The latest average rates for the top IT contracting skills and contractor demand updates.
Contractor rates not only depend on your skills and experience as a contractor, but they also depend on the economic climate, company budgets and often location of the contract.
For more on current contractor rates and demand please visit our contractor forum where these topics are often discussed. You can also search the latest IT contract jobs here.
Contractor Market Demand
IT contractor jobs downturn eased dramatically in June
Largest monthly rise in tech contract opportunities will be cheered, but comes with caveats.
IT contractor demand 'set to spike thanks to the new normal hinging on technology'
Virtual onboarding. Staff needing remote access. Platform patches. New e-gov portals. It all bodes well for IT contractors.
Worst of coronavirus crisis for IT contractor hiring may be over, says REC
First sign of green shoots springs up amid freezes; uncertainty and competition.
Contractor Guide to Rates
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Getting the right rate for the contract - negotiation for IT contractors
The basics of negotiation and establishing what rate becomes a 'deal breaker' for you.
Contract rate negotiation: How to negotiate a rate rise
An IT contractor's guide to asking for premiums.
Top Ten IT Contracting Skills by demand
| Rank | Skill | Average Daily Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Security | £500 |
| 2 | Java | £520 |
| 3 | SQL | £480 |
| 4 | Analyst | £410 |
| 5 | Linux | £500 |
| 6 | C# | £470 |
| 7 | Oracle | £500 |
| 8 | .NET | £480 |
| 9 | Project Manager | £470 |
| 10 | Business Intelligence | £480 |
Top Ten IT Contracting skills by daily rate
| Rank | Skill | Average Daily Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chief Technology Officer | £870 |
| 2 | Head of Security | £850 |
| 3 | Chief Architect | £800 |
| 4 | Head of Engineering | £800 |
| 5 | Programme Director | £800 |
| 6 | .NET Architect | £750 |
| 7 | Electronic Trading Developer | £750 |
| 8 | Qualitative Analyst | £740 |
| 9 | Quantitative Analyst | £740 |
| 10 | SAP Data Consultant | £720 |
Emerging IT Contracting skills in 2020
| Skill | Average Daily Rate |
|---|---|
| Electronic Trading | £750 |
| Oracle CX | £580 |
| 5G | £430 |
| gRPC | £580 |
| Flutter | £380 |
| GIAC | £400 |
| Unity | £450 |
| Maximo | £540 |
| Pentaho | £600 |
| Lumension | £450 |
*Source: Technojobs data (Updated July 2020)
For more information on IT contractor skills please see the below:
Agile Software Development
C#
C++
Cisco
IT support
ITIL
Scrum
Sharepoint
System Testing