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 20 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
20 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 468 551 623
Rank change year-on-year +83 +72 -115
Contract jobs citing MCSE 111 143 240
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.26% 0.25% 0.27%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.87% 0.92% 1.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 84 116 167
10th Percentile £275 £105 £154
25th Percentile £313 £214 £241
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £388 £485 £425
Median % change year-on-year -20.10% +14.12% -3.41%
75th Percentile £556 £575 £538
90th Percentile £607 £650 £594
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £475 £375
% change year-on-year -7.89% +26.67% -16.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 10
10th Percentile £12.00 - £15.38
25th Percentile £12.63 £16.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £17.50 £17.50 £23.22
Median % change year-on-year - -24.63% -68.41%
75th Percentile £18.75 £20.68 £40.94
90th Percentile £19.25 £24.16 £69.05
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £17.50 £21.35
% change year-on-year - -18.03% -70.95%

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 12,775 15,576 19,048
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 30.03% 27.20% 21.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,956 10,400 12,640
10th Percentile £308 £330 £340
25th Percentile £425 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.64% +4.76% +7.14%
75th Percentile £646 £650 £630
90th Percentile £738 £743 £706
UK excluding London median daily rate £530 £525 £500
% change year-on-year +0.95% +5.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,057 771 774
10th Percentile £13.69 £15.21 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.80 £21.24 £19.52
Median hourly rate £40.00 £55.00 £43.95
Median % change year-on-year -27.27% +25.14% +21.73%
75th Percentile £61.60 £68.25 £57.95
90th Percentile £76.25 £79.19 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.94 £50.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -18.12% +42.86% +5.26%

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 20 May 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 20 May 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for MCSE in the UK

MCSE
Top 15 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 20 May 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 +44 92 £438 -7.89% 53
England +76 76 £400 -15.79% 58
Scotland +63 28 £340 +209.09% 7
South East +29 22 £538 +5.65% 10
Work from Home +85 20 £478 -8.17% 19
North of England +15 15 £450 -25.00% 15
South West +12 15 £538 -2.27% 7
London +85 13 £325 -16.13% 14
North West +2 11 £305 -53.08% 3
East of England +12 5 £425 +286.36% 3
Midlands +5 5 £117 -47.53% 8
North East +15 4 £488 +343.18% 1
East Midlands +9 3 £130 -41.70% 3
West Midlands +16 2 £117 -48.00% 5
Northern Ireland +4 2 - - 3

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 33 (29.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 18 (16.22%) Confluence
3 17 (15.32%) SharePoint
4 7 (6.31%) IIS
5 4 (3.60%) Skype for Business
6 2 (1.80%) Exchange Server 2007
6 2 (1.80%) Exchange Server 2010
7 1 (0.90%) Exchange Server 2003
7 1 (0.90%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 7 (6.31%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (4.50%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (1.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.90%) Adobe Creative Suite
Business Applications
1 4 (3.60%) Dynamics GP
2 2 (1.80%) Eikon
Cloud Services
1 25 (22.52%) Microsoft 365
2 23 (20.72%) Azure
3 10 (9.01%) Power Platform
4 9 (8.11%) AWS
5 2 (1.80%) Cloud Computing
5 2 (1.80%) IaaS
5 2 (1.80%) Mimecast
5 2 (1.80%) OneDrive
6 1 (0.90%) Amazon EC2
6 1 (0.90%) Azure DevOps
6 1 (0.90%) Dynamics 365
6 1 (0.90%) Entra ID
6 1 (0.90%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 29 (26.13%) DNS
2 24 (21.62%) DHCP
3 22 (19.82%) SAN
4 12 (10.81%) VPN
5 11 (9.91%) TCP/IP
6 10 (9.01%) Firewall
7 9 (8.11%) SSL
8 7 (6.31%) NAS
9 6 (5.41%) Fibre Channel
9 6 (5.41%) Skype
10 5 (4.50%) iSCSI
10 5 (4.50%) VLAN
11 4 (3.60%) LAN
11 4 (3.60%) VoIP
11 4 (3.60%) WAN
12 3 (2.70%) Wi-Fi
13 2 (1.80%) HTTP
13 2 (1.80%) Network Security
13 2 (1.80%) Wireless
14 1 (0.90%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (12.61%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.80%) MySQL
2 2 (1.80%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.90%) BusinessObjects
3 1 (0.90%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.90%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 18 (16.22%) JIRA
General
1 53 (47.75%) Social Skills
2 49 (44.14%) Analytical Skills
3 23 (20.72%) Public Sector
4 17 (15.32%) Military
5 15 (13.51%) Finance
6 10 (9.01%) Banking
7 8 (7.21%) Manufacturing
8 7 (6.31%) Marketing
9 6 (5.41%) Telecoms
10 4 (3.60%) Pharmaceutical
11 3 (2.70%) Electronics
11 3 (2.70%) Front Office
11 3 (2.70%) Investment Banking
12 1 (0.90%) Advertising
12 1 (0.90%) Automotive
12 1 (0.90%) French Language
12 1 (0.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.90%) Spanish Language
12 1 (0.90%) Swedish Language
Job Titles
1 17 (15.32%) Test Engineer
2 16 (14.41%) Integration Engineer
2 16 (14.41%) Test and Integration Engineer
3 15 (13.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 15 (13.51%) Support Engineer
4 10 (9.01%) Field Engineer
4 10 (9.01%) IT Engineer
5 9 (8.11%) Field Service Engineer
5 9 (8.11%) Senior
6 7 (6.31%) 3rd Line Engineer
6 7 (6.31%) Server Engineer
7 6 (5.41%) 3rd Line Support
7 6 (5.41%) DBA
7 6 (5.41%) SQL DBA
8 5 (4.50%) 2nd Line Support
8 5 (4.50%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
8 5 (4.50%) Cybersecurity Specialist
8 5 (4.50%) Desktop Engineer
8 5 (4.50%) Security Specialist
8 5 (4.50%) VMware Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.80%) CSS
1 2 (1.80%) LDAP
1 2 (1.80%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 26 (23.42%) PKI
2 18 (16.22%) Data Centre
3 12 (10.81%) Clustering
4 9 (8.11%) Analytical Mindset
5 7 (6.31%) Cyber Threat
6 4 (3.60%) Public Cloud
6 4 (3.60%) Video Conferencing
7 3 (2.70%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (1.80%) Blackberry
8 2 (1.80%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (1.80%) iPad
8 2 (1.80%) iPhone
8 2 (1.80%) Replication
9 1 (0.90%) Driving Licence
9 1 (0.90%) Freedom of Information
9 1 (0.90%) Freedom of Information Act
9 1 (0.90%) Hybrid Cloud
9 1 (0.90%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 82 (73.87%) Windows
2 59 (53.15%) Windows Server
3 28 (25.23%) Windows Server 2012
4 18 (16.22%) Windows 10
5 16 (14.41%) Linux
6 8 (7.21%) CentOS
7 7 (6.31%) Windows Server 2008
8 6 (5.41%) Debian
8 6 (5.41%) Windows Server 2016
9 4 (3.60%) Mac OS
9 4 (3.60%) Unix
10 2 (1.80%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.90%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.90%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.90%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (42.34%) ITIL
2 28 (25.23%) Agile
3 24 (21.62%) Problem-Solving
4 20 (18.02%) Critical Thinking
5 19 (17.12%) Customer Service
5 19 (17.12%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 17 (15.32%) Regression Testing
6 17 (15.32%) Test Scripting
7 13 (11.71%) Disaster Recovery
8 12 (10.81%) Service Management
9 11 (9.91%) Cybersecurity
9 11 (9.91%) High Availability
10 9 (8.11%) Task Automation
11 8 (7.21%) Break/Fix
11 8 (7.21%) Penetration Testing
11 8 (7.21%) Problem Management
11 8 (7.21%) Project Management
11 8 (7.21%) Security Operations
12 7 (6.31%) Risk Assessment
12 7 (6.31%) Server Patching
Programming Languages
1 31 (27.93%) SQL
2 26 (23.42%) PowerShell
3 2 (1.80%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.90%) Bash
4 1 (0.90%) Bicep
4 1 (0.90%) Python
4 1 (0.90%) VB
Qualifications
1 111 (100.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 36 (32.43%) MCSA
3 33 (29.73%) Degree
4 32 (28.83%) Security Cleared
5 28 (25.23%) SC Cleared
6 27 (24.32%) Cisco Certification
6 27 (24.32%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 24 (21.62%) CCNA
8 11 (9.91%) ITIL Certification
8 11 (9.91%) MCP
9 10 (9.01%) A+ Certification
9 10 (9.01%) Network+ Certification
10 6 (5.41%) CCNP
10 6 (5.41%) DV Cleared
10 6 (5.41%) RHCT
11 4 (3.60%) MCTS
12 2 (1.80%) AWS Certification
12 2 (1.80%) BPSS Clearance
12 2 (1.80%) MCSD
12 2 (1.80%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (9.91%) SLA
2 3 (2.70%) Cyber Essentials
2 3 (2.70%) NCSC
2 3 (2.70%) NIST
3 2 (1.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 2 (1.80%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.90%) GDPR
System Software
1 60 (54.05%) Active Directory
2 36 (32.43%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (10.81%) Hyper-V
4 8 (7.21%) vSphere
5 6 (5.41%) KVM
6 4 (3.60%) Firmware
7 3 (2.70%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (1.80%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.90%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 1 (0.90%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.90%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.90%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 18 (16.22%) SCCM
2 8 (7.21%) WSUS
3 3 (2.70%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (2.70%) vCenter Server
4 2 (1.80%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 2 (1.80%) Backup Exec
5 1 (0.90%) Failover Clustering
5 1 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.90%) SCOM
Vendors
1 74 (66.67%) Microsoft
2 43 (38.74%) VMware
3 12 (10.81%) Citrix
3 12 (10.81%) Dell
4 11 (9.91%) ServiceNow
5 9 (8.11%) Red Hat
6 7 (6.31%) Cisco
7 5 (4.50%) Bloomberg
8 4 (3.60%) HP
9 3 (2.70%) Apple
9 3 (2.70%) Refinitiv
9 3 (2.70%) SAP
9 3 (2.70%) SolarWinds
10 2 (1.80%) CA
10 2 (1.80%) IronPort
10 2 (1.80%) Reuters
10 2 (1.80%) Sophos
10 2 (1.80%) Veeam
11 1 (0.90%) BEA
11 1 (0.90%) Juniper