Select your current position

Pick a role and level — we'll show the growth path, skills and gap analysis.

Development path

Junior

0-2 years

Current

Responsibility: Completing tasks under the guidance of senior colleagues. Learning the codebase, standards, and team processes. Writing code to spec, fixing simple bugs, writing tests.

Key skills:

Code Review Need
Git Advanced Need
MVVM Pattern Need
Unit Testing Need
WPF / WinUI: .NET Desktop Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Multithreading Need
Memory Management Need

Middle

2-5 years

Next

Responsibility: Independently developing features from decomposition to deployment. Participating in code review. Optimizing performance. Mentoring junior developers. Taking part in architecture discussions.

Key skills:

Code Review Need
Git Advanced Need
MVVM Pattern Need
Unit Testing Need
WPF / WinUI: .NET Desktop Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Multithreading Need
Memory Management Need

Senior

5-8 years

Responsibility: Designing the architecture of components and services. Solving complex technical problems. Managing technical debt. Code review as a quality gatekeeper. Mentoring middle developers. Choosing technologies for new tasks.

Key skills:

ASP.NET Core Need
Auto-Update Mechanisms Need
Avalonia UI Need
ChatGPT / Claude Need
Code Review Need
CPU Profiling Need
Desktop App Packaging: MSI, DMG, AppImage Need
E2E Testing Need
Git Advanced Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
GitHub Copilot Need
IPC: Inter-Process Communication Need
Latency Optimization Need
Memory Profiling Need
MVVM Pattern Need
Offline-First & Local Storage Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Plugin Architecture Need
PostgreSQL Need
REST API Design Need
Unit Testing Need
WPF / WinUI: .NET Desktop Need
Algorithms & Complexity Need
Async Programming Need
Generics & Parametric Polymorphism Need
Database Indexing Need
Integration Testing Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Component Testing Need
Multithreading Need
Design Patterns Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need
Memory Profiling Need
Structured Logging Need
Data Structures Need
Type Safety & Type Systems Need
Memory Management Need

Lead / Staff

7-12 years

Responsibility: Technical leadership of a team or area. Designing system architecture. Coordinating with other teams. Establishing standards and best practices. Participating in hiring. Planning the technical roadmap.

Key skills:

ASP.NET Core Need
Auto-Update Mechanisms Need
Avalonia UI Need
ChatGPT / Claude Need
Code Review Need
CPU Profiling Need
Desktop App Packaging: MSI, DMG, AppImage Need
E2E Testing Need
Git Advanced Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
GitHub Copilot Need
IPC: Inter-Process Communication Need
Latency Optimization Need
Memory Profiling Need
MVVM Pattern Need
Offline-First & Local Storage Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Plugin Architecture Need
PostgreSQL Need
REST API Design Need
Unit Testing Need
WPF / WinUI: .NET Desktop Need
Algorithms & Complexity Need
Async Programming Need
Generics & Parametric Polymorphism Need
Database Indexing Need
Integration Testing Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Component Testing Need
Multithreading Need
Design Patterns Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need
Memory Profiling Need
Structured Logging Need
Data Structures Need
Type Safety & Type Systems Need
Memory Management Need

Principal

10+ years

Responsibility: Technical strategy at the company or domain level. Cross-organizational influence. Solving systemic business problems through technology. Mentoring lead engineers. Publicly representing the company.

Key skills:

ASP.NET Core Need
Auto-Update Mechanisms Need
Avalonia UI Need
ChatGPT / Claude Need
Code Review Need
CPU Profiling Need
Desktop App Packaging: MSI, DMG, AppImage Need
E2E Testing Need
Git Advanced Need
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI Need
GitHub Copilot Need
IPC: Inter-Process Communication Need
Latency Optimization Need
Memory Profiling Need
MVVM Pattern Need
Offline-First & Local Storage Need
OWASP & Application Security Need
Plugin Architecture Need
PostgreSQL Need
REST API Design Need
Unit Testing Need
WPF / WinUI: .NET Desktop Need
Algorithms & Complexity Need
Async Programming Need
Generics & Parametric Polymorphism Need
Database Indexing Need
Integration Testing Need
Code Quality & Refactoring Need
Component Testing Need
Multithreading Need
Design Patterns Need
Secure Coding Practices Need
OOP & SOLID Principles Need
Memory Profiling Need
Structured Logging Need
Data Structures Need
Type Safety & Type Systems Need
Memory Management Need

Gap analysis: skills to develop

To reach the next level you'll need to develop:

Code Review

Conducts code review for C#/.NET desktop code. Checks async/await correctness, MVVM adherence, memory management. Provides constructive feedback. Reviews XAML.

Git Advanced

Applies Git rebase, cherry-pick, bisect. Configures Git hooks with dotnet-format pre-commit. Works with Git submodules for shared libraries. Resolves merge conflicts in .csproj and XAML.

MVVM Pattern

Applies MVVM with ObservableValidator for validation. Uses IMessenger (WeakReferenceMessenger) for inter-ViewModel communication. Organizes navigation through INavigationService. Implements async commands.

Unit Testing

Structures tests by modules. Uses Moq/NSubstitute for dependency mocking. Introduces code coverage through coverlet. Applies FluentAssertions for readable assertions.

WPF / WinUI: .NET Desktop

Independently develops WPF/WinUI applications with MVVM through CommunityToolkit.Mvvm. Creates custom UserControl and ControlTemplate. Works with DataTemplate, IValueConverter. Uses Navigation through Frame.

Code Quality & Refactoring

Configures StyleCop, SonarAnalyzer for static analysis. Uses Roslyn analyzers and code fixes. Applies code metrics (cyclomatic complexity, coupling). Writes self-documenting code with XML comments.

Multithreading

Implements concurrent operations through Task Parallel Library (TPL). Uses CancellationToken for operation cancellation. Applies SemaphoreSlim, lock, ReaderWriterLockSlim for synchronization. Works with Channels.

Memory Management

Manages memory through Span<T>, Memory<T>, ArrayPool<T>. Analyzes GC pressure through dotnet-counters. Optimizes struct vs class selection for hot paths. Uses WeakReference for cache patterns.