.NET Developer Hiring Guide: Framework Migration and Azure
Many businesses still run critical apps on .NET Framework. Here is how to hire a .NET developer who can modernise them and build for Azure.
To hire a .NET developer, decide whether you need new development on modern .NET and Azure, migration from .NET Framework, or both. Test C# fundamentals, ASP.NET Core architecture, Entity Framework performance and Azure services, and ask candidates to describe a real migration they completed.
Modern .NET vs .NET Framework
Modern .NET (8 and later) is cross-platform, fast and cloud-ready. .NET Framework 4.x still runs many line-of-business applications but receives only maintenance updates. Moving to modern .NET improves performance, hosting options and access to new libraries.
Skills to look for
- C# language features: async/await, LINQ, records and nullable reference types.
- ASP.NET Core Web API and MVC with clean architecture.
- Entity Framework Core performance and migrations.
- Azure App Service, Functions, Service Bus and Azure SQL.
- Authentication with Entra ID (Azure AD) and OAuth.
- CI/CD with Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.
Migration experience matters
Ask candidates to walk through a migration:
- How did they inventory dependencies and incompatible libraries?
- Did they use the .NET Upgrade Assistant?
- How did they handle WCF services or WebForms pages?
- What testing protected the migration?
Red flags
- Only WebForms experience with no modern .NET exposure.
- Cannot explain dependency injection in ASP.NET Core.
- No experience deploying to the cloud.
Team recommendation
For a migration, combine a senior .NET developer with a DevOps engineer to automate deployment and a QA tester for regression coverage.
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