) SLA
4 1 (0.93%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.93%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 2 (1.87%) Docker
2 1 (0.93%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.93%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 9 (8.41%) Single Sign-On
2 4 (3.74%) Ansible
3 3 (2.80%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.87%) SCCM
5 1 (0.93%) PTC Integrity
Vendors
1 59 (55.14%) Microsoft
2 12 (11.21%) Oracle
3 3 (2.80%) Citrix
4 2 (1.87%) Sage
4 2 (1.87%) ServiceNow
5 1 (0.93%) Atlassian
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%) IBM
5 1 (0.93%) MuleSoft
5 1 (0.93%) PTC
5 1 (0.93%) Salesforce