What Should I Look For In A Good C# Job?

How do I know if a C# job is a good one? What are some things to look for in a position? How do I evaluate an employer to see if they would be a good fit? What are some tips for picking the right job? These are the questions we will answer in today's episode of Dev Questions.
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[@loryteck]

Nobody will tell you this: some jobs advertise for c# developers mad they interview you for that but you might end working on some old code that has nothing to do for what you was interviewed, or they will put you to work on some Javascript app and do c# once in 3 months be very carefull and ask what apps they use to build, is old or new code, ask if they expect you to build new c# apps or to maintain as well some Javascript old app etc or other user interface apps with some old code behind, you will end up doing c# once in a while like this, so better look for companies that have a very big app in c# as their main product as you will be sure you will work only on that or companies that offer consultancies and build apps from 0 for different clients. Be very aware of this I wasted some years working on some other tech while I wanted to work on c#

[@emale003]

At least you’re working with some code. I was told I would work on c# code and a year into the job, there hasn’t been any duties to write any code.

[@loryteck]

@@emale003 Uhh, you got it really bad, change ASAP because more years you stay there when you will change job again, they will ask you questions about code and solutions which for sure you cannot get from tutorials and they will reject you or make an offer for a graduate salary

[@maxron6514]

Do own projects then if you are that desperate to write something.

[@AthanSousouris]

I was hired for a c# job. I ended up working on Qbasic scripts.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Yep, you need to be careful of the bait and switch. I worked for a company like that once. They were moving to C# (why I was hired), but that turned out to be "eventually" rather than what my job actually was. Ideal is if you can move on and find a better job.

[@faisalalhoqani6151]

Great explanation and clarification for picking a new job and thank you, dear Tim, for supporting us.

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are very welcome.

[@Campesguy]

Love your approach to the whiteboard test. It demonstrates how practical you are by showing them how you would go about it on the job. Also, you assert yourself by challenging the interviewer to be reasonable in their expectations.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thank you.

[@CheeseBae]

Great talk! As someone who is interviewing for jobs right now, you made many great points and I'll be asking these in my interviews!

[@IAmTimCorey]

I am glad it was helpful.

[@niksatan]

Perfect topic for me, thanks Tim!

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@DeepWorksStudios]

Really valuable information your shared thanks a lot :)

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@adrianobittencourt2737]

I think its important to ask about the coding practices culture of the company. I had an experience where everything else looked great but after I got the job I realized that the whole code base was awful.

[@IAmTimCorey]

That's true.

[@ciucurasbogdan2772]

Nice insights, thanks for sharing. Those looks like things that you could do after some experience or I might be wrong. I'm currently looking for a first job after reconversion and it's kinda tough while having a full time job in the same time. The main problem is time and the variety of job interview that are companies assigning. I was called a couple of times and the interviews were completely different: from white board, to ABCD questions, to creating a project in a time frame, to some that didn't asked for a line of code or programming, complete some sequences and economy math that were not even requirements in the job description. Anyways, i considered 2 months of job hunting a waste of time and sticked to working on personal and community projects, finding communities that can probably reffer me for a job at some time and diving deeper into concepts. Only those and the full time job kinda broke work-life ballance, but I like programming and took this inconvenience as a temporary sacrifice. Anyways, after 1 year after coding, learning and working on projects, I would probably accept any job as the first one, since i found it very hard to have the first job offer. PS: if I think wrong I'm open to feedback/advices.

[@IAmTimCorey]

There are things you can do to make your resume more attractive even without work experience. I've got a video on that in the Dev Questions playlist. First jobs are tough, though. I would still be careful and do your due diligence when looking at an offer. A bad environment can be worse than no development job if you already have a non-development job.

[@ciucurasbogdan2772]

@@IAmTimCorey Haha, love the last sentence

[@michaelday6987]

My favorite interview question to ask is "What is a typical day like for a developer in the position I am applying for?" and remember to do research on salaries FOR YOUR AREA, and AT YOUR LEVEL. Don't expect Silicon Valley salaries if you are applying for a job in Suburban Indiana.

[@AthanSousouris]

I love the question about how the typical day is. Unfortunately most companies wouldn’t give you access to other employees. If you try to gain access. Your a criminal.

[@AthanSousouris]

So I guess it’s all about who you know?

[@IAmTimCorey]

Excellent points @michaelday6987. I agree.

[@keyser456]

At the same time don't short change yourself based on where you live. I moved to the Boise area in 2008 and brought the SoCal salary with me, working remotely for the first few years. Post pandemic, working remotely is close-to if not the norm. Live in an area you can afford and telecommute / remote in for a higher paying job. Enjoy the best of both worlds.

[@yomer355]

And don't expect suburban Indiana salaries in suburban India.

[@pc2753]

Your excellent videos have convinced me to return to C# after 5 years of exasperating 'modern' C++. Dot net 6, here I come.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Excellent!

[@pc2753]

Well, until we're all replaced by a handful of business analysts and AI driven solution templates on the cloud 🙄

[@romka2009]

Thank you for this video. It was very helpful for me as I am currently searching for a new job. What are the advantages and disadvantages of working in large IT consulting companies versus small non-IT startups with small IT teams? I'm asking this because they represent two extreme cases.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks for the suggestion. Please add it to the list on the suggestion site so others can vote on it as well: suggestions.iamtimcorey.com/

[@itsjoshwood]

My go to question is: what motivates you to start work on Monday mornings? Their responses can tell you a lot about the work, team, and compensation without being directly asked. I’d add that you should be doing additional research about the company outside of the interview. Read employee reviews, try to make LinkedIn connections with people who are doing the same type of work,etc. You don’t want to start a job only to then find out that it clashes with all of your priorities in life. Also, in case it wasn’t clear from the video, these aren’t typically the best questions for phone screens, but are great for interviews where you’re talking to people on the team/hiring manager.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Correct. Some of these should be asked later rather than sooner.

[@KingDavidz08]

I wish i watched this a year ago before starting my current job... this video mentions so many red flags I had no idea were read flags when I was interviewing...

[@IAmTimCorey]

Bummer.

[@shawnsmith8975]

I am curious what you think about, coding exercises as part of the interview process? I have done several in my past and been told I did really well only to be passed up and feel like I wasted my time. The best jobs I have had are the ones where there is no coding exercises.

[@IAmTimCorey]

I get the appeal from an employer standpoint (show instead of tell), but I don't think they provide valuable information in most cases. Everyone does it differently, though, so there isn't a definitive answer. For instance, I've done it. However, I did it as a take-home test, I limited the hours to work on it to 4, and I paid them for their time at the salary they would be getting if they were in the role. The task was for something I actually wanted them to do in the role (real world). Bottom line is that they can be done well (which is really hard), or they can be done poorly.

[@maxthecat4632]

Too many companies use coding exercises as a way of getting code samples and sometimes complete systems written for free for me to ever do a coding test again. I could name a few banks and commodity trading companies that do this.

[@marekmedved8273]

​@@maxthecat4632It should be coding test, like the ones on websites like hackerrank etc (for 30-120minutes). If you see that they want from you assignment worth of 8h+ of work, dont even start it, because they clearly want to have some feature done for free, and that is definitely really huge red flag. Everyone is trying to show their best during interview, but if they are showing you this face, you dont want to work there.

[@luke2042]

Makes a lot of sense

[@IAmTimCorey]

Great!

[@corneliuzabolotnic6571]

Hi, I wanted to know if there's videos about bar code scanner.s I came from watching the TimCo Retail series was wondering if there's something about it, I think it's something very usefull in retail. I work in a retail job and their app can detect a bar code scan reading without having the app on focus. Was wondering if there's something like that in your channel.

[@IAmTimCorey]

No, I don't cover hardware like that. In that specific case, a barcode scanner is typically seen as a keyboard by your system. The way to use it is just to have a field have focus when you scan. That field will capture the string input from the scanner. You then just use the captured value.

[@pxnchx93]

Thank you Tim! To your knowledge, are there good C# jobs at Tesla? 🤔

[@IAmTimCorey]

I have no clue. Sorry.

[@kennethroach4626]

Your videos are awesome I have learned alot, however I am still having hard time getting a job. I have Cerebral Palsy with a speech slur, not even getting offers. I have experience. Could I send you my resume maybe give some pointers

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm sorry to hear that. On Monday, you will see a video on a resume/portfolio review I just did. That will give you some pointers. I also list a way that you can see your resume reviewed in a future video. If you want to go that route, feel free to send it in.

[@kennethroach4626]

@@IAmTimCorey Sorry Tim, I just seen your post. Sent you my resume just now. Thanks. You may use my resume for future videos

[@michaelschneider603]

The most important question that no one ever dares to ask. :-)

[@IAmTimCorey]

I've asked all of them (and more). These aren't typically questions for the first interview/screening. Some of these are questions for later rounds. If you dare not ask these questions, that has to concern you about the job though, right?

[@michaelschneider603]

@@IAmTimCorey One thing that hasn't been discussed (well, it wasn't part of the question, but certainly is related): If you haven't asked some important question or got an invalid answer during the interview and after a few days or weeks it turns out to be a bad job for you: what stops you from simply quitting and going for the next job? Is this common in the US or not? Or is there any tabu on doing so? In Germany, the first 6 months in a new job are probationary time, where both employer and employee are allowed to terminate the job without giving a reason within 14 days - and by taking into account vacation time, this goes down to just a few days or even no time at all. So there is little risk in "just trying out a new job for a short while".

[@IAmTimCorey]

You can walk away in most cases in the US. However, even though there won't be penalties from the employer, there are still penalties. First, you have to start your job search over again. You may have turned down offers in order to take this job so you may have also lost other opportunities. You also have to explain resume gaps. So if you are out of work for two months and then get a job that you think looks good, only leave three months in because it wasn't a good fit, you now have a five month gap on your resume. Small gaps aren't usually a problem, but larger gaps or bouncing around too much can be concerning for employers. There are a lot of "natural" costs of changing jobs, so there is quite a bit of risk even if the employer doesn't penalize you for quitting.

[@michaelschneider603]

@@IAmTimCorey I think you listed all the standard arguments. Of course, if my general strategy is to try out a job for a few days or weeks, I wouldn't turn down existing offers or stop running application processes or even stop applying immediately after accepting the offer. And for the gaps, I believe they are heavily overrated. I do have a few, even some longer ones, but no employer ever seemed to care. Actually, many people I know never have any gaps officially: during times of unemployment, they are freelancers, take university courses or do certifications, or simply are on a hiatus - all fine stories to tell.

[@jamesmussett]

The grass is not always greener on the other side, unfortunately I learnt that the hard way

[@jimmuelagwit7032]

Context?

[@IAmTimCorey]

Bummer.

[@jamesmussett]

This was a few years ago, In a much better position now. @Jimmuel It’s just a saying, just because a company appears to be better then your current workplace doesn’t mean that’s the case when actually work there for a couple of months. A few years ago I missed one of my previous employers deeply and regretted leaving almost instantly, as is life I suppose.

[@kaushalyaperera1736]

😊

[@IAmTimCorey]

👋🏻

[@ieaatclams]

Hi

[@rikudouensof]

Welcome the the c# holy grail

[@IAmTimCorey]

Hello.

[@AthanSousouris]

I think you’ve been on KZbin to long. If you try even a third of those suggestions today; you would fail the interview.

[@ScorpioPL]

It also depends very much on where you are from. He is a western man. In some places it would be a cultural afront to respond in this way to your future superior (or anyone for that matter).

[@AthanSousouris]

I’m from the west as well. I just believe that most of this would be an insult to any American company. We would never get away with it.

[@ScorpioPL]

@@AthanSousouris Oh, so in your decline american job market for devs is more like "piece of wood between teeth and row" nowadays? What's it like apart from revolutionary affirmations of ones pronouns that I've heard about? I'm curious. What does a civilizational swan-dive look like IRL? Never been to the west for more than a few days and even that was years ago.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Just for clarity sake, I've tried all of them successfully. Which ones specifically did you have a problem with? For instance, if you get turned down for asking about hours per week or vacation time, that seems like a HUGE red flag. Same with if they offer training. Asking about former employees or asking questions to potential coworkers is also not something that should be controversial. At worst they say, sorry, we can't answer that. I've never had a company kill an interview or turn me down because of those questions. If a company is so secretive that they will not hire you because of a question, that's not a good organization to work for. They key here is that these aren't first interview questions. These are for later on in the process, when you are firming up your opinion of the job and they are figuring out how much to offer you.

[@adam-xt8te]

At my previous company it takes me two months to get all necessary tools and accesses to make my tasks achieveable. I even wrote them tutorial "how to prepare working station for new-hired developer in two days (not two months)" and published it at DevOps wiki.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Excellent!