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

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 567 463 356
Rank change year-on-year -104 -107 +110
Contract jobs citing Visual Studio 112 89 222
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.20% 0.27% 0.58%
As % of the Development Applications category 1.77% 1.76% 4.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 36 119
10th Percentile £363 £357 £325
25th Percentile £409 £410 £416
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £500 £492
Median % change year-on-year -7.50% +1.73% -10.64%
75th Percentile £538 £556 £596
90th Percentile £575 £631 £652
UK excluding London median daily rate £418 £500 £496
% change year-on-year -16.50% +0.86% -5.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 23 35
10th Percentile £52.50 - £51.20
25th Percentile - - -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £75.00 £65.13 -
90th Percentile £79.00 £67.00 -
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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for development application skills 6,331 5,063 5,097
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.54% 15.31% 13.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 4,047 3,408 3,229
10th Percentile £352 £325 £350
25th Percentile £413 £406 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £625
90th Percentile £694 £688 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 257 110 176
10th Percentile £22.68 £28.94 £28.62
25th Percentile £51.25 £50.00 £51.19
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £71.17 £70.00
90th Percentile £76.00 £77.75 £73.88
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 26 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 26 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 26 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 -81 104 £438 -7.89% 141
UK excluding London -104 60 £418 -16.50% 96
London -55 44 £508 -9.78% 51
Work from Home -55 33 £425 -4.23% 51
East of England -39 22 £294 -41.30% 23
Midlands -34 15 £421 +9.42% 15
West Midlands -33 14 £418 +7.74% 11
South West -35 9 £213 -40.35% 13
North of England -69 8 £494 +26.60% 9
South East -73 5 £330 -24.57% 28
Yorkshire -40 4 £494 +26.60% 4
North East -38 2 - -
North West -44 2 - - 5
East Midlands -16 1 £500 +29.87% 4
Scotland -35 1 £368 -26.50% 9

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 (9.82%) SharePoint
2 7 (6.25%) IIS
3 3 (2.68%) Confluence
4 2 (1.79%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.89%) CMS
5 1 (0.89%) Umbraco
Applications
1 12 (10.71%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (6.25%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (2.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (1.79%) MS Visio
4 2 (1.79%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (3.57%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (1.79%) Dynamics GP
3 1 (0.89%) Sage 50
Cloud Services
1 51 (45.54%) Azure
2 40 (35.71%) Azure DevOps
3 27 (24.11%) Power Platform
4 26 (23.21%) Dynamics 365
5 22 (19.64%) PowerApps
6 21 (18.75%) Power Automate
7 14 (12.50%) GitHub
8 12 (10.71%) Microsoft Copilot
9 10 (8.93%) Copilot Studio
10 8 (7.14%) Azure Functions
10 8 (7.14%) Serverless
11 7 (6.25%) SaaS
12 6 (5.36%) Azure Service Bus
12 6 (5.36%) Entra ID
13 5 (4.46%) Azure API Management
13 5 (4.46%) Azure Data Factory
14 4 (3.57%) AWS
14 4 (3.57%) Azure Monitor
14 4 (3.57%) IaaS
14 4 (3.57%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (11.61%) Ethernet
1 13 (11.61%) TCP/IP
2 4 (3.57%) Network Security
3 2 (1.79%) Wireshark
4 1 (0.89%) DHCP
4 1 (0.89%) DNS
4 1 (0.89%) Firewall
4 1 (0.89%) LAN
4 1 (0.89%) RS-232
4 1 (0.89%) RS-422
4 1 (0.89%) Unified Communications
4 1 (0.89%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (25.89%) SQL Server
2 10 (8.93%) Relational Database
2 10 (8.93%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 6 (5.36%) Azure SQL Database
3 6 (5.36%) MS Access
3 6 (5.36%) SQL Server Reporting Services
4 4 (3.57%) Power BI
5 3 (2.68%) Oracle Database
6 2 (1.79%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.89%) Data Lake
7 1 (0.89%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.89%) GIS
7 1 (0.89%) MySQL
7 1 (0.89%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.89%) SSDT
7 1 (0.89%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 32 (28.57%) Git
2 22 (19.64%) Team Foundation Server
3 12 (10.71%) Eclipse
4 10 (8.93%) Jenkins
5 8 (7.14%) Rational DOORS
6 6 (5.36%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 5 (4.46%) JIRA
7 5 (4.46%) Visual Studio Code
8 4 (3.57%) JetBrains Rider
8 4 (3.57%) MSBuild
8 4 (3.57%) Sonatype Nexus
9 3 (2.68%) GitLab
10 2 (1.79%) ClearCase
10 2 (1.79%) Fiddler
10 2 (1.79%) MSI
10 2 (1.79%) Postman
10 2 (1.79%) Rational Robot
10 2 (1.79%) Selenium
10 2 (1.79%) Visual Studio Coded UI
11 1 (0.89%) JMeter
General
1 31 (27.68%) Finance
2 28 (25.00%) Social Skills
3 12 (10.71%) Military
4 11 (9.82%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (6.25%) Banking
6 6 (5.36%) Presentation Skills
7 5 (4.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (3.57%) General Ledger
8 4 (3.57%) Public Sector
9 3 (2.68%) Aerospace
10 2 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (1.79%) Health Technology
10 2 (1.79%) Influencing Skills
10 2 (1.79%) Marketing
10 2 (1.79%) Pharmaceutical
10 2 (1.79%) Retail
11 1 (0.89%) Aviation
11 1 (0.89%) Back Office
11 1 (0.89%) French Language
11 1 (0.89%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 70 (62.50%) Developer
2 19 (16.96%) Software Engineer
3 17 (15.18%) C# Developer
4 13 (11.61%) .NET Developer
4 13 (11.61%) Dynamics 365 Developer
4 13 (11.61%) Software Developer
5 11 (9.82%) C# Software Engineer
6 8 (7.14%) C# .NET Developer
6 8 (7.14%) C++ Software Engineer
6 8 (7.14%) Microsoft Developer
7 5 (4.46%) Full-Stack Developer
7 5 (4.46%) Lead
7 5 (4.46%) VB Developer
7 5 (4.46%) VB6 Developer
8 4 (3.57%) Lead Developer
8 4 (3.57%) Lead Software Developer
8 4 (3.57%) Principal Engineer
8 4 (3.57%) Principal Software Engineer
8 4 (3.57%) SQL Developer
8 4 (3.57%) WPF Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 60 (53.57%) .NET
2 23 (20.54%) XML
3 21 (18.75%) .NET Framework
4 20 (17.86%) Web Services
5 16 (14.29%) WinForms
6 15 (13.39%) REST
7 14 (12.50%) ActiveX
7 14 (12.50%) RESTful
7 14 (12.50%) SOAP
8 13 (11.61%) WPF
9 12 (10.71%) ASP.NET
9 12 (10.71%) Node.js
10 11 (9.82%) .NET Core
10 11 (9.82%) Entity Framework
11 10 (8.93%) ASP.NET Web API
11 10 (8.93%) WCF
12 8 (7.14%) JSON
12 8 (7.14%) XSLT
13 7 (6.25%) HTML
14 6 (5.36%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 8 (7.14%) Low-Code
2 6 (5.36%) Replication
2 6 (5.36%) Self-Motivation
3 5 (4.46%) Cloud Native
4 3 (2.68%) BYOD
4 3 (2.68%) Data Protection Act
4 3 (2.68%) Data Structures
4 3 (2.68%) Enterprise Software
4 3 (2.68%) Onboarding
5 2 (1.79%) AI Agents
5 2 (1.79%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 2 (1.79%) Legacy Applications
5 2 (1.79%) Legacy Systems
5 2 (1.79%) Team-Oriented Environment
6 1 (0.89%) Credit Derivative
6 1 (0.89%) Derivative
6 1 (0.89%) Driving Licence
6 1 (0.89%) Greenfield Project
6 1 (0.89%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 38 (33.93%) Windows
2 13 (11.61%) Linux
3 5 (4.46%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.89%) Unix
4 1 (0.89%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.89%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (49.11%) Agile
2 46 (41.07%) CI/CD
3 43 (38.39%) DevOps
4 31 (27.68%) Software Engineering
5 27 (24.11%) Unit Testing
6 26 (23.21%) Scrum
7 21 (18.75%) Continuous Integration
8 19 (16.96%) Continuous Delivery
9 18 (16.07%) Continuous Improvement
10 17 (15.18%) AI
10 17 (15.18%) Validation
11 15 (13.39%) Problem-Solving
11 15 (13.39%) TDD
11 15 (13.39%) Test Automation
11 15 (13.39%) Verification and Validation
12 14 (12.50%) SDLC
13 13 (11.61%) ERP
14 12 (10.71%) Data Management
14 12 (10.71%) Integration Testing
14 12 (10.71%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 82 (73.21%) C#
2 36 (32.14%) SQL
3 27 (24.11%) C++
4 23 (20.54%) JavaScript
5 20 (17.86%) VBA
6 16 (14.29%) VB
6 16 (14.29%) VB6
6 16 (14.29%) X++
7 14 (12.50%) Java
8 11 (9.82%) Python
8 11 (9.82%) T-SQL
8 11 (9.82%) VB.NET
9 9 (8.04%) PL/SQL
9 9 (8.04%) PowerShell
10 8 (7.14%) TypeScript
11 5 (4.46%) VBScript
11 5 (4.46%) XPath
12 4 (3.57%) XAML
13 2 (1.79%) Bicep
14 1 (0.89%) Ada 95
Qualifications
1 41 (36.61%) Security Cleared
2 32 (28.57%) SC Cleared
3 19 (16.96%) Degree
4 14 (12.50%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (6.25%) DV Cleared
6 4 (3.57%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (3.57%) DBS Check
6 4 (3.57%) Master's Degree
6 4 (3.57%) PhD
7 3 (2.68%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (1.79%) ISTQB
9 1 (0.89%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.89%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.89%) ISEB
9 1 (0.89%) Numerate Degree
9 1 (0.89%) PMI Certification
9 1 (0.89%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (4.46%) QA
2 4 (3.57%) Data Quality
3 3 (2.68%) SLA
4 1 (0.89%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.89%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 2 (1.79%) Docker
2 1 (0.89%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.89%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 9 (8.04%) Single Sign-On
2 4 (3.57%) Ansible
3 3 (2.68%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.79%) SCCM
5 1 (0.89%) PTC Integrity
Vendors
1 59 (52.68%) Microsoft
2 13 (11.61%) Oracle
3 3 (2.68%) Citrix
4 2 (1.79%) Sage
4 2 (1.79%) ServiceNow
5 1 (0.89%) Atlassian
5 1 (0.89%) CrowdStrike
5 1 (0.89%) Databricks
5 1 (0.89%) F5
5 1 (0.89%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.89%) IBM
5 1 (0.89%) MuleSoft
5 1 (0.89%) PTC
5 1 (0.89%) Salesforce