When thinking of a website, many consider mostly how it looks to the customers. But there is so much more that happens on the back-end of the site that guarantees that everything performs top-notch, data is processed and stored securely, and any potential issues are being detected 24/7.
One of the best solutions for the server-side of your website or web app is ASP.NET — an advanced web framework, developed by the team at Microsoft as part of their .NET environment. ASP.NET has always been considered one of the best such solutions on the market as it guarantees truly benchmark-setting performance, amazing scalability, and features that allow developers to deliver results much faster. The significance of the framework improved even more when its successor, ASP.NET Core, was released in 2016. Currently, Core is the recommended solution due to the many improvements it brought to the table.
According to the 2020 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 22.9% of professional developers use ASP.NET in their daily work, and 20.3% use ASP.NET core. This makes the ASP.NET line one of the most popular web frameworks in the world — and the pool of ASP.NET developers relatively big.
How can you pick the right expert from such a vast group of candidates and hire ASP.NET developers perfectly suited for your company? We clarify the most important areas to consider in our guide below.
The hard skills to look for when you hire ASP.NET developers
To fully leverage the potential of ASP.NET, you need to hire ASP.NET developers with a specific set of hard, technical skills. We list the most important ones below.
- Experience with the .NET platform
ASP.NET is only one — though major — element of Microsoft’s .NET environment. Your developers should be familiar with all its crucial features related to web development.
- Expert proficiency with C#
C# is the core language used in ASP.NET web development. The original ASP.NET (not ASP.NET core) supported also Visual Basic, but this language has already been left aside by Microsoft a while ago, making C# the only language that truly matters for the .NET environment.
- Experience in cloud
The .NET platform, including ASP.NET, can be easily used with Microsoft’s cloud solution, Azure. Additionally, the .NET toolset can also be used with other similar solutions, such as AWS or Google Cloud. Choosing to keep your product in the cloud brings a number of fantastic advantages, including easier and faster deployment of new features.
- Experience with database management
ASP.NET offers support for both SQL and NoSQL databases — your company might choose to use Microsoft SQL Server or can stick to another database management tool. Just remember that you should always hire ASP.NET developers experienced in the database solution that you decided to pick.
- Experience with relevant front-end solutions
While an ASP.NET developer will work primarily on the server-side of your website or web app, they should also have some knowledge and working experience with front-end web development. In terms of languages, this will most likely be the combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. However, different companies choose different front-end frameworks, with the most popular solutions being React, Angular, and Vue. It would be best for you if you hire ASP.NET developers knowledgeable in the front-end technology of your choice.
Leverage the power of soft skills
Soft skills are often underestimated when hiring for technical roles. You should, however, look really closely into them. A candidate with the right set of soft skills can power up your whole team, boosting innovation and cooperation.
What soft skills you should specifically be looking for in your candidates when you hire ASP.NET developers?
- User empathy
To truly understand the needs of your target customer and deliver solutions that meet these expectations.
- Desire to learn new things
To be always up-to-date with the recent developments in the world of .NET and recommend innovative solutions that your competition doesn’t have yet.
- Attention to detail
To build amazing, bug-free back-end solutions that truly leverage the power of the ASP.NET framework.
Top ASP.NET job interview questions
Before you hire ASP.NET developers, you should review their skills during a proper technical interview. Be aware that such a meeting must be run by an IT professional experienced with the ASP.NET framework. If you don’t have the required knowledge, we recommend asking for assistance from another back-end developer working with ASP.NET, a software consultant, or an IT project manager.
To give you an idea of what kind of questions can be asked during such an interview, we list some of our favorites below.
- What a delegate is in .net?
- What is LINQ? What is it used for?
- In what case would you use an HttpInterceptor [Angular]?
- What are health checks in ASP.NET Core?
- What is HttpContext?
- How can you take advantage of polymorphism in an ASP.NET project
- What are some ways to enhance the security of an ASP.NET web app?
- In what situation would you use CLR locks?
- What is the let clause in C#?
- Why should you avoid using the so-called God class?
Finding the perfect fit
When you hire ASP.NET developers, hard and soft skills are not the only things that matter. To ensure that the web development of your product is truly fast and efficient, you should also closely review your candidates’ portfolios to find those who match your business as much as possible.
Consider especially the following three areas of company fit…
- Product fit
If you chose to hire ASP.NET developers, your product is surely web-based. But what is it exactly? What kind of features do you want to have implemented? Think it through and then review your candidates’ portfolios — look for those who have developed an app or a website similar to what you have in mind.
- Industry fit
Being able to understand the needs of the target customer is one of the crucial elements of effective web development. When you decide to hire ASP.NET developers with previous experience in your industry, you get an expert on board who already experienced the type of user you are aiming for with your product. This means they can offer you advice and solutions that can make your product even better and more suited for the target audience.
- Company culture fit
The key to boosting innovation across your company? A team of like-minded individuals who are happy to brainstorm and work together on amazing ideas. Whether you hire ASP.NET developers or other professionals, always consider the values that drive your company and look for people who also consider them important. These values can include style of management, type of work environment (startup vs corporate), attitude toward remote work, or focus on diverse teams.
What other experts will you need?
Hiring experienced ASP.NET developers guarantees an amazing technical backbone for your web product. But there is much more you should do to make sure you get customers exactly what they want. Get talented web designers and UI/UX designers on board, invest in data scientists and make sure everything fits nicely together with the help of a Product Owner and a Scrum Master.
Need to hire ASP.NET developers or other web experts fast? We can help you. At Ideamotive, we run an industry-leading network of top IT talents from all specialties. Whatever roles you have to fill, we will find for you the best matching candidates based on your company profile and any unique requirements you might have.
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