Microsoft Contracts in the West Midlands

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands with a requirement for knowledge and experience of Microsoft products and/or services. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited Microsoft over the 3 months to 26 June 2017 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

Note that daily and hourly rates are treated separately in these statistics. When calculating contractor rate percentiles, daily rates are never derived from quoted hourly rates or vice versa.

The figures below represent the IT contractor job market in general and are not representative of contractor rates within the Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft England / West Midlands
Location	3 months to 26 Jun 2017	Same period 2016	Same period 2015
Rank	5	6	4
Rank change year-on-year	+1	-2
Contract jobs citing Microsoft	262	360	349
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands	12.82%	12.06%	14.78%
As % of the Vendors category	28.54%	25.03%	31.70%
Number of daily rates quoted	146	211	209
Median daily rate	£365	£375	£350
Median daily rate % change year-on-year	-2.66%	+7.14%
90% offered a daily rate of more than	£185	£180	£130
10% offered a daily rate of more than	£480	£500	£450
UK excluding London median daily rate	£363	£350	£338
% change year-on-year	+3.57%	+3.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted	28	25	45
Median hourly rate	£14.50	£13.00	£15.25
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year	+11.53%	-14.75%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than	£12.50	£10.20	£10.50
10% offered a hourly rate of more than	£28.55	£18.28	£27.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate	£14.50	£16.50	£15.00
% change year-on-year	-12.12%	+10.00%

Microsoft is in the vendor products and services category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all vendor product and service related skills in contract job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands.

Contract Vendor Product & Service Skills West Midlands
Contract job vacancies with a requirement for skills associated with vendor products and/or services	918	1438	1101
As % of all contract IT job vacancies advertised in the West Midlands	44.91%	48.16%	46.63%
Number of daily rates quoted	539	789	639
Median daily rate	£400	£375	£350
Median daily rate % change year-on-year	+6.66%	+7.14%
90% offered a daily rate of more than	£215	£206	£175
10% offered a daily rate of more than	£550	£500	£500
UK excluding London median daily rate	£400	£375	£363
% change year-on-year	+6.66%	+3.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted	42	45	74
Median hourly rate	£14.50	£13.00	£17.50
Median hourly rate % change year-on-year	+11.53%	-25.71%
90% offered a hourly rate of more than	£12.50	£10.96	£11.20
10% offered a hourly rate of more than	£50.70	£22.50	£30.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate	£17.50	£20.50	£18.07
% change year-on-year	-14.63%	+13.44%

Microsoft
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

The job posting trend of jobs advertised in the West Midlands citing Microsoft as a proportion of all contract or permanent IT jobs with a match in the Vendors category.

Job vacancy trend for Microsoft in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for daily rates quoted in contract jobs citing Microsoft in the West Midlands.

Contractor daily rate trend for Microsoft in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Contractor Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

The daily rate distribution of IT jobs citing Microsoft in the West Midlands over the 3 months to 26 June 2017.

Contractor daily rate histogram for Microsoft in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

This chart provides the 3-month moving average for contractor hourly rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft in the West Midlands.

Contractor hourly rate trend for Microsoft in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Contractor Hourly Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

The hourly rate distribution of IT jobs citing Microsoft in the West Midlands over the 3 months to 26 June 2017.

Contractor hourly rate histogram for Microsoft in the West Midlands

Microsoft
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Microsoft within the West Midlands region over the 3 months to 26 June 2017. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year.

Location	Rank Change on Same Period Last Year	Matching Contract IT Job Ads	Median Daily Rate Last 3 Months	Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year	Live Job Vacancies
Birmingham	-2	81	£380	+1.33%	62
Warwickshire	+16	43	£410	+24.24%	14
Staffordshire	-2	24	£325	+6.55%	24
Coventry	-8	24	£275	-28.57%	13
Solihull	+23	15	£350	+14.75%	8
Shropshire	+8	14	£364	-26.02%	6
Worcestershire	+2	8	£250	-35.89%	3
Wolverhampton	+2	5	£231	-45.96%	5
West Bromwich	0	4	£500	+212.50%	1
Herefordshire	-8	1	£325	-31.57%	4
Halesowen	-	1	£415	-	1
Microsoft England

Microsoft
Top 30 Co-occurring IT Skills in the West Midlands

For the 6 months to 26 June 2017, IT contractor jobs citing Microsoft also mentioned the following skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the number co-occurrences and its proportion to all contract ads across the West Midlands region with a requirement for Microsoft.

1	126 (21.54%)	Agile Software Development
2	125 (21.37%)	Windows
3	113 (19.32%)	SQL
4	99 (16.92%)	.NET
5	97 (16.58%)	CRM
5	97 (16.58%)	Active Directory
6	92 (15.73%)	Microsoft Excel
7	88 (15.04%)	SQL Server
8	87 (14.87%)	Microsoft Azure
9	84 (14.36%)	Dynamics CRM
10	77 (13.16%)	Microsoft Office
11	73 (12.48%)	Finance
12	69 (11.79%)	C#
13	68 (11.62%)	Analytical Skills
14	66 (11.28%)	Migration

15	65 (11.11%)	ITIL
16	63 (10.77%)	HTML
17	62 (10.60%)	CSS
18	61 (10.43%)	Business Intelligence
19	59 (10.09%)	SharePoint
20	57 (9.74%)	Office 365
21	54 (9.23%)	Project Management
22	51 (8.72%)	JavaScript
23	50 (8.55%)	SQL Server Reporting Services
24	47 (8.03%)	Windows 7
25	45 (7.69%)	Advertising
26	43 (7.35%)	SQL Server Integration Services
27	42 (7.18%)	Degree
27	42 (7.18%)	Web Services
27	42 (7.18%)	SCCM

Microsoft
Co-occurring IT Skills in the West Midlands by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same job type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
Applications
Business Applications
Cloud Services
Communications & Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
Development Applications
General
Job Titles
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
Miscellaneous
Operating Systems
Processes & Methodologies
Programming Languages
Qualifications
Quality Assurance & Compliance
System Software
Systems Management
Vendors

Application Platforms
1	59 (10.09%)	SharePoint
2	28 (4.79%)	MS Exchange
3	17 (2.91%)	SharePoint 2013
4	14 (2.39%)	Blackberry Enterprise Server
5	13 (2.22%)	Skype for Business
6	11 (1.88%)	BizTalk Server
7	10 (1.71%)	SharePoint 2010
8	9 (1.54%)	Exchange Server 2010
9	6 (1.03%)	Exchange Server 2007
9	6 (1.03%)	Exchange Server 2013
10	5 (0.85%)	CMS
10	5 (0.85%)	Confluence
10	5 (0.85%)	IIS
11	4 (0.68%)	NServiceBus
11	4 (0.68%)	SAS
12	3 (0.51%)	Exchange Server 2003
12	3 (0.51%)	IBM Notes
12	3 (0.51%)	SharePoint Server
12	3 (0.51%)	ThingWorx
12	3 (0.51%)	WebSphere

Applications
1	92 (15.73%)	Microsoft Excel
2	77 (13.16%)	Microsoft Office
3	34 (5.81%)	Microsoft Project
4	33 (5.64%)	Microsoft PowerPoint
5	21 (3.59%)	MS Visio
6	20 (3.42%)	Spreadsheet
7	1 (0.17%)	InfoPath
7	1 (0.17%)	Open Workbench
7	1 (0.17%)	Photoshop
7	1 (0.17%)	SPSS
7	1 (0.17%)	Windchill

Business Applications
1	84 (14.36%)	Dynamics CRM
2	22 (3.76%)	Dynamics AX
3	4 (0.68%)	Dynamics NAV
3	4 (0.68%)	Remedy ITSM
4	2 (0.34%)	Magento
4	2 (0.34%)	WebTrends
5	1 (0.17%)	Cognos TM1
5	1 (0.17%)	Teamcenter

Cloud Services
1	87 (14.87%)	Microsoft Azure
2	57 (9.74%)	Office 365
3	24 (4.10%)	Dynamics 365
4	19 (3.25%)	Amazon AWS
5	16 (2.74%)	SaaS
6	13 (2.22%)	IaaS
7	11 (1.88%)	Azure Active Directory
7	11 (1.88%)	PaaS
8	2 (0.34%)	Adobe Analytics
9	1 (0.17%)	Azure Data Factory
9	1 (0.17%)	Bluemix
9	1 (0.17%)	G Suite
9	1 (0.17%)	IBM Cloud
9	1 (0.17%)	OneDrive
9	1 (0.17%)	Trello

Communications & Networking
1	20 (3.42%)	TCP/IP
2	15 (2.56%)	Firewall
3	14 (2.39%)	DNS
4	13 (2.22%)	Remote Desktop
4	13 (2.22%)	WAN
5	12 (2.05%)	LAN
6	11 (1.88%)	Skype
7	8 (1.37%)	SAN
7	8 (1.37%)	VPN
8	7 (1.20%)	DHCP
8	7 (1.20%)	Internet
8	7 (1.20%)	Intranet
9	6 (1.03%)	LDAP
9	6 (1.03%)	VoIP
10	5 (0.85%)	Wireless
11	4 (0.68%)	Network Security
12	3 (0.51%)	Cisco Nexus
12	3 (0.51%)	WebEx
12	3 (0.51%)	Wi-Fi
12	3 (0.51%)	WLAN

Database & Business Intelligence
1	88 (15.04%)	SQL Server
2	50 (8.55%)	SQL Server Reporting Services
3	43 (7.35%)	SQL Server Integration Services
4	39 (6.67%)	Data Warehouse
5	28 (4.79%)	SQL Server Analysis Services
6	21 (3.59%)	SQL Server 2016
7	20 (3.42%)	Power BI
8	18 (3.08%)	SQL Server 2008
9	17 (2.91%)	SQL Server 2014
10	13 (2.22%)	QlikView
11	12 (2.05%)	MySQL
12	10 (1.71%)	Relational Database
13	9 (1.54%)	RDBMS
13	9 (1.54%)	SQL Server 2012
14	8 (1.37%)	MongoDB
14	8 (1.37%)	NoSQL
14	8 (1.37%)	SQL Server 2005
15	7 (1.20%)	Apache Cassandra
15	7 (1.20%)	OLAP
15	7 (1.20%)	PostgreSQL

Development Applications
1	34 (5.81%)	Visual Studio
2	28 (4.79%)	Team Foundation Server
3	19 (3.25%)	Visual Studio Team System
4	13 (2.22%)	JIRA
5	12 (2.05%)	MSI
6	6 (1.03%)	MSTest
6	6 (1.03%)	SoapUI
6	6 (1.03%)	SpecFlow
7	5 (0.85%)	Cucumber
7	5 (0.85%)	NUnit
7	5 (0.85%)	Selenium
8	4 (0.68%)	InstallShield
8	4 (0.68%)	Jenkins
8	4 (0.68%)	ReSharper
9	3 (0.51%)	MSBuild
9	3 (0.51%)	NCover
9	3 (0.51%)	NDepend
9	3 (0.51%)	NuGet
9	3 (0.51%)	StyleCop
9	3 (0.51%)	XMLSpy

General
1	73 (12.48%)	Finance
2	45 (7.69%)	Advertising
3	23 (3.93%)	Manufacturing
4	22 (3.76%)	Retail
5	15 (2.56%)	Automotive
6	14 (2.39%)	Telecoms
7	9 (1.54%)	Marketing
8	8 (1.37%)	Banking
9	4 (0.68%)	Electronics
9	4 (0.68%)	Local Government
10	3 (0.51%)	Legal
10	3 (0.51%)	Publishing
11	2 (0.34%)	Games
12	1 (0.17%)	French Language
12	1 (0.17%)	General Ledger
12	1 (0.17%)	Investment Banking
12	1 (0.17%)	Law
12	1 (0.17%)	Retail Banking
12	1 (0.17%)	Spanish Language

Job Titles
1	120 (20.51%)	Developer
2	101 (17.26%)	Analyst
3	44 (7.52%)	Consultant
4	41 (7.01%)	Project Manager
5	34 (5.81%)	Architect
6	28 (4.79%)	.NET Developer
6	28 (4.79%)	CRM Developer
6	28 (4.79%)	Microsoft Developer
7	27 (4.62%)	Administrator
8	23 (3.93%)	Business Analyst
9	20 (3.42%)	Dynamics CRM Developer
10	19 (3.25%)	Business Intelligence Developer
10	19 (3.25%)	Service Analyst
10	19 (3.25%)	Service Desk Analyst
11	18 (3.08%)	2nd Line Support
12	17 (2.91%)	Support Engineer
13	16 (2.74%)	Infrastructure Engineer
14	15 (2.56%)	Desktop Support
14	15 (2.56%)	Test Analyst
15	14 (2.39%)	Senior Developer

Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1	99 (16.92%)	.NET
2	63 (10.77%)	HTML
3	62 (10.60%)	CSS
4	42 (7.18%)	Web Services
5	36 (6.15%)	ASP.NET
6	29 (4.96%)	.NET Framework
7	26 (4.44%)	HTML5
8	25 (4.27%)	WCF
9	21 (3.59%)	ASP.NET Web API
10	17 (2.91%)	Ajax
10	17 (2.91%)	ASP.NET MVC
11	16 (2.74%)	CSS3
11	16 (2.74%)	Entity Framework
11	16 (2.74%)	REST
12	14 (2.39%)	jQuery
13	13 (2.22%)	AngularJS
13	13 (2.22%)	JSON
14	11 (1.88%)	XML
15	10 (1.71%)	Middleware
16	8 (1.37%)	Razor View Engine

Miscellaneous
1	68 (11.62%)	Analytical Skills
2	37 (6.32%)	Management Information System
3	24 (4.10%)	Data Centre
4	16 (2.74%)	User Experience
5	15 (2.56%)	Blackberry
5	15 (2.56%)	Computer Science
5	15 (2.56%)	NHS
6	12 (2.05%)	Fat Client
6	12 (2.05%)	Thin Client
7	9 (1.54%)	Video Conferencing
8	8 (1.37%)	Clustering
8	8 (1.37%)	Data Protection Act
8	8 (1.37%)	Driving Licence
9	6 (1.03%)	Data Structures
9	6 (1.03%)	Greenfield Project
10	5 (0.85%)	CMDB
11	4 (0.68%)	DataPower
11	4 (0.68%)	SCADA
11	4 (0.68%)	Virtual Team
12	3 (0.51%)	Digital Signage

Operating Systems
1	125 (21.37%)	Windows
2	47 (8.03%)	Windows 7
3	32 (5.47%)	Windows Server
4	25 (4.27%)	Windows 10
5	19 (3.25%)	Windows Server 2008
5	19 (3.25%)	Windows Server 2012
6	17 (2.91%)	Unix
7	15 (2.56%)	Linux
8	11 (1.88%)	Windows 8
9	7 (1.20%)	Windows Server 2003
10	5 (0.85%)	Windows XP
11	3 (0.51%)	Android
12	2 (0.34%)	CentOS
12	2 (0.34%)	HPUX
12	2 (0.34%)	Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12	2 (0.34%)	VMS
13	1 (0.17%)	Embedded Linux
13	1 (0.17%)	Solaris
13	1 (0.17%)	VxWorks
13	1 (0.17%)	Windows 2000

Processes & Methodologies
1	126 (21.54%)	Agile Software Development
2	97 (16.58%)	CRM
3	66 (11.28%)	Migration
4	65 (11.11%)	ITIL
5	61 (10.43%)	Business Intelligence
6	54 (9.23%)	Project Management
7	39 (6.67%)	Scrum
8	38 (6.50%)	Stakeholder Management
9	34 (5.81%)	MVC
10	31 (5.30%)	ETL
11	29 (4.96%)	Service Management
12	27 (4.62%)	Data Management
13	26 (4.44%)	Change Management
14	24 (4.10%)	PRINCE2
15	22 (3.76%)	Data Migration
15	22 (3.76%)	TDD
16	19 (3.25%)	BDD
17	18 (3.08%)	Enterprise Architecture
17	18 (3.08%)	Test Automation
18	16 (2.74%)	Data Analysis

Programming Languages
1	113 (19.32%)	SQL
2	69 (11.79%)	C#
3	51 (8.72%)	JavaScript
4	35 (5.98%)	PowerShell
5	30 (5.13%)	T-SQL
6	14 (2.39%)	Java
7	12 (2.05%)	Ruby
7	12 (2.05%)	Scala
8	11 (1.88%)	C
9	8 (1.37%)	VB
10	7 (1.20%)	VB.NET
10	7 (1.20%)	VBA
11	6 (1.03%)	Python
12	3 (0.51%)	C++
12	3 (0.51%)	PHP
12	3 (0.51%)	TypeScript
12	3 (0.51%)	VBScript
13	2 (0.34%)	Perl
13	2 (0.34%)	PROC SQL
13	2 (0.34%)	SAS Macro

Qualifications
1	42 (7.18%)	Degree
2	36 (6.15%)	Security Cleared
3	30 (5.13%)	Microsoft Certification
4	27 (4.62%)	SC Cleared
5	14 (2.39%)	ITIL Certification
6	10 (1.71%)	DV Cleared
7	8 (1.37%)	Computer Science Degree
7	8 (1.37%)	ISEB
8	7 (1.20%)	ISTQB
8	7 (1.20%)	MCSE
8	7 (1.20%)	PMI Certification
9	6 (1.03%)	PMP
10	5 (0.85%)	BPSS Clearance
10	5 (0.85%)	Cisco Certification
10	5 (0.85%)	MCITP
10	5 (0.85%)	Postgraduate
11	4 (0.68%)	MCSA
11	4 (0.68%)	PRINCE2 Practitioner
12	3 (0.51%)	CCNP
12	3 (0.51%)	PRINCE2 Certification

Quality Assurance & Compliance
1	19 (3.25%)	QA
2	16 (2.74%)	PMO
3	10 (1.71%)	SLA
4	8 (1.37%)	Disclosure Scotland
5	4 (0.68%)	ISO/IEC 27001
6	3 (0.51%)	Data Quality
7	1 (0.17%)	COBIT
7	1 (0.17%)	IFRS
7	1 (0.17%)	ISO/IEC 20000
7	1 (0.17%)	Solvency II

System Software
1	97 (16.58%)	Active Directory
2	26 (4.44%)	Microsoft App-V
3	19 (3.25%)	VMware Infrastructure
4	15 (2.56%)	Hyper-V
5	10 (1.71%)	XenApp
6	8 (1.37%)	vSphere
7	7 (1.20%)	Virtual Desktop
8	5 (0.85%)	Docker
8	5 (0.85%)	Terminal Services
9	4 (0.68%)	VMware Workstation
9	4 (0.68%)	XenDesktop
10	3 (0.51%)	Virtual Machines
11	2 (0.34%)	BitLocker
11	2 (0.34%)	Terminal Server
12	1 (0.17%)	Citrix Presentation Server
12	1 (0.17%)	Firmware
12	1 (0.17%)	RACF
12	1 (0.17%)	UAG
12	1 (0.17%)	VMware ESXi

Systems Management
1	42 (7.18%)	SCCM
2	8 (1.37%)	WSUS
3	6 (1.03%)	Puppet
3	6 (1.03%)	SCOM
4	5 (0.85%)	HP Quality Center
5	4 (0.68%)	Ansible
5	4 (0.68%)	Norton AntiVirus
5	4 (0.68%)	Opscode Chef
5	4 (0.68%)	SafeCom
5	4 (0.68%)	SCOrch
6	3 (0.51%)	Backup Exec
6	3 (0.51%)	Microsoft Intune
6	3 (0.51%)	vCenter Server
7	2 (0.34%)	logstash
7	2 (0.34%)	Microsoft Clustering
7	2 (0.34%)	SCDPM
7	2 (0.34%)	Systems Management Server (SMS)
8	1 (0.17%)	Nagios
8	1 (0.17%)	OpenView
8	1 (0.17%)	Tivoli Storage Manager

Vendors
1	34 (5.81%)	Citrix
2	31 (5.30%)	VMware
3	30 (5.13%)	Cisco
4	26 (4.44%)	Oracle
5	19 (3.25%)	IBM
6	15 (2.56%)	SAP
7	11 (1.88%)	HP
7	11 (1.88%)	NetApp
8	8 (1.37%)	Symantec
9	7 (1.20%)	Dell
10	6 (1.03%)	Tableau
11	5 (0.85%)	EMC
11	5 (0.85%)	McAfee
12	4 (0.68%)	BMC
12	4 (0.68%)	Cognos
12	4 (0.68%)	CommVault
12	4 (0.68%)	MuleSoft
12	4 (0.68%)	Remedy
12	4 (0.68%)	Veritas
12	4 (0.68%)	Wyse