Again, Saturday Article!

3 weeks ago I started scraping every .NET job posting from Indeed, LinkedIn, and some indian platforms and I discovered that the skill gap and salary patterns completely changed how I think about .NET careers..

Sorry to say but YES! we need to grown up!

✔️Reality Check

After parsing through job descriptions, salary ranges, and requirements from Fortune 500 companies to startups, the patterns that emerged were completely unexpected.

The average .NET salary is way different, man! You won’t believe but..

Entity Framework Developers → $95K

average Dapper Developers → $135K average

But people still fight with me and argue in the comment section: — Entity Framework is a $100 Million Mistake ( We Use Dapper + Raw SQL) *Your database queries are costing you users.*isitvritra101.medium.com After searching a lot, what I found as per 2–3k job posts about data access requirements: —

Companies pay significantly more for Dapper expertise because —

They don’t want —

var orders = await context.Orders
    .Include(o => o.Items)
    .Where(o => o.Date > DateTime.Now.AddDays(-30))
    .ToListAsync(); // 450ms average

but they actually want —

var sql = @"SELECT o.*, i.* FROM Orders o 
           LEFT JOIN OrderItems i ON o.Id = i.OrderId 
           WHERE o.Date > @date";
var orders = await connection.QueryAsync(sql, new { date }); 
// 45ms average

Another thing is that people pay a premium for dying technology

🔺Premium Pay for Performance

Web Forms in 2025

Still 312 job postings, and you know what the average they gonna pay is $125K!

Companies are literally paying developers MORE to maintain legacy Web Forms applications because:

  • Nobody wants to learn it anymore
  • Migration costs are astronomical
  • Business-critical systems can’t go down

Idk but Learning “dead” technologies might be more profitable than chasing the latest trends.

🔺The $40K Certification Thing🔺

Another way I analyzed the job posting is Certified vs Non-Certified

Azure Solutions Architect Expert: +$38K average

AWS Solutions Architect: +$42K average

No Certifications: Baseline salary

BUT! Microsoft MVP Status: +$67K average

actually if you have certificate then its kinda trustifed verifed thing. so yea company always prioriize them!

🔺Geographic Aspect🔺

Remote .NET Jobs: $118K average San Francisco: $145K average Austin, TX: $108K average Poland (Remote): $65K average India (Remote): $35K average (sadly)

Remote work promised equality. The data shows it created a global race to the bottom for many positions.

Most Requested Skills:

  • C# (91% of postings)
  • ASP.NET Core (78%)
  • SQL Server (71%)
  • JavaScript (69%)
  • Performance Optimization (34%)

but the thing is “Only 12% of .NET developers consider themselves ‘performance experts’”

🔺Hiring Pattern🔺

Junior Positions (0–2 years): Average 14 technology requirements

Senior Positions (5+ years): Average 8 technology requirements

📝End Note

Skills to Learn in 2025:

  • Advanced SQL optimization (not just LINQ)
  • Performance profiling tools (BenchmarkDotNet, PerfView)
  • Cloud cost optimization (companies are desperate)
  • Legacy modernization strategies (high demand, low supply)

And Yea, Don’t chase trends. Chase problems that are hard to solve and painful. Remember When companies have a $500K/year problem and you’re the only developer who can solve it, $200/hour suddenly seems like a bargain.

Thank you 🖤