Microsoft’s .NET framework is the Swiss Army knife of app development: It is a powerful, expansive tool for various application types and cloud services. It was the most used framework among developers in 2023, with more than a quarter of respondents to an online survey reporting having worked with it. As the framework continues to add value to many projects, companies race to find .NET developers: The predicted job growth rate for this job between 2018 and 2028 is 13%, compared to an average rate of 5%.

However, the framework’s versatility is a double-edged sword. With so many specializations under the umbrella of .NET engineering, hiring the right expert is no easy task. Your project type will determine the unique hiring process and skill requirements that will match you with a suitable on-demand, full-time, or part-time developer.

This guide outlines your next steps in hiring a .NET programmer—whether you are creating web applications, mobile apps, or microservices apps. With these tips, you can target the correct skill requirements, job description, and interview questions for your .NET project.

What Attributes Distinguish Quality .NET Developers From Others?

Foundational .NET developer skills are grounded in the framework itself, its complementary languages, its development environment, and object-oriented programming:

• .NET: The software framework that builds and runs .NET applications; comprehensive experience with the framework and its common language runtime (CLR) is a must, and developers should be familiar with the latest version and its most helpful features.
• C#: An object-oriented, powerful, and easy-to-learn programming language, and the standard for developing .NET applications; developers may also develop using the VB programming language.
• Visual Studio: The primary development environment for .NET, offering comprehensive tools for building, debugging, and deploying applications; familiarity with Visual Studio is essential for efficient development.

Most modern apps also interact with data and cloud providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure. If your project falls into this category, search for programmers with additional mastery in these areas:

• Databases: A vital aspect of any application working with data; candidates should possess experience with common SQL databases (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle), understand NoSQL basics, and stay up to date with database trends.
• ADO.NET: A data access framework that connects to, queries, and manipulates data from a variety of sources, including databases and XML files, in .NET applications.
• LINQ: A set of language extensions to write queries directly in C# that simplifies data retrieval and manipulation across a variety of formats, including arrays, lists, and databases.

Other fundamental basic skills include:

• Translating user needs into project requirements.
• Creating and validating use cases.
• Handling code versioning (e.g., with Git) and release management.

Code Quality Assurance

In addition, all candidates should understand the basics of systems engineering that are critical for any software engineer to deliver results effectively. For example, quality developers prioritize high standards in coding through established best practices like unit testing, code reviews, and tracking key metrics such as the maintainability index and cyclomatic complexity. These techniques help ensure the code is reliable, scalable, and easy to maintain, minimizing technical debt and improving long-term performance. By emphasizing code quality, developers can deliver applications that are not only functional but also resilient and optimized for future updates.

Finally, multiple specializations exist under the umbrella of .NET engineering, and the additional core proficiencies required will depend on the developer type.

C# Specialization

Though most .NET professionals should be familiar with .NET programming languages, some experts focus on the framework’s internals and are especially adept at C#. These engineers are best suited for extending the development ecosystem, optimizing app performance, working with classes and methods, and interfacing with external components and systems.

Web App Specialization

Other .NET experts are best suited for web app projects. These are typically ASP.NET engineers specializing in web development (e.g., web servers, Internet Information Services, and networks). The required skills include:

• ASP.NET: A web application framework used to build dynamic, interactive websites.
• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: The standard front-end languages used to build the client side of applications; basic knowledge of these languages enables developers to create optimal user experiences and collaborate with teams effectively.

Other Specializations

Although any of these specialists can understand the .NET ecosystem, they may not know how to integrate an embedded application with Azure, add cloud services to an Android app, or develop a desktop application with Windows Forms. Searching for the specific skills relevant to your project and technologies is essential.

Custom .NET Development Services

In some cases, businesses may require a custom framework or a unique solution that is carefully crafted to meet specific objectives. Custom .NET development is a highly specialized area that goes beyond standard application building, involving a comprehensive analysis of the project’s requirements, stakeholder needs, and operational goals. This approach is particularly valuable for companies looking to create proprietary solutions that offer a competitive edge or require advanced features not typically found in off-the-shelf frameworks.

Custom .NET development often leverages ASP.NET to build dynamic, scalable, and performance-optimized applications. ASP.NET is especially suited for developing high-performance web applications, while .NET provides the flexibility of cross-platform compatibility, allowing applications to run on Windows, Linux, macOS, and mobile operating systems. Together, these technologies enable developers to create bespoke solutions that align with specific business environments and deployment preferences.

How Can You Identify the Ideal .NET Developer for You?

When choosing a developer, you must clearly define your project environment and development area before identifying the specific technical knowledge and proficiencies your developer must have.

First, clearly outline your business needs. What technology and build environment are you working in—desktop (e.g., Windows), web (e.g., Azure), mobile (e.g., Android), or some other (e.g., embedded systems)? Narrow down the type of development services you require. Each technology category has different developer requirements you must define:

Machine Learning

Language and tools used, model requirements

Games

Framework(s) used, developer type (e.g., graphics, UI, back-end, or physics programmer)

Mobile

Operating system (e.g., Android or iOS), specialization (e.g., performance, building new features, launching a new app)

Web

Operating system (e.g., Windows, Linux, macOS, Docker), specialization

Desktop

Operating system (e.g., Windows or macOS), specialization

Back End or API

Server/host platform, architecture (e.g., microservices or monolithic)

Cloud

Component boundaries and infrastructure

Next, you may select relevant knowledge and skills based on your project requirements. These include the preferred languages, tools, technologies, and engineering skills that best complement your project focus.

Finally, it is essential to consider whether you would benefit from the skills of a junior, mid-level, or senior .NET engineer. Let’s examine example projects for each developer type:

• Junior developers suit simple projects with minimal tech debt or straightforward tasks like CRUD operations or building pages with Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture.
• Mid-level developers fit more independent projects like a beta release that requires rapid iterations of improvements and debugging.
• Senior developers support mature products with several years in the market, advanced specializations, or projects requiring business and architecture decisions. They will require less onboarding and supervision than junior professionals.

In general, junior developers are best for development tasks of small scope. In contrast, more skilled developers possess substantial experience and can independently navigate complex projects with advanced features.

How to Write a .NET Job Description for Your Project

Your job description will depend heavily on the type of developer you need. You’ll want to immediately highlight the language (i.e., C# or VB), technology and build environment, and development area you are seeking. Entice candidates to apply by providing specifics and detailing:

• The company and its culture.
• The engineering team the developer will work with.
• The role, its responsibilities, and technologies that are being—or will be—used.
• The required skill set and qualifications.
• Any perks of the job (e.g., continued learning, mentorship opportunities, company benefits).

A clear explanation of the role, team, and project goes a long way in identifying an engineer who will succeed at your startup, enterprise, or development company. You may look to an example .NET developer job description for inspiration on getting started.

What Are the Most Important .NET Develop Interview Questions?

After screening candidates and identifying your skill requirements, interviewing is the final step to match your application with the right expert. Start with fundamentals that all applicants should know, such as object-oriented programming and database topics:

How comfortable are you with object-oriented programming concepts?

Candidates should confidently explain standard object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts, such as polymorphism, encapsulation, abstraction, and inheritance. You may request examples of situations in which they’ve used OOP. The answer should provide insight into not just how the candidate implements solutions but whether they always treat everything as an object or if they’ve found scenarios where it is valuable to take a different approach.

Are you familiar with the different versions of .NET, particularly the transition from .NET Framework to .NET 5 and beyond? How have you adapted to changes introduced in the unified .NET platform?

An experienced developer should be familiar with the evolution of the framework, from the original to .NET Core, and now the unified .NET 5 and later versions. Candidates should demonstrate an understanding of how the transition has influenced cross-platform compatibility, performance improvements, and changes in tooling. Ideally, they should provide examples of adapting to these shifts, such as migrating applications, leveraging new features for performance gains, or adjusting workflows to accommodate cross-platform development on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Have you used any object-relational mapping (ORM) tools?

If your project involves a relational database, you will want a developer familiar with ORM tools. These technologies make it easier to query and interact with a database using object-oriented paradigms instead of SQL. Look for substantial experience with the specific ORM tools you plan to use (e.g., Entity Framework or NHibernate); if you do not require working with any particular technologies, ask the developer about the tool they are most comfortable using.

What post-development support and maintenance can developers provide?

Developers often provide ongoing support and maintenance after a project’s launch, ensuring applications remain secure, optimized, and up-to-date. This includes regular updates, bug fixes, performance tuning, and implementing security patches as needed. Skilled developers can also proactively monitor applications to catch potential issues before they impact performance, offering businesses the reassurance of continuous stability and operational efficiency for their applications. Candidates should be able to describe their experiences with supporting and updating applications after launch.

To ensure the engineer has real-world experience with .NET technologies and has not just been studying the subject, ask the candidate about challenging or rewarding tasks they’ve completed while working with the .NET framework.

This approach will assess their problem-solving abilities and provide proof of tangible projects they’ve driven to success. You may follow up and request more details about their work with more complex .NET interview questions regarding topics like:

• How have you handled memory management?
• What is the difference between managed and unmanaged code in the context of .NET development? When have you worked with each?
• Can you explain the role of CLR? How do you typically debug CLR errors?
• How does the garbage collector function in .NET? Can it affect the performance of an application?

Finally, when hiring a specialist, you may supplement more general questions with additional questions on mobile, web, embedded, or cloud development. Inquire about a candidate’s experience using the technologies most relevant to your project management and .NET development team workflows.

Why Do Companies Hire .NET Developers?

The question “What does a .NET developer do?” has many answers. .NET engineers are experts in building all kinds of applications, including embedded, mobile applications, desktop, cloud-native, gaming, and microservices apps. They are performance optimization experts with deep knowledge of data structures, caches, latency, and database communications.

With such a wide range of skills, these developers can enhance a company’s application in various ways, depending on a range of business goals, such as:

• Development efficiency – Because the framework is well-documented, widely used, and offers many open-source libraries, tools, and methodologies, its developers have support in mastering it and debugging code issues.
• Performance – Applications run efficiently because the language is designed to take advantage of the performance capabilities of modern hardware; the benefits multiply with performance specialists on a team.
• Scalability – .NET provides several features, such as caching, multithreading, and connection pooling, that can improve the scalability of applications when leveraged by a skilled engineer.
• Security – Developers can employ several features built-in to the framework such as authorization, authentication, and encryption to secure apps.
• Cross-platform compatibility –With the introduction of .NET 5 and the continued development of subsequent versions (now simply known as .NET), applications built on this unified framework can run seamlessly across multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.

The tips in this guide are designed to help you identify your specific requirements and pinpoint a developer who can realize your project goals. By hiring a skilled .NET engineer, you can achieve faster time-to-market for new applications—providing the ultimate competitive advantage—and save your company time and money on any project.

The technical content presented in this article was reviewed by Cecil Cossey.

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