Where to Find and How to Hire .NET Developers in 2026

Finding the right .NET developer is harder than it should be. Although ASP.NET Core ranks as the second most-used web framework after Node.js, used by about 19.7% of developers, companies are facing an ever-growing talent shortage. Furthermore, evaluating the qualities of exceptional .NET candidates can be extremely difficult.

For instance, even when presented with a perfect resume, how do you assess the candidate’s ability to receive constructive feedback? What about their level of expertise in ASP.NET Core, .NET MAUI, or Blazor?

Despite all the challenges you may have faced before, the good news is that you can use proven best practices on how to hire .NET developers from start to finish. In this guide, we’ll talk about what a .NET developer does, the skills and seniority levels to look for, how to interview and evaluate candidates, where to find them, and what they cost in 2026. So, let’s get started!

A .NET developer builds and maintains software on Microsoft’s .NET platform, most often using C#. They write backend services, build web and desktop applications, design APIs, and connect everything to databases and cloud services. In short, they turn your product requirements into working, secure software.

What exactly is a .NET developer, though? Who are they, and what do they do? Plenty of people doing the hiring aren’t sure either. The term .NET refers to the modern cross-platform framework developed by Microsoft, initially introduced as .NET Core in 2016 and later unified as .NET. A few things are worth knowing about .NET:

It’s clear that .NET and ASP.NET Core technology hold much potential for IT. The framework speeds up the development of web, desktop, mobile, and cloud software, and gives teams a secure way to build digital products. Plenty of platforms you know run on it, including Microsoft, GoDaddy, Stack Overflow, and Dell.

The ideal .NET developer to hire would be familiar with .NET 10, ASP.NET Core, Blazor, .NET MAUI, and other modern .NET stacks. A strong .NET developer brings extensive experience in .NET development, which improves productivity. They specialize in building reliable software, applications, interfaces, and integrations.

First, it helps to get to the root cause of the .NET talent shortage. Many theories are flying around regarding why finding the right .NET or ASP.NET Core coder is a hassle. DOIT noted several contributing factors based on its experience staffing .NET developers, and here’s a look at the most prevalent.

1. An unclear definition of the role

To determine the level of skill a .NET developer must hold to complete your team, elaborate on what tasks the project involves. You might end up realizing that more developers than you first thought do indeed meet your requirements. The job description matters here.

Given the vast amount of skills relevant to .NET technology, it’s nearly impossible for one person to know all there is to it. As you may have noticed by now, finding the right .NET professional could be easily solved by a clear job description. Being open about what qualifies as experience for a .NET developer will also make a difference.

It’s also worth remembering that graduate developers are often overlooked. While most educational programs do not concentrate much on .NET development, leaving school without such qualifications doesn’t mean fresh graduates have no experience at all. Plenty of students go the extra mile to work on external projects that provide the needed .NET development experience, such as internships and private courses.

2. Inefficient hiring processes

How is your hiring process structured? Can you effectively identify competent developers before moving on to onboarding them? Answering these questions can save you both time and money. Be aware of possible cracks in your hiring processes.

If your access is limited to a small pool of developers who meet your criteria, it will severely affect the success of your talent search. You may end up having to hire someone who is not up to the task simply because there are no better-qualified candidates. Additionally, you may have to pay high compensation for your next .NET developer due to scarcity and high demand for programmers.

Consider engaging an IT partner to extend your pool of .NET developers. Outstaffing services will help you fill the vacancies on your team with the right people. With a partner like DOIT Software, you won’t just be looking at an increase in quantity. It’s an increase in quality as well, as we connect you to reputable and experienced professionals.

The hiring process must be short and precise, leaving little margin for error. According to statistics, the average hire time for a .NET developer is 14 days. The faster you are able to hire .NET talent, the easier it will be to complete your project and meet your set deadlines. Employing the help of an IT staffing partner will enable you to speed up the hiring process, thanks to a readily available database of vetted candidates and assistance with interviewing and, in our case, onboarding as well.

Another difficult area is how to evaluate .NET developer skills. Refining and optimizing your hiring processes to adapt to the industry standards will plug this crack in the system. Your candidate evaluation should combine a technical interview with soft-skill analysis and hands-on test tasks. Make sure the people running the technical interview know what skills the role requires. A few workarounds that can speed things up include:

The last option sets you up for interviews almost immediately with top-notch professionals who have the right skills. It also outsources the bulk of the recruitment stages to the staff augmentation service provider, thus, saving you time and money.

Now that we have already covered what .NET developers are, let’s get into the technicalities of finding your perfect fit.

If you recall earlier, we divulged in detail the programming skills necessary to fill in different .NET developer posts. Note that the indicated skills do not necessarily make the essential list. The technical abilities to consider when you hire .NET developers are as follows:

Candidates can also share portfolios you can go through, and some have projects on public repositories like GitHub, which helps when you assess technical ability. To avoid hiring someone not up to the task, ask about their experience, then check and verify it in practice where possible.

Given the vast range of skills relevant to .NET, no single person knows every corner of it, and each role has different requirements. The table below can serve as a baseline for how to hire .NET developers at the right level.

One note on currency: the current long-term support release is .NET 10, and .NET 8 is still supported through late 2026, so candidates working on either are on solid ground.

Using a .NET certificate for professional programming skills evaluation

Certain experts believe .NET certificates are an adequate measure of skill. But not everyone holds this view. To other recruiters, when you hire a .NET developer, professional exams don’t add much weight, because they do not show practical experience.

Developers without experience often take these exams to increase their appeal. When looking for a .NET developer, keep in mind that there are capable developers who will not have certificates. They may be unwilling to sit the exam because they already have ample experience. To sum it up, commercial experience is the most appropriate measure of skill, and a certificate shouldn’t be the deciding qualification.

For example, popular .NET certifications like Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) are now legacy, which Microsoft retired to align its lineup with newer technologies. But you can still keep an eye on some valuable Microsoft Applied Skills and Certifications related to .NET technology when choosing.

Critical soft skills for .NET developers

Soft skills will determine how well a developer works as a team member. A strong set of soft skills includes:

The above are useful when drafting the job description. Use the list only as a guide, though. Disregarding candidates who don’t qualify for every requirement isn’t a smart approach.

Apart from resumes and programming tests, interviews also contribute to informed hiring decisions. Recruiters use face-to-face interviews to assess a candidate’s character and fit. The interviewers should also be aware of which technologies will apply during development. Placing a senior developer on the interview panel helps, since they will ask the right questions and gauge how well the candidate fits the team.

If meeting in person is not possible, an interview via video call may also suffice. There’s more to be learned by putting a face to the name, since non-verbal cues reveal things about a candidate’s personality that a resume won’t. Your interview should center on the following areas:

Interview questions should establish whether the candidate fits with the existing team, and technical terms are useful indicators of a candidate’s knowledge. When hiring a senior developer, ask both computer-science and role-specific questions. For a ready-made set you can run with, our list of .NET interview questions covers technical and role-specific questions by level.

Technical interview

You can’t effectively measure someone’s skill level using the resume alone. This is where tests come in handy. Put together a programming test to check technical proficiency. You can rely on online resources for this and use the C# and .NET programming tests available to pre-screen candidates.

Another useful approach is a test based on a use case from your company, which is much closer to the conditions a developer will face on the job. Aside from programming skills, such tests help hiring managers verify a candidate’s efficiency, for instance, whether they avoid wasting time during development. DOIT evaluates every candidate with a test task to confirm technical proficiency and includes a pre-interview video recording with each profile so the hiring team sees the developer in action first.

The glossary table below explains what testing for each core element covers, so you can read a candidate’s listed skills with a clear idea of what each one means.

Key areas for evaluation during an interview

Now that you know how to hire a .NET developer, where do you start your search? Let’s find out.

In-house hiring

You can grow your developer team by hiring in-house employees. Your HR department advertises vacancies to attract seasoned professionals on job boards, job sites, developer communities, and social media. From there, you vet and interview the top candidates to find the most suitable people to hire. In-house hiring will, however, require you to spend more time and money on recruitment, since there are usually no readily available candidates.

Hiring freelance .NET developers

Aside from taking on .NET developers as full-time employees, you can also hire them as freelancers. To hire freelance .NET developers, companies first scout for suitable collaborators, then trace references to verify work history and conduct interviews.

Although freelancers work on a temporary basis, the recruitment process needs as much time and effort as hiring in-house. Verifying a candidate’s technical skill level is a common challenge, so skills evaluation still requires companies to run technical interviews and test tasks themselves.

Make use of job sites

For small projects, you can hire a freelance ASP.NET Core developer. Some of the best sites for hiring .NET developers include platforms like Upwork and Freelancer. It is a low-cost approach that also helps you get the work done quickly. You will, however, need to read the reviews carefully to make sure the developer you hire is truly up to the task

Explore online dev communities

Another good place to find .NET developers is online communities. Many .NET coders with ample experience frequent such places. You can post your open positions on job boards for dev communities on sites like Stack Overflow and GitHub.

Staff augmentation services

A staff augmentation company immediately puts you in touch with qualified professionals. It is a cost-saving way to fill a talent gap, and a practical option when you want to hire remote .NET developers without a long-term commitment. You get to expand your existing development team to meet the requirements of your project. As an IT partner, DOIT can help you fill .NET developer roles with the talent you need.

In 2026, the average .NET developer salary in the US runs roughly $112,000 to $133,000 a year, based on figures from salary trackers like Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter, with senior developers at the top of that range. The US is one of the most expensive places to hire, so to bring on the top 5% of .NET coders without overspending, you may want to look at nearshoring or offshoring.

Note that these figures only account for the salaries developers receive. To find the full cost to the business, add about 30% to each figure as an estimate for administration expenses and related taxes. Here are the salaries you can expect to pay .NET developers by region.

Source: Average salary per year for .NET developers per country/region based on unique online job postings on Glassdoor, Payscale, ZipRecruiter, and the 2025 StackOverflow survey.

Knowing how to hire .NET developers does not have to be complicated, and you can do it without breaking a sweat. Position your company to tap into the vast talent pool accessible through the various approaches mentioned above. Whether the most beneficial arrangement is through freelance platforms, online developer communities, or, better yet, IT partners like DOIT, the hiring process can be largely simplified.

Refine your internal recruitment by using face-to-face interviews and test tasks, and take a modern stance toward evaluating .NET developer qualifications. You could never go wrong building your team this way. If you don’t want to go through the dreaded hunt for the right .NET developer, finding the right staffing partner who knows the ins and outs of the industry, like DOIT Software, is your best shot. Get in touch!