Step 1 • Foundations
C# Foundations for Backend Work beginner Build fluency in modern C# syntax, nullable reference types, records, pattern matching, async/await, and LINQ — the language features that appear constantly in .NET APIs.
10h Step 2 • Foundations
.NET CLI, Solutions, and Layered Architecture beginner Organize multi-project solutions into API, Application, Domain, and Infrastructure layers so concerns stay separate and testable from the start.
8h Step 3 • fundamentals
Dependency Injection & IoC intermediate Master ASP.NET Core's built-in IoC container. Register services with AddSingleton (one instance), AddScoped (one per HTTP request), and AddTransient (new each time). Use constructor injection for clean dependency graphs. Inject IOptions<T> and IOptionsSnapshot<T> for strongly-typed configuration. Avoid captive dependency bugs (singleton depending on scoped). Register third-party containers (Autofac) via IServiceProviderFactory.
5h Step 4 • Foundations
ASP.NET Core Request Pipeline and Middleware beginner Understand middleware ordering, routing, endpoint execution, and how cross-cutting concerns like logging and error handling flow through every request.
8h Step 5 • API Design
Minimal APIs, Controllers, and DTO Contracts beginner Compare Minimal APIs and MVC controllers, design stable request and response DTOs, and document routes with OpenAPI from day one.
9h Step 6 • API Design
Configuration, Options Pattern, and Secrets beginner Bind strongly typed options, validate them on startup, and separate local secrets from deployed configuration so environments never drift or leak.
7h Step 7 • API Design
Input Validation and Problem Details intermediate Validate request payloads with Data Annotations and FluentValidation, and return RFC 9457 Problem Details responses so clients can handle errors consistently.
7h Step 8 • Data
EF Core Modeling, Relationships, and Migrations intermediate Design entity models, configure relationships and constraints with Fluent API, and manage schema changes through migrations with a clear upgrade/downgrade discipline.
10h Step 9 • Data
EF Core Querying, Projections, and Indexing intermediate Write efficient EF queries using projections, split queries, and raw SQL for hot paths, and add the right PostgreSQL indexes to keep API latency low.
8h Step 10 • Security
Authentication with JWT and ASP.NET Core Identity intermediate Implement secure login, password hashing, JWT token issuance, refresh token rotation, and secure cookie options suitable for real API clients.
10h Step 11 • Security
Authorization Policies, Claims, and Resource Guards intermediate Enforce route, claim, and resource-level permissions so authorization logic lives in explicit, testable policies rather than ad hoc if-statements.
8h Step 12 • Reliability
Caching, Rate Limiting, and Resilience intermediate Add output caching, distributed Redis caching, built-in rate limiting, and Polly-based resilience policies for external HTTP calls.
8h Step 13 • Reliability
Background Workers, Queues, and Scheduled Jobs advanced Move long-running work off the request thread with IHostedService workers, Channel-based queues, and Hangfire for scheduled and delayed jobs.
8h Step 14 • advanced
Real-Time with SignalR intermediate Build real-time bidirectional communication with SignalR Core. Define Hubs (server API), call client methods from the server, and handle client-to-server messages. Use strongly-typed hubs with IHubContext<THub, TClient>. Manage groups for room-based messaging. Scale out across multiple servers with a Redis backplane. Transport fallback: WebSockets > Server-Sent Events > Long Polling.
6h Step 15 • Quality
Unit, Integration, and End-to-End Testing advanced Build a layered test portfolio with fast unit tests for domain logic, integration tests using WebApplicationFactory + Testcontainers, and contract tests for the API surface.
10h Step 16 • Quality
OpenAPI Docs, Health Checks, and Observability intermediate Generate accurate OpenAPI documentation, expose health check endpoints, and instrument the application with structured logging and OpenTelemetry traces.
8h Step 17 • Ship It
Containerization, CI/CD, and Production Deployment advanced Package the service as a Docker container, run migrations safely in CI, deploy with health probes, configure telemetry, and maintain a tested rollback procedure.
9h 