How do I evaluate a .NET job?

Question

I have been a programmer for a few years and until now I worked exclusively with PHP, although I did create a few small side projects in other languages. I'm currently interviewing with a non-IT that relies mainly on .NET and they seem to be willing to hire me.

I probably should have thought of this sooner, but without commercial experience in .NET what questions should I ask to ensure that that job will help me advance my knowledge of the .NET platform or if they are doing .NET the right way (libraries, frameworks, third-party tools, etc.)?

Answer 1

In terms of "doing things right", knowing what libraries, frameworks and third party tools are being used (if any) will not help you, as you do not have the experience to evaluate the answers. There are many of these in the .NET world and getting a listing will give you nothing.

You need to ask about general practices - good software practices that would apply to most modern programming. You can ask about these practices:

• What do you use for source control?
• What ORM are you using (Object Relational Mapper)?
• How do you practice IoC (Inversion of Control)?
• Do you parctice TDD (Test driven development)?
• Unit testing?
• Are you doing CI (Continuous Integration)?
• How do you handle Database versioning?

etc.. etc.. etc...

The answers to such questions will give you more insight and information about the place than specifics of libraries and frameworks.

Answer 2

It's just as important to meet their tech lead/ senior dev (if they have one) and see if you get on with them, and if they are willing to teach. If you don't get on with the other programmers (we can be the abrasive type!) then it's going to be hard to learn. If they're also not willing to help you out (they may be too busy) then things might be difficult. Ultimately it comes down to if they know their stuff and are willing to impart that information.