Ajay Patel NET

.NET

BACKEND
DEVELOPER
ROADMAP
2025
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Start With Basics of Developer

Ensure you are familiar with the foundational concepts listed below:

What is internet and how it works?

Understand HTTP / HTTPS protocols.
Comprehend API concepts.
Know HTTP status codes.
Master object-oriented programming concepts.
Enhance your problem-solving skills.
Study basic data structures and algorithms.
Be proficient in finding solutions online.
Get comfortable with using ChatGPT prompts.
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Diving into the World of .NET

Make sure to learn the following fundamentals:

.NET Ecosystem: Understand .NET ecosystem.

Basic C# Syntax and Features: Learn the basics of C#. Note

that C# 13 is the latest version available with .NET 9.

Simple .NET Console App: Start by creating a simple .NET

console app. Familiarize yourself with variables, control

structures (if, else, while), and other fundamental concepts.

Master .NET CLI Commands: Become proficient in using the

.NET CLI commands.

NuGet Package Management: Understand how to manage

dependencies with NuGet.

Focus on .NET 9: Concentrate on learning .NET 9.

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Advanced C#
Now that you are familiar with the basics, let's take the next step.

Clean Code Practices: Learn the basics of writing clean,

maintainable code.
Decoupled Code: Practice writing decoupled code to
enhance modularity.
Interfaces and Dependency Management: Understand
interfaces, dependency injection, and dependency inversion
principles.
SOLID Principles: Learn and apply the SOLID principles in
your projects.
Design Patterns: Get acquainted with important design
patterns and their applications.
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Advanced C#
Continue...

Peer Reviews and Open Source: Engage in peer reviews and

contribute to open-source projects to receive valuable
feedback.
KISS Principle: Keep your code simple and straightforward;
avoid unnecessary complexity.
Read Code: Read a lot of code! There are numerous open-
source C# projects on GitHub.
Unit Testing: Always write unit tests to ensure your code is
reliable and maintainable.
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Database Fundamentals
A crucial step in your learning journey.

Database Design and Concepts: Gain a solid understanding

of database design and related concepts.
SQL Syntax: Learn SQL syntax thoroughly.
Stored Procedures: Familiarize yourself with stored
procedures. While you might not use them regularly, they
are good to know.
Relational vs. NoSQL Databases: Understand the
differences between relational and NoSQL databases and
know when to choose which type.
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Database Fundamentals
Continue...

Database Optimization: Learn about various techniques for

optimizing databases.
Working with Databases: Gain practical experience with
relational database management systems (RDBMS) like
PostgreSQL and MSSQL, as well as NoSQL databases like
MongoDB, AWS DynamoDB, and Azure CosmosDB.
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ASP.NET Core
Let's delve into ASP.NET Core to build powerful APIs.

Sample ASP.NET Core Web API: Start by creating a

sample ASP.NET Core Web API to grasp the basics.
Request Lifecycle: Understand the lifecycle of a
request within an ASP.NET Core application.
Controllers and Minimal APIs: Learn about Controllers
and Minimal APIs.
Middlewares: Gain an understanding of middlewares.
Routing: Familiarize yourself with routing.
Filters and Attributes: Understand filters and
attributes.
API Architectures: Explore various API architectures
such as REST API, GraphQL, and gRPC.
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ASP.NET Core
Continue...

REST API Conventions: Learn REST API conventions.

MVC Pattern: Understand the Model-View-Controller (MVC)
pattern.
Configurations and IOptions Pattern: Learn how to load
configurations and use the IOptions pattern.
Service Lifecycles and Dependency Injection: Understand
service lifecycles (Scoped, Transient, and Singleton) and
dependency injection.
Authentication & Authorization: Master authentication and
authorization.
Extension Methods: Get comfortable with extension
methods.
Exception Handling: Learn exception handling using
IExceptionHandler.
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ORM : Object Relational Mapping

Entity Framework Core: Highly recommended for .NET
applications.
Approaches: Learn both Code First and Database First
approaches.
Migrations: Understand migrations and .NET EF CLI
commands.
LINQ: Your go-to tool for querying data.
Data Loading Strategies: Explore various data loading
strategies.
DbContext, Query Filters, and Schemas: Get familiar with
DbContext, query filters, and schemas.
Interceptors in EF Core: Learn about using interceptors in
EF Core.
Dapper: For a more raw way to execute your SQL commands
and queries.
NoSQL Databases: Work with drivers and integration for
NoSQL databases like MongoDB, AWS DynamoDB, or others.
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Authentication & Authorization

A crucial step in your learning journey.

Importance: Understand why authentication and

authorization are critical for application security.
Custom Auth System: Create a simple authentication system
in ASP.NET Core WebAPI. Allow users to send email/password,
encrypt the password, and store it in a database.
ASP.NET Core Identity: Learn about ASP.NET Core Identity.
Users, Roles, and Permissions: Understand the
management of users, roles, and permissions.
Cookies: Learn about cookie-based authentication.
JSON Web Tokens (JWT): Implement JWT for secure API
access.
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Authentication & Authorization

Continue...

Identity Server: Get familiar with Identity Server.

OpenID Authentication: Understand OpenID authentication.
OAuth 2.0 Protocols: Learn about OAuth 2.0 protocols and
various authentication flows.
OAuth Providers: Explore OAuth providers like Keycloak,
Auth0, AWS Cognito, and Azure AD. You’ll likely use these in
future projects.
Claims and Permissions Management: Manage claims and
permissions effectively.
Multitenancy: Implement multitenancy using Finbuckle.
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System & Solution Designs

Now that you have a basic understanding of building a .NET
application, focus on learning system design concepts.

Maintainable and Readable Applications: Focus on building

applications that are easy to maintain and understand.
System Design Knowledge: Develop a strong foundation in
system design to effectively break down systems into smaller,
manageable pieces and solve complex problems.
Monolith vs. Microservices: Learn about monolithic and
microservices architectures, and understand the appropriate
scenarios for each.
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System & Solution Designs

Continue...

Event-Driven Architecture: Explore the principles and

practices of event-driven architecture.
Clean Architecture: Practice clean architecture with a strong
emphasis on the separation of concerns.
Vertical Slice Architecture: Understand and implement
vertical slice architecture for better modularity.
Domain-Driven Design (DDD): Delve into domain-driven
design concepts, including domain events, value objects, rich
vs. anemic domain modeling, and bounded contexts.
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Microservices!
To build truly decoupled systems, it’s crucial to understand
microservices.

When to Use Microservices: Learn when to implement

microservices for optimal efficiency.
Tradeoffs and Benefits: Explore the tradeoffs and perks of
using microservices.
Service Communication: Understand communication
between services using message brokers and buses like
RabbitMQ or Kafka.
MassTransit: Get familiar with MassTransit for handling
messaging.
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Microservices!
Continue...

Event Sourcing and Consistency: Learn about event

sourcing and ensuring eventual consistency.
Observability: Implement observability practices to monitor
and troubleshoot services.
Containerization and Orchestration: Master containerization
and orchestration tools and techniques.
Managing Secrets: Securely manage secrets in your
applications.
API Gateways: Use API gateways like YARP and Ocelot for
routing and managing API requests.
Load Balancing: Ensure your system can handle traffic
efficiently with load balancing.
Additional Insights: There are many more aspects to explore
in the world of microservices.
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Testing
Testing is often overlooked or postponed, but it's crucial to write
your test cases early and consistently.

Unit Testing: Write unit tests to verify individual

components.
Integration Testing: Ensure different modules work
together as expected.
Testing Frameworks: Utilize xUnit or NUnit NuGet
packages.
Fluent Assertions: Recommended for more readable and
expressive assertions.
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Testing
Continue...

Fluent Assertions: Recommended for more readable and

expressive assertions.
Dummy Data Generation: Use Bogus to generate dummy
data for testing.
Load Testing: Employ K6 for load testing to ensure your
application handles stress well.
Test-Driven Development (TDD): Make your code testable
and strive for good code coverage by following TDD
practices.

TEST
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Caching
A crucial feature to improve your Web Application’s performance.

Caching Concepts: Understand various caching concepts.

Cache Invalidation: Learn techniques for cache invalidation.
Cache Expirations: Familiarize yourself with sliding window
and absolute expiration methods.
In-Memory / In-Process Caching: Explore in-memory and
in-process caching strategies.
Distributed Caching: Use Redis for distributed caching
solutions.
Application Level Caching: Implement application-level
caching, including response caching and Entity Framework
(EF) caching.
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Logging
Enhance Your Application's Observability and Bug Tracking

Microsoft ILogger Interface: Utilize the ILogger interface for

logging in .NET applications.
Serilog: A popular logging package, often the only one you'll
need. It's my go-to tool for every new C# project.
Sinks: Learn about various sinks for directing log output to
different destinations.
Structured Logging: Implement structured logging for
better log management and querying.
Serilog SEQ: Use SEQ for structured log storage and
querying during development.
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Logging
Continue...

Serilog Configurations and Correlation ID: Configure

Serilog effectively and use correlation IDs for tracing
requests.
Kibana and the ELK Stack: Explore Kibana and the ELK
stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) for advanced log
analysis and visualization.
OpenTelemetry: Integrate OpenTelemetry for
comprehensive observability, including metrics, logs, and
traces, to monitor the performance and behavior of your
applications.
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Background Tasks
At some point, every application will require background tasks.

IHostedService and BackgroundService: Use the native

IHostedService and BackgroundService interfaces for simple
task scheduling.
CRON Concepts: Learn and implement CRON expressions
for scheduling.
Hangfire: Utilize Hangfire for easy and reliable background
job processing.
Quartz: Implement Quartz for more advanced job
scheduling needs.
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Good to Know Libraries

At some point, every application will require background tasks.

Refit: Utilize Refit for making HTTP calls.

FluentValidation: Implement FluentValidation to validate
incoming requests.
ProblemDetails: Use ProblemDetails for structured error
handling.
Polly: Apply Polly for implementing retry mechanisms.
SignalR: Use SignalR for real-time communication.
API Versioning: Implement API versioning to manage
changes over time.
Scrutor: Automate dependency injection with Scrutor.
Carter: Enhance minimal API routing with Carter.

LIBRARY
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Good to Know Libraries

Continue...

AutoMapper/Mapster/Mapperly: Leverage AutoMapper,

Mapster, or Mapperly for object mapping.
Sonar Analyzers: Integrate Sonar Analyzers for code quality
analysis.
OpenIddict: Implement OpenIddict for OpenID
authentication.
YARP Reverse Proxy: Use YARP as a reverse proxy.
CQRS Pattern with MediatR: Learn the CQRS pattern using
the MediatR library.
OpenAPI / .http file: Document your APIs with OpenAPI
and .http file.
Benchmark.NET: Evaluate your application performance
with Benchmark.NET.
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.NET Aspire is a comprehensive suite of tools and features

designed to enhance the development experience and
productivity of .NET developers.
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Beyond .NET
Excelling as a developer in 2025 and beyond requires a diverse
skill set that goes beyond mastering just one technology.
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Containers & Orchestration

Very important for backend developers to make your
deployments so much easier.

Benefits of Docker: Understand the advantages of Docker and

containerization.
Docker & Docker Compose: Learn how to use Docker and
Docker Compose.
Dockerfile: Familiarize yourself with Dockerfile.
.NET Built-In Containerization: Utilize the built-in
containerization feature from .NET 7 and above (no Dockerfile
needed).
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Containers & Orchestration

Continue...

Multi-Stage Docker Builds: Master the concept of multi-stage

Docker builds.
Docker Hub & CLI Commands: Learn to use Docker Hub and
essential CLI commands.
Docker Networking: Understand Docker networking.
Practical Application: Build a Docker image of your .NET
application, push it to an image repository like Docker Hub, and
run the container locally or on cloud platforms like AWS or Digital
Ocean.
Kubernetes: Gain an understanding of Kubernetes and kubectl
commands.
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Observability
Monitoring
- ELK Stack
- Serilog + SEQ
- Prometheus
- Graffana Dashboards
- Open Telemetry in .NET
Cloud Logging Providers like Cloudwatch.
Metrics Collection and Cloud Insights.
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Cloud
Cloud is indispensable in 2025 and beyond. AWS, Azure, or GCP
are leading Cloud providers.
Senior-Level Expertise: A deep understanding of cloud
technologies is mandatory at a senior level.
Core AWS Services: Learn key AWS services such as AWS
Lambda, S3, EC2, ECS, Kinesis, IAM, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, and
more.
Serverless Knowledge: Developing knowledge in serverless
computing is crucial.
Cloud-Based Systems Design: Gain substantial experience in
designing cloud-based systems and infrastructure.
Automation: After mastering manual cloud deployments, move
on to automation.
Infrastructure as Code (IAC): Learn automated cloud
infrastructure deployment tools like Terraform, AWS CDK, or
Pulumi.
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CI/CD
CI/CD is a software development practice that automates the
process of building, testing, and deploying code changes.

GitHub Actions: Easy to get started with, and it’s FREE.

AWS CodePipeline
Azure Pipelines
Jenkins
Scripting: Learn scripting, particularly Python, for automation
tasks.
Creating Pipelines: Master creating deployment and build
pipelines that run tests on the cloud and deploy code to your
infrastructure, containers, or virtual machines.
Ajay Patel NET

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