My Journey with ASP.NET Core & SQL Server: Lessons Learned

#dotnet #csharp #webdev #sql

👋 Hello DEV Community!
I'm Yasser Alsousi, a passionate .NET developer specializing in C#, ASP.NET Core, and SQL Server. As my first post here, I want to share key lessons from my backend development journey.

Why I Chose ASP.NET Core:
✅ Cross-platform capabilities
✅ High-performance for scalable web apps
✅ Strong ecosystem with great tooling (Visual Studio, VS Code)
✅ Enterprise-ready features out of the box

Top 3 Beginner Tips:
1️⃣ Master C# Fundamentals First

Understand OOP principles

Learn LINQ and async/await patterns

2️⃣ Embrace Dependency Injection

csharp
// Example in Startup.cs
services.AddScoped<IProductService, ProductService>();
3️⃣ Database Best Practices

Start with SQL Server Express (free)

Use Entity Framework Core wisely:

Avoid N+1 queries with .Include()

Consider Dapper for complex queries

My First Project Challenge:
Built an inventory API that initially had 2s response times. Optimized to 200ms by:

Adding proper SQL indexes

Implementing caching

Using AsNoTracking() for read-only ops

What Should I Cover Next?
Building Clean Architecture

Deploying to Azure

JWT Authentication Deep Dive

Let's discuss in the comments! What was your "aha moment" with .NET?