There have been some subtle suggestions that, perhaps, summer is arriving. So, with the upturn in temperatures (at least for some of us), what better time to check out what’s cooking in IT contracting?

For some expert insight, we caught up with Umbrella’s Barbara Munnelly for a look at the tech jobs recruiters are hot on this summer: “With the General Election out of the way, the UK is settling back down to work, and companies are looking to fill mandates across their IT requirements. The UK’s financial services industry continues to be the ‘go-to’ recruiter for many of our talented IT contractors and freelancers.”

“In particular, Big Data specialists, Business Analysts and Infrastructure Engineers are finding their inboxes and voicemails flush with offers. In the Big Data realm, demand continues to arc upwards as firms learn more about the real value contained in the mountains of data they procure, process and produce. As such, getting Big Data tech leaders on-board is a key driver in recruitment for the foreseeable.”

“Once this data has been gathered, companies turn to their Business Analysts. The analyst role is to finesse data and ensure the business is using the data effectively, that the company is learning and benefitting from the information that floods their systems on a daily basis.”

“Of course, none of this would be possible without Infrastructure Engineers. They create the environment in which effective data analysis can be carried out. And this is a real key: a lot of Big Data is still an emergent area, and companies need the ‘scene setters’ in-house to help them build IT infrastructure that can cope with the business requirements placed on that data.”

“Day rates for IT contractors working in these areas are attractive and they are increasing. Infrastructure techies can pull in anything from £300 per day, with Analysts or Big Data specialists looking at £400 – £500 per day.”

“All-in-all, then, recruitment continues to be on an upward curve in certain IT specialties, with increased day rates sitting alongside varied opportunities. It is a positive trend, and one likely to continue over summer at the very least.”