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 skills shortages eased in June 2019
Full-timer scarcity reduced too, but ‘hiring right’ is tech start-ups’ biggest obstacle.
Growth in IT contractor demand recovered in June 2019
Slight uptick since May’s low, but a ‘cautious approach’ by hirers looks set for the summer.
Growth in IT contractor billings sinks to seven-year low
Brexit bounce squashed by an 83-month loss, ahead of a ‘summer of stalemate’.
Contractor Guide to Rates
Hourly or daily rate? IT contractor guide to pay
Explained - the staple payment terms of freelancing, attached to your next IT contract, by Outsource UK.
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 | SQL | £450 |
| 2 | Java | £520 |
| 3 | Analyst | £400 |
| 4 | Cyber Security | £480 |
| 5 | Linux | £500 |
| 6 | C# | £450 |
| 7 | .NET | £450 |
| 8 | Scrum | £480 |
| 9 | Project Manager | £460 |
| 10 | Oracle | £480 |
Top Ten IT Contracting skills by daily rate
| Rank | Skill | Average Daily Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Head of Technology | £1,000 |
| 2 | SAP Programme Director | £1,000 |
| 3 | KDB Developer | £930 |
| 4 | Head of Cyber Security | £910 |
| 5 | Head of Business Intelligence | £900 |
| 6 | Programme Director | £850 |
| 7 | Senior Quantitative Analyst | £830 |
| 8 | C++ Quantitative Developer | £830 |
| 9 | Head of Architecture | £800 |
| 10 | Head of IT Architecture | £780 |
Emerging IT Contracting skills in 2019
| Skill | Average Daily Rate |
|---|---|
| Artificial Intelligence | £530 |
| Cyber Security | £480 |
| Robotics | £500 |
| .NET Core | £480 |
| Cloud Native | £600 |
| Data Science | £550 |
| Sketch | £430 |
| Oracle RAC | £490 |
| Pyspark | £530 |
| Azure | £550 |
*Source: Technojobs data (Updated July 2019)
For more information on IT contractor skills please see the below:
Agile Software Development
C#
C++
Cisco
IT support
ITIL
Scrum
Sharepoint
System Testing