According to Microsoft, .NET (pronounced dot net) is “a free, cross-platform, open-source developer platform for building many different types of applications.” .NET allows you to use “multiple languages, editors, and libraries to build for web, mobile, desktop, games, and IoT.” Applications in .NET can be written using C#, F#, Visual C++, or Visual Basic. There are multiple versions of .NET, such as .NET Framework and .NET Core. Since it’s cross-platform, your code will run natively on any OS that is .NET compatible.

Most positions offered to .NET programmers involve .NET Development or .NET engineering. But there are numerous applications that come under the umbrella of those two facets of the field. You may specialize in desktop, mobile, web, or cloud-native applications; games; machine learning; microservices; or IoT. You can also specialize in any or all of the programming languages supported by .NET, such as C#, F#, or Visual Basic. Additionally, you may have a broad focus across multiple compatible OS’s or specialize in applications for a single OS.

.NET continues to be an open-sourced, cross-platform development platform for multiple applications. For example, it’s used to build web apps and services for Linux, Windows, macOS, and Docker. It’s also used to build native mobile apps for Android, iOS, and Windows, as well as desktop apps for macOS and Windows. Microservices, cloud services, machine learning, game development, and IoT can currently all be developed with .NET. Developers can choose to have a general knowledge of multiple applications across the spectrum or choose to specialize in one specific area of development.