Ok_Finish_1661 and fellow community members discuss diverse strategies for improving C# and .NET skills, recommending books, side projects, teaching, and advanced topic exploration.

Community Insights: Upskilling Strategies for C# Developers

Author: Ok_Finish_1661

Introduction

Members reflect on the challenge of forgetting core concepts after years in development, and the recurring cycle of reviewing basics before upskilling to new technologies.

  • Books:
    • The C# Player’s Guide is recommended for solidifying basic concepts. The sixth edition will be free for those who purchase the current fifth edition. Book update.
    • Framework Design Guide is cited as a strong foundation in .NET principles.
    • Functional Programming in C# by Enrico Buonanno for modern C# paradigms.
  • Online Courses & Platforms:
    • Community members use courses from Udemy and previously Pluralsight, though opinions vary on their effectiveness as platforms grew larger.
  • Hands-On Practice:
    • Creating side projects is highlighted as a key learning method, from small practice applications to large games like recreating Star Wars Rebellion in vanilla C#.
    • Exploring technologies like RavenDB and event-driven architectures through side work.
  • Teaching Others:
    • Some contributors suggest that preparing and recording explainer videos for platforms like YouTube (even with few views) solidifies one’s own understanding.
    • “If you can understand something well enough to teach it, you understand it more than if you learned it for yourself.”
  • Exploring Advanced Topics:
  • Source Code Exploration:
    • Jumping on GitHub to study others’ code for new approaches and tricks.

General Advice

  • Focus on project-based learning with real problems.
  • Use books for deep understanding of principles.
  • Leverage teaching and content creation as a way to reinforce knowledge.
  • Revisit fundamental concepts when feeling stuck during upskilling.

Community Spirit

  • Members offer to support each other’s learning content, suggesting collaboration and mutual learning.

Summary

This discussion assembles valuable approaches for developers seeking to upskill in the Microsoft .NET and C# ecosystem, blending traditional study methods with modern, practical, and community-driven strategies.

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