What should a WinForms developer know for an ASP.Net interview?
I am an experienced WinForms / WPF / Silverlight developer and have an interview for a product that is ASP.Net. I am very familiar with C # and .NET as well as standard HTML and CSS (from rails programming).
So what else should a WinForms developer and ASP.Net interviewer learn?
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If you are doing ASP.NET WebForms you should read ViewState , ASP.NET Page Lifecycle , Differences Between Custom and Server Controls , JavaScript , AJAX Control Toolkit (not my favorite controls, but many ASP.NET projects use them ) and jQuery (ships with VS 2010 now).
Edit: ViewState or ControlState or just state management in general, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/75x4ha6s.aspx . Also, I noticed that MusiGenesis mentioned MasterPages.
If you are going to work with ASP.NET MVC take a look at haacked.com and the ASP.NET MVC site . Can anyone else suggest other good ASP.NET MVC links (I've barely used it, not a pro on this topic)?
I think that's a good starting point.
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You must have a copy of Visual Studio, so make an actual ASP.NET application before your interview. Use a master page, attach a data grid view to a real database, create a custom control and use it on two different pages, create a page that collects multiple pieces of information (text, date, number, etc.) and sends that and code which stores information in a database. Add some kind of javascript based client tool (date picker or FCK editor or something) and put it in a shared app. Finally, add and integrate some reports - PDF is always good.
If I were interviewing and you had successfully completed the above steps (even once) prior to the interview, you should be able to answer most of my ASP.NET-related questions, and this - combined with your overall experience - will probably get you the job ( assuming you also bathe regularly).
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The top three ASP.NET WebForms specific topics I met in an interview a couple of years ago were
- ViewState (what it is, why it exists, and potential pitfalls)
- Session state (different "modes", considerations when using multiple load balanced web servers)
- Page life cycle
It would be useful to learn about ASP.NET AJAX controls like UpdatePanel these days , and evaluating ASP.NET MVC and jQuery is becoming more and more valuable.
However, since you have no professional ASP.NET experience, you might be better off highlighting your general approach to professional programming, knowledge of design patterns, etc. Also consider how you can answer the questions about why you are interested in the ASP.NET role when your background is in WinForms.
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A good interviewer should recognize the skills that you have in the areas you have worked on and don't care if you don't have specific skills for that particular job. If you can demonstrate that you have a good knowledge of C #, as well as BCL and WinForms, the fact that you know it well is a good indicator that you will also learn ASP.NET well when you are introduced to an ASP.NET project.
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