Speaking as someone who has led teams in small startup .net companies.
At your level I'd not really be thinking too much about specific C# skills, I'd just expect you to have them. Books wise I'd be looking for texts with a wider application. Pragmatic Programmer, Clean Code, Code Complete. Jeff Atwood maintains a good list https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-develo.... A lot of those books are quite old now so I'd expect you to have some opinions on what part is timeless wisdom and what part is out of date. You should also be looking to the books that are outside your direct area of responsibility, about design, user testing, management. Even if that's not your bread and butter, knowledge of those areas will be increasingly valuable to you.
I'd also expect you to have experience with and opinions on the use of AI in coding and in products.
With 7 years experience I would be looking to you to be guiding people on the team and and taking on projects and decisions.
Finally on much more practical note, we found at our size (15 person company with a dev team of 5) that we would basically never get job applications from adverts so half the time we wouldn't even put one up. You'd be wise to talk to some recruiters. It's also very much in their interest to get you hired so they can give you much more specific advice.
Perhaps sharing your take home exercise might be a more useful avenue for feedback?
I’m not sure how large the market is for ASP.NET developers, but the skills you’ve learned so far are more transferable than you think. Try creating some projects with Django or Rails and spread your wings a bit. Don’t be a monoglot.
A portfolio helps, as well as a personal narrative. Being a solo developer for 2.5 years is good and bad depending on the audience. For example it means you don’t have much recent experience working with a team, and I imagine clunky Belfast ASP.NET companies are not exactly hotbeds of entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe look for smaller companies or startups?
Extremely personally, Azure certifications and such things are worthless, bordering on a negative signal depending on the context. But some people/companies may value them.
Saying you think reading “C# in a Nutshell” is a good idea is concerning because you say you’ve got 6+ years of ASP.NET experience. Was this not using C#? Revision is always good, but identifying why you’re not already comfortable with C# is a good starting point.
Build some solo projects with C#, not using ASP.NET, with some artificial constraints (speed, memory, etc). Then smash them. Could be as simple as parsing a 20GB CSV into memory: start dumb and slow then make it as fast as you possibly can. For me this beats a book on data structures.
I'd also created an launched an iPhone app in the meantime, and had an idea for another where I could write the backend in Python3/FastAPI.
Also, I mistyped, the book C# book I am reading is "C# In Depth", not "C# in a Nutshell". The former has details on the new language features of each version, when they'd be best used, etc
Technology stacks in use can vary a lot in different markets, uptake depends a lot on the developers and companies in place. For example, I'm in Phoenix, AZ, Us and there have been some relatively large local .Net user groups from fairly early on in the area. Software development around Phoenix is relatively boring, line of business applications, banking, etc. for the most part and there is a fair amount of C#/.Net here. Other areas will have more Java for line of business apps.
In the C# space, there is a LOT of (over)use of Enterprise Patterns in practice. It's a large part of the culture for better or worse. I would suggest at least being familiar with the new minimum API framework, FastEndpoints as well as Entity Framework and having dipped your toes into MVC, WebForms and maybe a little Blazor. Not all will be relevant in every environment, but these are the things that exist in legacy and in transition states. Knowledge and practice containerizing .Net apps with .Net 5+ is also a desired skill.
Aside from this, there's also a split in a lot of orgs, where the backend is purely .Net and the front end is either Angular or React based. YMMV, there are tools you can use that are in common practice, like Azure Entre (formerly Azure AD), swagger generation and client tools generation, etc.
It's hard to say without more specifics... You may want to look at .Net Aspire, and/or docker compose in terms of take home assignments for getting your related services running... try to stay closer to the assignment as much as practical.
Whether we like it or not, coding is now about how you can leverage Claude/OpenAI/Gemini to do the work for you. If you don't have these skills I would focus some effort there. Are you familiar with how to use agent skills, parallelizing agent work, creating plans, etc.?
With agents it is also much easier to build out some hobby projects. These can look great on a resume and provide some talking points in an interview. Worth looking through the Who's Hiring posts here on HN to see what employers are currently looking for and try to tailor your submissions towards these needs.
Maybe there just aren't many jobs in Northern Ireland. Small number junior/mid-level remote UK openings. Tech stack is not that much in demand these days, so probably some oversupply, which means higher expectations. No easy answer sadly - either move or find something more in demand out there.
As a person becomes more senior there are fewer jobs and an increasing expectation that candidates are able to network. In effect not being able to find a job through people who know you becomes a concern.
Practically speaking, leading your employment experience with work you did as a student is inconsistent with how experienced professionals present themselves…you’ve been out of school nearly a decade.
At this point, the only things important about your education are meeting formal minimum requirements and your ability to leverage your classmates, teachers, and alumni resources into a job lead.
Talk to everyone you have ever worked beside, under, or over. Good luck.
Speaking as someone who has led teams in small startup .net companies.
At your level I'd not really be thinking too much about specific C# skills, I'd just expect you to have them. Books wise I'd be looking for texts with a wider application. Pragmatic Programmer, Clean Code, Code Complete. Jeff Atwood maintains a good list https://blog.codinghorror.com/recommended-reading-for-develo.... A lot of those books are quite old now so I'd expect you to have some opinions on what part is timeless wisdom and what part is out of date. You should also be looking to the books that are outside your direct area of responsibility, about design, user testing, management. Even if that's not your bread and butter, knowledge of those areas will be increasingly valuable to you.
I'd also expect you to have experience with and opinions on the use of AI in coding and in products.
With 7 years experience I would be looking to you to be guiding people on the team and and taking on projects and decisions.
Finally on much more practical note, we found at our size (15 person company with a dev team of 5) that we would basically never get job applications from adverts so half the time we wouldn't even put one up. You'd be wise to talk to some recruiters. It's also very much in their interest to get you hired so they can give you much more specific advice.
Misc thoughts:
Perhaps sharing your take home exercise might be a more useful avenue for feedback?
I’m not sure how large the market is for ASP.NET developers, but the skills you’ve learned so far are more transferable than you think. Try creating some projects with Django or Rails and spread your wings a bit. Don’t be a monoglot.
A portfolio helps, as well as a personal narrative. Being a solo developer for 2.5 years is good and bad depending on the audience. For example it means you don’t have much recent experience working with a team, and I imagine clunky Belfast ASP.NET companies are not exactly hotbeds of entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe look for smaller companies or startups?
Extremely personally, Azure certifications and such things are worthless, bordering on a negative signal depending on the context. But some people/companies may value them.
Saying you think reading “C# in a Nutshell” is a good idea is concerning because you say you’ve got 6+ years of ASP.NET experience. Was this not using C#? Revision is always good, but identifying why you’re not already comfortable with C# is a good starting point.
Build some solo projects with C#, not using ASP.NET, with some artificial constraints (speed, memory, etc). Then smash them. Could be as simple as parsing a 20GB CSV into memory: start dumb and slow then make it as fast as you possibly can. For me this beats a book on data structures.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
The take home exercise is here: https://github.com/mjb8086/checkout-kata/tree/main
I'd also created an launched an iPhone app in the meantime, and had an idea for another where I could write the backend in Python3/FastAPI.
Also, I mistyped, the book C# book I am reading is "C# In Depth", not "C# in a Nutshell". The former has details on the new language features of each version, when they'd be best used, etc
Technology stacks in use can vary a lot in different markets, uptake depends a lot on the developers and companies in place. For example, I'm in Phoenix, AZ, Us and there have been some relatively large local .Net user groups from fairly early on in the area. Software development around Phoenix is relatively boring, line of business applications, banking, etc. for the most part and there is a fair amount of C#/.Net here. Other areas will have more Java for line of business apps.
In the C# space, there is a LOT of (over)use of Enterprise Patterns in practice. It's a large part of the culture for better or worse. I would suggest at least being familiar with the new minimum API framework, FastEndpoints as well as Entity Framework and having dipped your toes into MVC, WebForms and maybe a little Blazor. Not all will be relevant in every environment, but these are the things that exist in legacy and in transition states. Knowledge and practice containerizing .Net apps with .Net 5+ is also a desired skill.
Aside from this, there's also a split in a lot of orgs, where the backend is purely .Net and the front end is either Angular or React based. YMMV, there are tools you can use that are in common practice, like Azure Entre (formerly Azure AD), swagger generation and client tools generation, etc.
It's hard to say without more specifics... You may want to look at .Net Aspire, and/or docker compose in terms of take home assignments for getting your related services running... try to stay closer to the assignment as much as practical.
Whether we like it or not, coding is now about how you can leverage Claude/OpenAI/Gemini to do the work for you. If you don't have these skills I would focus some effort there. Are you familiar with how to use agent skills, parallelizing agent work, creating plans, etc.? With agents it is also much easier to build out some hobby projects. These can look great on a resume and provide some talking points in an interview. Worth looking through the Who's Hiring posts here on HN to see what employers are currently looking for and try to tailor your submissions towards these needs.
Maybe there just aren't many jobs in Northern Ireland. Small number junior/mid-level remote UK openings. Tech stack is not that much in demand these days, so probably some oversupply, which means higher expectations. No easy answer sadly - either move or find something more in demand out there.
tailor your cv to each job spec make sure your cv covers the skills required include professional societies you are a member of
;)
As a person becomes more senior there are fewer jobs and an increasing expectation that candidates are able to network. In effect not being able to find a job through people who know you becomes a concern.
Practically speaking, leading your employment experience with work you did as a student is inconsistent with how experienced professionals present themselves…you’ve been out of school nearly a decade.
At this point, the only things important about your education are meeting formal minimum requirements and your ability to leverage your classmates, teachers, and alumni resources into a job lead.
Talk to everyone you have ever worked beside, under, or over. Good luck.