MCSE Contracts

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) formerly Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for MCSE qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months to 1 June 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
1 Jun 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 466 542 605
Rank change year-on-year +76 +63 -78
Contract jobs citing MCSE 109 140 238
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.25% 0.25% 0.27%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.85% 0.92% 1.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 84 112 169
10th Percentile £290 £107 £155
25th Percentile £313 £223 £256
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 £500 £425
Median % change year-on-year -17.50% +17.65% -5.56%
75th Percentile £556 £575 £538
90th Percentile £584 £650 £614
UK excluding London median daily rate £431 £520 £375
% change year-on-year -17.07% +38.67% -16.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 4 8
10th Percentile £11.98 - £14.88
25th Percentile £12.31 £16.25 £16.09
Median hourly rate £16.25 £17.50 £19.43
Median % change year-on-year -7.14% -9.91% -73.57%
75th Percentile £18.75 £20.68 £26.30
90th Percentile £22.07 £24.16 £33.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.25 £17.50 £17.50
% change year-on-year -7.14% - -76.19%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK

MCSE is in the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 12,872 15,254 19,038
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 29.89% 27.21% 21.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,011 10,183 12,699
10th Percentile £310 £338 £345
25th Percentile £425 £450 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.64% +4.76% +6.06%
75th Percentile £645 £650 £630
90th Percentile £738 £738 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £535 £525 £500
% change year-on-year +1.90% +5.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,100 745 759
10th Percentile £13.87 £14.67 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.13 £21.24 £19.52
Median hourly rate £40.00 £55.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -27.27% +23.60% +28.21%
75th Percentile £62.50 £68.75 £58.75
90th Percentile £76.32 £79.19 £67.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.25 £52.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -21.43% +50.00% +16.67%

MCSE
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing MCSE as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing MCSE.

Daily rate trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing MCSE over the 6 months to 1 June 2024.

Daily rate histogram for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing MCSE.

Hourly rate trend for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing MCSE over the 6 months to 1 June 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Top 14 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MCSE within the UK over the 6 months to 1 June 2024. 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
UK excluding London +32 90 £431 -17.07% 56
England +44 74 £450 -5.26% 58
Scotland +64 30 £340 +4.62% 9
Work from Home +88 23 £478 -8.17% 14
South East +20 22 £538 +13.16% 11
South West +7 15 £538 -2.27% 9
London +76 13 £325 -18.75% 12
North of England +6 13 £425 -29.17% 18
North West +6 9 £303 -53.46% 7
Midlands +10 5 £117 -47.53% 5
East of England +7 5 £425 +286.36% 3
North East +14 4 £488 +343.18% 2
East Midlands +5 3 £130 -41.70% 1
West Midlands +8 2 £117 -57.45% 4

MCSE
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

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

Application Platforms
1 31 (28.44%) Microsoft Exchange
2 18 (16.51%) Confluence
3 13 (11.93%) SharePoint
4 7 (6.42%) IIS
5 2 (1.83%) Exchange Server 2007
5 2 (1.83%) Exchange Server 2010
6 1 (0.92%) Exchange Server 2003
6 1 (0.92%) Exchange Server 2013
6 1 (0.92%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 6 (5.50%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (2.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (1.83%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.92%) Adobe Creative Suite
Business Applications
1 4 (3.67%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (1.83%) Eikon
Cloud Services
1 22 (20.18%) Azure
1 22 (20.18%) Microsoft 365
2 11 (10.09%) AWS
3 10 (9.17%) Power Platform
4 2 (1.83%) IaaS
4 2 (1.83%) OneDrive
5 1 (0.92%) Amazon EC2
5 1 (0.92%) Cloud Computing
5 1 (0.92%) Dynamics 365
5 1 (0.92%) Entra ID
5 1 (0.92%) GCP
5 1 (0.92%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 29 (26.61%) DNS
2 26 (23.85%) DHCP
3 23 (21.10%) SAN
4 11 (10.09%) VPN
5 10 (9.17%) Firewall
6 9 (8.26%) SSL
6 9 (8.26%) TCP/IP
7 7 (6.42%) Fibre Channel
7 7 (6.42%) NAS
8 5 (4.59%) iSCSI
8 5 (4.59%) VLAN
9 4 (3.67%) VoIP
10 3 (2.75%) Skype
10 3 (2.75%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (1.83%) LAN
11 2 (1.83%) NetScaler
11 2 (1.83%) Network Security
11 2 (1.83%) WAN
11 2 (1.83%) Wireless
12 1 (0.92%) PBX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (12.84%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.83%) MySQL
2 2 (1.83%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.92%) BusinessObjects
3 1 (0.92%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.92%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 18 (16.51%) JIRA
General
1 53 (48.62%) Social Skills
2 47 (43.12%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (19.27%) Public Sector
4 18 (16.51%) Military
5 10 (9.17%) Finance
6 8 (7.34%) Banking
7 6 (5.50%) Manufacturing
8 5 (4.59%) Marketing
9 4 (3.67%) Pharmaceutical
9 4 (3.67%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.92%) Advertising
10 1 (0.92%) Automotive
10 1 (0.92%) Electronics
10 1 (0.92%) French Language
10 1 (0.92%) Front Office
10 1 (0.92%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.92%) Legal
10 1 (0.92%) Local Government
10 1 (0.92%) Spanish Language
10 1 (0.92%) Swedish Language
Job Titles
1 18 (16.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
1 18 (16.51%) Test Engineer
2 16 (14.68%) Integration Engineer
2 16 (14.68%) Test and Integration Engineer
3 10 (9.17%) Field Engineer
3 10 (9.17%) IT Engineer
3 10 (9.17%) Support Engineer
4 9 (8.26%) Field Service Engineer
4 9 (8.26%) Senior
5 7 (6.42%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 6 (5.50%) 3rd Line Support
6 6 (5.50%) DBA
6 6 (5.50%) Server Engineer
6 6 (5.50%) SQL DBA
7 5 (4.59%) Cybersecurity Specialist
7 5 (4.59%) Desktop Engineer
7 5 (4.59%) Infrastructure Support
7 5 (4.59%) Security Specialist
7 5 (4.59%) VMware Engineer
8 4 (3.67%) 2nd Line Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.83%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 26 (23.85%) PKI
2 18 (16.51%) Data Centre
3 12 (11.01%) Clustering
4 9 (8.26%) Analytical Mindset
5 7 (6.42%) Cyber Threat
6 4 (3.67%) Public Cloud
6 4 (3.67%) Video Conferencing
7 3 (2.75%) Replication
7 3 (2.75%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.83%) Blackberry
8 2 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.83%) iPad
8 2 (1.83%) iPhone
9 1 (0.92%) Driving Licence
9 1 (0.92%) Freedom of Information
9 1 (0.92%) Freedom of Information Act
9 1 (0.92%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.92%) Management Information System
9 1 (0.92%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 83 (76.15%) Windows
2 62 (56.88%) Windows Server
3 28 (25.69%) Windows Server 2012
4 16 (14.68%) Linux
4 16 (14.68%) Windows 10
5 8 (7.34%) CentOS
6 7 (6.42%) Windows Server 2008
6 7 (6.42%) Windows Server 2016
7 6 (5.50%) Debian
8 4 (3.67%) Mac OS
8 4 (3.67%) Unix
9 2 (1.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (1.83%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.92%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (43.12%) ITIL
2 29 (26.61%) Agile
3 26 (23.85%) Problem-Solving
4 23 (21.10%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 20 (18.35%) Critical Thinking
6 19 (17.43%) Customer Service
7 18 (16.51%) Regression Testing
7 18 (16.51%) Test Scripting
8 14 (12.84%) Disaster Recovery
9 11 (10.09%) Cybersecurity
9 11 (10.09%) High Availability
9 11 (10.09%) Service Management
9 11 (10.09%) Task Automation
10 8 (7.34%) Break/Fix
10 8 (7.34%) Penetration Testing
10 8 (7.34%) Problem Management
10 8 (7.34%) Project Management
10 8 (7.34%) Security Operations
11 7 (6.42%) Network Management
11 7 (6.42%) Risk Assessment
Programming Languages
1 31 (28.44%) SQL
2 24 (22.02%) PowerShell
3 1 (0.92%) Python
3 1 (0.92%) VB
Qualifications
1 109 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 37 (33.94%) MCSA
3 34 (31.19%) Security Cleared
4 30 (27.52%) Degree
4 30 (27.52%) SC Cleared
4 30 (27.52%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
5 26 (23.85%) Cisco Certification
6 23 (21.10%) CCNA
7 11 (10.09%) ITIL Certification
8 10 (9.17%) A+ Certification
8 10 (9.17%) MCP
8 10 (9.17%) Network+ Certification
9 6 (5.50%) DV Cleared
9 6 (5.50%) RHCT
10 5 (4.59%) CCNP
11 4 (3.67%) AWS Certification
11 4 (3.67%) MCTS
12 2 (1.83%) BPSS Clearance
12 2 (1.83%) CESG Certified Professional
12 2 (1.83%) Citrix Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (8.26%) SLA
2 3 (2.75%) Cyber Essentials
2 3 (2.75%) NCSC
2 3 (2.75%) NIST
3 2 (1.83%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 2 (1.83%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.92%) GDPR
4 1 (0.92%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 60 (55.05%) Active Directory
2 39 (35.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (12.84%) Hyper-V
4 8 (7.34%) vSphere
5 6 (5.50%) KVM
6 4 (3.67%) Firmware
7 3 (2.75%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (1.83%) Microsoft App-V
8 2 (1.83%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (1.83%) XenApp
8 2 (1.83%) XenDesktop
9 1 (0.92%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.92%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 18 (16.51%) SCCM
2 9 (8.26%) WSUS
3 4 (3.67%) Microsoft Intune
3 4 (3.67%) vCenter Server
4 3 (2.75%) Backup Exec
5 1 (0.92%) Failover Clustering
5 1 (0.92%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 74 (67.89%) Microsoft
2 46 (42.20%) VMware
3 15 (13.76%) Citrix
4 12 (11.01%) Dell
5 10 (9.17%) ServiceNow
6 9 (8.26%) Red Hat
7 8 (7.34%) Cisco
8 4 (3.67%) HP
9 3 (2.75%) Apple
9 3 (2.75%) Bloomberg
10 2 (1.83%) CA
10 2 (1.83%) IronPort
10 2 (1.83%) Reuters
11 1 (0.92%) Aruba
11 1 (0.92%) BEA
11 1 (0.92%) EMC
11 1 (0.92%) Juniper
11 1 (0.92%) McAfee
11 1 (0.92%) SolarWinds
11 1 (0.92%) Veritas