How to Hire C# Developers: the Full Guide of Tips and Tricks

Suppose you are looking for a universal programming language suitable for writing mobile and desktop apps, websites, cloud services, corporate software, and game programs. In that case, you cannot ignore C# or C-Sharp. According to analysts, it is the 4th most popular language among global developers, trailing only flagships like Python, Java, and JS.

C#: What You Should Know About This Programming Language

The history of C-Sharp did not start long ago. It was created in 2000 and was originally called COOL. The name contained the main features of the language and stood for “C-like Object Oriented Language.” Later the name had to be changed, but its essence remained the same. It was positioned on the market as a competitor to Java. And judging by today’s ratings, this goal was achieved in full.

The main distinguishing feature of C# is its versatility. It can be used by programmers with impressive experience and, at the same time, is easy to learn by those new to software development.The language uses are also highly diverse, mainly websites, Windows desktop apps, and games.

Let’s discuss why C-Sharp is indispensable for creating these products.

Websites

Although the primary application environment for the language is Windows .NET, you can also use it to develop dynamic web resources on open-source platforms. This once again emphasizes the versatility of C#. You do not have to be a fan of Microsoft architecture to program in it. Websites created in C# are easily scalable, easy to maintain, and highly efficient. All of this is provided by C-Sharp’s object-oriented approach to programming.

Desktop apps for Windows

C# was initially created for Microsoft’s internal needs. That is why there are so many fans of the language among its users, and a considerable part of programs written in C# is desktop Windows apps. Full-stack developers often choose this language. C# is closely related to the .Net framework, which makes it possible to use ASP.NET for backend development and VB.NET for the frontend.

Games

C#’s extensive integration capabilities are one of the reasons it was chosen to develop more than a third of the market’s leading gaming apps. The language integrates perfectly with Unity, a popular computer game development environment, allowing you to create cross-platform apps for PCs, game consoles, mobile gadgets, etc.

Why So Many Developers Choose C#

It is important to clearly understand what you expect from the development when choosing which language to write the app for your company. As for C-Sharp, its use can simplify and speed up the creation of your software. Here are its main advantages:

• Reduced development time. C# is defined as a language with static typing, meaning that the types of functions and variables are defined at compile time. As a result, type checking is done only once, and errors are eliminated before the program starts. This proves that a statically typed language is faster than a language with dynamic typing.
• Easy scalability. Faster writing is not the only advantage of a statically typed language. Apps written in such a language are easy to customize and modify. It allows developers to easily extend the functionality of programs and increase the number of supported users.
• Object-oriented approach. Since C# is an object-oriented language, writing complex code takes much less time. It becomes simpler and easier to read.
• Expert help from a huge community. In case of problems or questions, developers can only count on the help of the same programmers. Therefore, having a vast community is very valuable in the IT environment. You can discuss your failure, find out the reason for it, and find ways to fix it with the help of others.
• Ease of learning. As mentioned above, C-Sharp is considered a fairly easy language to learn. Once you understand its basics, you can soon expect to upgrade to an expert. C# is especially easy to understand for developers who have already worked with C++ or Java. All of them belong to C-family languages and possess one approach to programming. Therefore, if there is no C# developer in your team, a C++/Java specialist can easily learn a new language.

Top 5 Biggest Companies Using C#

Given all the advantages, it is no wonder it is the language that so many world’s leading companies choose for their software development. Below we present you a far from a complete list of these companies.

• Microsoft. We are sure it does not need an introduction because it is an acknowledged leader in software development for desktop computers, game consoles, and mobile devices. This is where the C# programming language was created at the beginning of the 20th century to satisfy the company’s growing needs. For more than 20 years, Microsoft has been using its brainchild to develop web apps and services, as well as creating games for the Xbox home console.
• City National Bank. City National Bank is one of the largest banks in the United States, with a 75-year history. And it trusts C#, too. This organization provides its clients with a full range of financial services, from personal banking to wealth management and international banking. The bank requires robust software that is easily scalable when adding new functionality and increasing the number of users. At the moment, the priority for City National Bank developers is to create cloud apps in C#.
• Aristocrat. This global company specializes in creating gaming content for mobile devices and casinos. Its developers favor a combination of C-Sharp and Unity features for creating easily scalable, responsive, reliable, and testable apps.
• Wintrust. This financial holding company operates 15 banks in the US and provides services in the banking and insurance industries. C# is used for the front-end development of their apps.
• Accenture. Accenture, a consulting firm, provides consulting in strategic planning, business process outsourcing, logistics, human resources, customer relations, and IT solutions implementation. They chose C-Sharp because it allows them to quickly build flexible, scalable apps for their clients.

In addition to these five, other large organizations also use C#. Invitae, Nuance, ServiceTitan, Stack Overflow, Trustpilot, and others are among them. All of them appreciate the benefits of this language. Want to join their ranks? It is a good time to think about hiring C# developer. And we will tell you what to look out for.

Good C# Developers – What Are They Like?

C# developer’s job description includes creating apps on the modular .Net platform and less frequently on other open-source platforms. Such specialists write code, design UI, and debug and maintain code. Some may be full stack developers, while others are responsible only for backend or client-side development.

We have prepared a sample list of duties for you to mention in the job ad:

• Creating C# .NET solutions for the company – writing clean, scalable, efficient, and reliable code.
• Debugging and support of written code.
• Identifying and solving technical problems encountered with .NET projects, maintaining related reporting.
• Close collaboration with other developers in the team.
• Providing technical support to stakeholders, including end users.
• Monitoring the development and reporting to project managers.
• Scaling up existing .NET projects.
• Participating in project meetings and retrospectives.

The C-Sharp developer must have the necessary hard and soft skills to perform their role effectively. Be sure to look at their list on a professional’s resume before deciding to hire C# programmer to your team.

Key hard skills:

• X+ years of C# .Net development end-to-end web apps using MVC/ASP.NET.
• Experience with JS, HTML and AngularJS, Bootstrap, and jQuery web development frameworks.
• Knowledge of object-oriented design methodology.
• Knowledge of ORM programming technology.
• Experience with micro-services, implementing design patterns, relational databases, preferable MSSQL.
• Experience in web-services development (knowledge of REST, SOAP protocols).
• Upper-Intermediate level of English.

This list can be reduced or expanded depending on the project’s nature. Some employers have a separate list of optional requirements, which will be an advantage for the applicant. These may include:

• Experience in integrating deployment tools (MS Build, Bit Bucket, etc.).
• Knowledge of server-side unit testing environments.
• Experience of working in an Agile team.
• Experience in performance analysis and tuning (winDbg, Ants, PerfMon, counters, etc.)
• Knowledge of cloud technologies (Amazon cloud).
• Experience with Azure Kubernetes services.
• Knowledge of Linux and Windows operating systems.

A developer can have first-class programming knowledge and skills but fail to bring any benefits to the company. To avoid this, it is worth considering not only the technical aspect of the specialist’s training but also their personal qualities — Soft Skills:

• Well-developed collaborative and communication skills;
• Willingness to learn new technical skills, including from own experience;
• Ability to look at a problem in a new way, to offer an original approach to its solution;
• Creative thinking, which allows generating new ideas and bringing them to life;
• Time management skills – the ability to prioritize, plan your own schedule, and meet deadlines.

The list of characteristics, knowledge, and skills a developer will possess will also depend on the specialist level you want to hire. For example, you should not expect a junior to know several languages perfectly or have enormous cloud computing experience. The most important thing for them will be the willingness to learn and the ability to communicate with the team to gain valuable experience.

Hire C-sharp Developers: Where to Find “Your” Specialist?

When you decide that you need to create an app in C#, the first thing to do is to evaluate your development team. Is there a specialist with the appropriate qualifications? Does the company have enough IT people to implement the project? If the answer to at least one of these questions is “no,” you have to think about finding new employees.

What hiring model to use is a personal matter for each employer. You can hire a developer on the staff, use a freelancer’s services or hire dedicated C# developer. We will try to help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of each of these methods.

Hiring a C# developer in-house

This method of attracting a new employee to the project is the first thing everyone thinks about when faced with such a necessity. This is because staffing your own team with an in-house employee is a classic hiring option that is familiar and customary to many.

Well, building your own team can be justified due to several advantages:

• Full control over development. By hiring an in-house developer, you can control all the processes, know what the employee is doing at the current moment and be sure that they are not distracted by other projects.
• No problems with communication. Employees know each other well in an office and gradually learn to interact effectively to achieve common goals. Besides, they don’t have language barriers, and the general working schedule allows for solving all issues at once without waiting for a specialist from another time zone to join.
• Formation of corporate values. Full-time employees feel like a part of one big mechanism, allowing them to form a team of like-minded people. They participate in corporate events, communicate in an informal atmosphere, and thus increase their efficiency.

But not everything is perfect. Creating an in-house development team also has its downsides:

• Higher costs. When hiring employees on staff, be prepared for the fact that you’ll have to pay office rent and utilities. And you will also have to pay the developers’ salaries even during the downtime when there’s no work on the project. Only large companies with unlimited budgets can afford such expenses.
• Staffing constraints. Not in all towns and cities can you find a specialist with the list of skills you need. And not everyone will agree to move.
• Non-interchangeable employees. In the case of the absence of one of the developers, it will be challenging to find a replacement. As a rule, everyone’s responsibilities are individual. If the specialist resigns, the problem is exacerbated many times over. It can take months to find a new employee.

Looking for a developer on your own is possible, but this requires a certain technical knowledge base. Alternatively, you can contact a recruiting agency. In this case, the cost of its services will be added to the cost of rent and salary.

Freelancer services

Freelance developers, or freelancers, are specialists who offer their services on special platforms like Freelancer or Upwork. This is probably the most economical option. But it has enough disadvantages.

Pros:

• Low cost of services. Freelancers work for themselves, so the prices for their services are many times lower than in other cooperation models. When hiring such an employee, you pay only for the time worked or the completed task.
• Access to foreign talent. Freelance platforms feature developers from different countries with their own pricing policies and tech stack. Therefore, you will surely find a specialist who is right for you.
• Ability to delegate secondary tasks. Freelancers are ideal for small one-time tasks. These are the ones that are recommended to be delegated to remote developers so as not to distract a full-time employee from the main goal.

Cons:

• Lack of quality assurance. When hiring a freelancer, no one can guarantee that they will really meet the project’s requirements. And worst of all, no one is responsible for the failure of the deadline or poor-quality code.
• No control over the performer. A freelancer can work in parallel on several projects, delay the deadline, or even leave for your competitors in the middle of work. No confidence in the successful completion of a product.

You don’t want to hire a developer on staff, but taking a risk by collaborating with a freelancer is not your option either? There is another way — hire dedicated C# developer.

IT outsourcing

Hiring dedicated teams or individual developers for a project is a modern model that solves all the problems of previous methods. All you need to do is choose a proven outsourcing service provider and sign a contract with them. The outsourcer will then select a specialist according to your requirements.

Advantages of dedicated developers:

• Speeding up product’s release to the market. It is faster to find a dedicated specialist than a full-time one. And the variety of available staff allows you to choose a developer with expertise in your particular field, thereby reducing development time by a third.
• Budget savings. As with freelancers, you pay for the time actually worked or a fixed amount at the end of the project. Of course, the cost of outsourcers is higher than freelancers. But in this case, you know exactly what you are paying for.
• Adjustable format of cooperation. You can delegate all project management authority to performers or control the development yourself. When choosing a specialist, you can trust the provider or participate in the interviews too.
• Legal guarantees. Cooperation with an outsourcer is based on signing a legally binding official contract. Therefore, unpleasant surprises from both sides are excluded.

Possible problems when choosing this model:

• Communication problems due to different time zones and cultural differences. But this is not a problem, but rather a peculiarity of cooperation that everyone can adapt to.
• Possibility of data leakage. Still, the outsourcer is a third party that becomes aware of confidential information about the client company and its projects. That is why it is important to discuss all the data protection details at signing the contract.

How Much C# Developers Earn

It would seem that developers who write code in the same programming language should earn the same. But this is not the case. Their salary depends on several factors:

• Work experience. Like other IT staff, C# developers are divided into junior, middle, and senior specialists. Depending on their knowledge and skills, the hourly rate for developers at different levels can vary by half.
• Hiring model. As we have already said, hiring a freelancer is the cheapest option, but be prepared to sacrifice the quality or the timing of implementation. Hiring a staff member will cost significantly more, but the result will be predictably positive. The golden mean – dedicated developers. Their labor is more expensive than freelancers, but you will not have to pay a salary during downtime, as in the case with the staff specialists.
• Country of residence. The ability to save your budget by attracting specialists from far abroad is an undoubted advantage of outsourcing. For example, the cost of services of a developer of the same level from the USA and Poland can differ several times.

Let’s look at the difference in annual income of C# developers of different levels from Germany, the UK, Poland, and the USA. For clarity, all rates were converted to one currency – euros.

In terms of hourly wages, C# developers from Germany earn on average 35€/hour, from the UK 30€/hour, from Poland 25€/hour, and the US 44€/hour.

Hopefully, we managed to dispel all your fears about hiring a C# developer through this article. After all, it is not so difficult. The main thing is to determine the features of your project, make a list of requirements for the candidate, choose a proven provider of outsourcing services, and set a clear goal. With the help of this simple algorithm, very soon, the best representatives of the world IT community will be able to connect to your project.

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