143 engineers on Hacker News describe using .NET first-hand: 33 endorse it, 14 regret it, 14 are mixed.
“you need a language with strict typing and a good compiler (we use dotnet)”
endorse · production · BatteryMountain · 2026-11-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The dotnet ecosystem is so well developed and rich”
endorse · production · harshalizee · 2026-10-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“And then I spent years drinking that kool-aid. I regret this decision to this day. What a waste of my youth.”
regret · production · iLemming · 2026-09-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“so i default to .NET + angular as it keeps my game open.”
endorse · production · rednb · 2026-08-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“all the ones we use have nullable reference types enabled. If you configure warnings as errors (as you should), then it works exceptionally well.”
endorse · production · mrsmrtss · 2025-12-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“.NET is certainly better than Python, but I'm not very happy with the type system and the code organization”
regret · personal · mynameisash · 2025-11-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We've run into an issue with .NET, that their version of Mutex didn't wake up the blocked thread on Linux as fast as on Windows”
regret · production · torginus · 2025-11-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Honestly it looks like Microsoft is distracted and doesn't really know what to do with .NET.”
regret · personal · 1 yr · pier25 · 2025-11-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We run a (pretty) big multi-tenant SaaS app on dotnet... C# (and the dotnet runtime) are awesome”
endorse · production · jitbit · 2025-09-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the .NET ecosystem really didn't lend itself well to this.”
regret · production · 1 yr · obeavs · 2024-11-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I don't think I'd be anywhere near as productive without: Conditional breakpoints, Debugger.Launch, Debugger.Break”
endorse · production · xnorswap · 2024-10-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Once we migrated to .Net Core and could run it on Linux, we did so because .Net on Linux is faster and free”
endorse · production · stackskipton · 2024-05-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using a new workflow for a couple of years... Install .NET 8, and create a new C# Console application.”
endorse · personal · 2 yr · SeasonalEnnui · 2023-12-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Microsoft aggressively sunset old .net versions. 4 years is not that long ago”
mixed · production · davidhyde · 2023-11-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“it has become a pure joy to work with recently. The improvements in tooling and ergonomics have made it a replacement for Go in our org”
endorse · production · financltravsty · 2023-11-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“leaving slag heaps of angular 1 and early dot net abandonware, years of work dumped because dependencies and frameworks were out of support.”
regret · production · monkeycantype · 2023-04-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have been using Java and .NET stacks for about 20 years now. No need to jump into framework of the month for backend.”
endorse · production · 20 yr · pjmlp · 2022-12-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“CPU usage on that .NET 6 machine is 1/2 of the Framework machines! Impressive improvement, and .NET 7 should be even better.”
endorse · production · jackmott42 · 2022-08-31 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The development environment was great, but over time the Microsoft ecosystem began to feel stifling.”
mixed · production · 10 yr · romanhn · 2022-06-01 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I'm really enjoying it. Honestly the only (and biggest) problem right now is with TLS 1.3. .NET on Mac doesn't support TLS 1.3”
mixed · personal · billyhoffman · 2022-05-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“drawing was slow on .NET no matter how hard I tried to make it fast”
mixed · production · fwsgonzo · 2022-05-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The second startup I worked at had a .NET backend... .NET/C# was solid. It performed the required job admirably.”
endorse · production · ss108 · 2021-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I also found the .net ecosystem libraries better, even though there are fewer libraries available.”
endorse · production · StreamBright · 2021-12-11 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We are testing on .NET 6 now with a large LoC monolithic asp.net system and the results indeed again have improved.”
endorse · production · tluyben2 · 2021-11-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I run it in production on Linux and develop on Mac and the experience is great.”
endorse · production · cyral · 2021-11-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have .Net experience going back to the beta frameworks in the early 2000's and have hand held some huge products on the platform”
regret · production · 20 yr · hmrr · 2021-11-15 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Started with a .NET Core API about a year ago.”
endorse · production · 1 yr · eldavido · 2021-10-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we had an issue with dotnet where the JIT was sometimes emitting bad instructions and crashing the process. That was an absolute bloody nightmare to debug”
mixed · production · cameronh90 · 2021-09-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The .NET Core runtime was heavily oprimized in the last years so yes it would make a difference for the numbers.”
endorse · production · tluyben2 · 2021-04-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Having the .NET runtime running in the same address space confused any sanitizer or leak detector.”
regret · production · codeflo · 2021-04-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I began my software development career using Microsoft technologies such as .NET and VBA... Eventually I released myself from "Microsoft prison"”
regret · production · tarruda · 2020-12-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“dotnet core isn't at all Windows dependent... for me everything is written to run on Linux in production.”
endorse · production · sbelskie · 2020-12-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The coolest piece of tech we use is probably a toss-up between .NET Core, Blazor and SQLite.”
endorse · production · bob1029 · 2020-12-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“sometimes transplanted wholesale to a different technology using automated tools (e.g. mainframe to .NET, although that particular one was an unmitigated disaster for maintainability).”
regret · production · jl6 · 2020-11-22 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I worked on dotnet for 12 years and still do. It's my first go to if I have to build a quick project.”
endorse · production · 12 yr · blntechie · 2020-09-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“after 2.0+, it's been absolutely wonderful. Great language ergonomics and I can finally ditch vs for vs code.”
endorse · production · rraghur · 2019-08-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We've been running dot net core apps in prod for awhile now”
endorse · production · taude · 2019-07-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use .NET at Submittable (YC12)! When our founders started the company, it's what they were proficient with”
endorse · production · lancefisher · 2019-06-23 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Take .NET core you wont regret it.”
endorse · production · majkinetor · 2019-05-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“including .Net (something I have been using since day one), remove all self sufficiency from you and abstract so much away that it's harmful.”
mixed · production · setquk · 2018-12-20 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Works well for us; there are a few things we needed to roll ourselves, but by and large it works out of the box.”
endorse · production · dc_gregory · 2018-12-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We're using .NET Core, but not really. The tooling is much better than what existed before, so we use it, but still compile against the full net471 framework”
mixed · production · outadoc · 2018-12-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We are impressed with the performance and stability... We are a tiny bit miffed at some missing features”
mixed · production · victorNicollet · 2018-12-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“It is a reason why we moved to .net core entirely. I have nothing running Java anymore.”
endorse · production · tluyben2 · 2018-09-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we've had to downgrade 2 projects recently because even MS Azure service APIs weren't supported - if you have to work with .NET avoid core”
regret · production · rubber_duck · 2017-12-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been a consultant to several Small and Medium sized businesses which predominantly use Windows and .Net”
mixed · production · jeswin · 2017-12-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The dotnet cli tool is still quite terrible (how do you install dotnet watch again? why does it take 25s to restart a simple web app?)”
regret · personal · shadowmint · 2017-11-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Sure, tooling is still half broken (only if you try to do some crazy thing), ... but I have few apps in prod already, and development is good and easy”
mixed · production · hudo · 2017-08-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We have been very pleased with the overall experience using .NET core so far”
endorse · production · jayrulez · 2017-01-31 · source ↗ · wrong label?“My employer is starting the transition from .NET to .NET Core and we're pretty confident that it's ready.”
endorse · personal · citruspi · 2016-12-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“A great time to be a .NET developer! Makes me happy I stuck with it.”
endorse · production · xorxornop · 2016-11-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“It really does put a big fat grin on my face to see C#/.Net get love here. I've been using it for years”
endorse · production · rottyguy · 2015-07-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“However, I LOVED .net functions, especially LINQ !”
endorse · production · ParanoidShroom · 2015-04-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“My last 4-5 years there, just about all new apps. were going to C#/.NET platform.”
endorse · production · emcrazyone · 2014-12-03 · source ↗ · wrong label?“.Net Core, C#, Linq, etc.. all very cool. Can make some stuff that performs very well, but can be very tricky to scale.”
mixed · production · zargath · 2014-07-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've developed with it consistently since then.”
mixed · production · 8 yr · forgotAgain · 2011-12-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I don't believe .net is the best for us, we use it because we have so much written in it and our libraries are very large.”
mixed · production · chrislomax · 2011-11-15 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The .NET library designers already decided what counts as exceptional, and it's often not possible for me, as a .NET user, to decide much of anything.”
mixed · production · Lagged2Death · 2011-11-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I'm primarily a .NET developer... the massive and all-encompassing .NET is also a major reason I went with a Python microframework”
regret · production · luffy · 2010-10-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“never again do I want to write websites in a compiled language!”
regret · production · euroclydon · 2010-06-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We switched over in our shop on release week, and I must say that I'm enjoying the new features of .NET and C# 4.0.”
endorse · production · statenjason · 2010-05-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“As a .NET developer I had been using LinqPad for years”
neutral · personal · to11mtm · 2026-11-03 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I tried to hook it up to a modern .NET app with the latest Oracle client”
neutral · production · jiggawatts · 2026-09-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the Azure Functions .NET deployment thing we used”
neutral · production · Kwpolska · 2025-12-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have a .NET/React/Vite webapp that despite the typical stack has a lot of very specific business logic for a real world niche.”
neutral · production · ewoodrich · 2025-12-03 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Common example I encounter in prod are .net platform libraries which add security exceptions on system update”
neutral · production · mwkaufma · 2025-11-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“the application that needs to access that storage is .NET”
neutral · production · tcmart14 · 2025-11-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“when I was running a .Net dev team we licensed the Telerik UI components.”
neutral · production · eitally · 2025-11-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“mostly stuff like .NET and SQL Server on the backend”
neutral · production · hnurl · 2025-07-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We were early adopters of .NET, when it was only available to MSFT Partners”
neutral · production · pjmlp · 2024-12-25 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use Dotnet, and this library: AWSSecretsManagerConfigurationEx...”
neutral · production · SamuelAdams · 2024-07-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“In my company, we use .NET for most of our applications, with Rust being used in places where we needed raw processing speed.”
neutral · production · fenring · 2023-12-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We were mostly working with .NET/Windows Server”
neutral · production · bob1029 · 2023-12-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We're.using .NET so `dotnet run` brings up the whole app.”
neutral · production · CharlieDigital · 2023-11-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“going from PHP, ASP, .NET, RoR, clojure, Python then JavaScript for the longest”
neutral · production · meiraleal · 2023-11-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I probably couldn't use OcAML given the technologies we use day to day.”
neutral · production · akra · 2022-12-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I was able to switch from .NET, to Ruby, to Elixir... each one of these was a difficult transition”
neutral · production · pmarreck · 2022-12-08 · source ↗ · wrong label?“for .NET we use Microsoft's style guide for React we use Facebook's, etc.”
neutral · production · throw1234651234 · 2022-12-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Starting with framework 4.6 and single server hosted services we're now on dotnet 6”
neutral · production · SeriousM · 2022-09-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“maintain the linux servers where the .NET Core business application lives.”
neutral · production · Frondo · 2021-12-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“when we switched to Python from .NET, it didn't feel like any of the function knowledge carried over”
neutral · production · throw1234651234 · 2021-09-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I have scores of company-specific programs on my laptop. They're all either Java or .NET”
neutral · production · TheRealDunkirk · 2021-04-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“other languages and frameworks I've used in prod (Golang, Dotnet, Dotnet Core, Node, Ts-Node, Rails, PHP, etc)”
neutral · production · horsawlarway · 2021-01-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use SonarQube on some dotnet projects”
neutral · production · GordonS · 2020-12-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“By far the biggest technical challenge we've faced in that time is the .NET 5 migration”
neutral · production · 7 yr · nbevans · 2020-12-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Coyote allows developers to systematically test concurrency expressed through .NET async/await tasks.”
neutral · production · inaseer · 2020-11-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I worked with a big C# .net core ecommerce platform that had a big stored proc used for ingest.”
neutral · production · davedx · 2020-10-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“it maybe need a bit more memory for the .net virtual machine vs the erlang one”
neutral · production · joking · 2020-10-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I attempted to push the bounds of our "use the best tool for the job" policy and worked in dotnet for awhile”
neutral · production · inkeddeveloper · 2020-09-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I do .NET for my $DAYJOB and we use Windows for development.”
neutral · production · james_s_tayler · 2019-12-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I really like PHP, but do .NET with Oracle at work.”
neutral · production · milankragujevic · 2019-12-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The server is the same code base running on Microsoft's .Net runtime.”
neutral · production · reitzensteinm · 2019-12-03 · source ↗ · wrong label?“As far as dotNet Core, it is used at AXP but generally not in our high performance environments.”
neutral · production · madflojo · 2019-11-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I'm talking an order of magnitude difference in .NET Core.”
neutral · production · lwansbrough · 2019-07-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We used to have our own in-house CMS built in .Net (at least 10 years ago)”
neutral · production · markwillis82 · 2019-03-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“a .net client running on these terminals to replace telnet”
neutral · production · ajuc · 2019-02-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“All our other apps are .NET Core though.”
neutral · production · junto · 2018-12-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using Linux since 2003, even though I'm a .NET engineer by trade.”
neutral · production · babypuncher · 2018-12-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I inherited a suite of .NET/WinForms applications that managed warehouse shipments to major purchasers.”
neutral · production · wolfgang42 · 2018-11-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We're using .NET Core 2.1 in prod on Linux Docker containers.”
neutral · production · nycdotnet · 2018-11-09 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we use .NET core in prod, but we have weird DB access through a third party API”
neutral · production · madeuptempacct · 2018-11-09 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We're a .net shop like I said”
neutral · production · sidstling · 2018-08-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“kraftfoods sites were one of the first Microsoft .NET production uses. We worked with Microsoft in .NET 1.0”
neutral · production · drawkbox · 2018-05-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“At home I work on side projects with .NET and Python.”
neutral · personal · BurningFire · 2017-11-02 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I can write c#, vb6 and .net, frontend I can do JavaScript, php, tie into MySQL”
neutral · production · marak830 · 2017-09-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“My previous job was working for a .NET shop that powered tons of automotive search engines etc. across the web.”
neutral · production · runT1ME · 2017-08-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“All the development we do ourselves is on .Net core, Java or Python”
neutral · production · eksemplar · 2017-05-12 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Each site gets its own dotnet instance”
neutral · production · Frondo · 2016-12-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I moved to Python as a hobbyist from .net languages”
neutral · personal · jimnotgym · 2016-12-10 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we switched focus to become mostly a Java/.NET shop around 2006.”
neutral · production · pjmlp · 2016-12-03 · source ↗ · wrong label?“The company I work for has an app built with Angular 1.x (the backend is .NET).”
neutral · production · teniutza · 2016-10-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“When we migrated all of our .NET development to Linux where I work”
neutral · production · Rudism · 2016-10-17 · source ↗ · wrong label?“bridge the divide from the mainframe world to the rest of the company's C#/.Net application infrastructure”
neutral · production · oldprogrammer2 · 2016-05-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“At work we migrated from C++ to JVM and .NET languages around 2006.”
neutral · production · 10 yr · pjmlp · 2016-02-01 · source ↗ · wrong label?“will continue to be something I tinker with in my personal time for hobby projects only”
neutral · personal · StevePerkins · 2015-07-27 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Post-.NET, we didn't think there was much of a market for a VBScript-to-C# transpiler”
neutral · production · krallja · 2015-06-26 · source ↗ · wrong label?“It's paying my bills as a .NET/JavaScipt dev, you know?”
neutral · production · uptownJimmy · 2014-12-24 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I'm former .NET dev missing IDE like VS in open source world”
neutral · production · tkubacki · 2014-10-08 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I wrote a woefully incomplete MUD a long time ago. It had the interesting (to me) property of representing items and features as .NET assemblies.”
neutral · personal · jcrites · 2014-07-06 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I am a .net architect so I was able to use my experience to make the site fast, refactor and all the other good stuff”
neutral · production · mandeepj · 2014-06-04 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we had to use more low-level tools than I ever thought should be needed for .NET code.”
neutral · production · josteink · 2014-03-20 · source ↗ · wrong label?“apparently he needed .NET 2.0 AND .NET 4, 32 bit vs. 64 bit.”
neutral · production · Mikeb85 · 2014-01-31 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've personally been using it along side .Net and am loving it.”
neutral · personal · gfody · 2013-12-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“.NET apps are ClickOnce or xbap, which is basically pre-Silverlight.”
neutral · production · w0rd-driven · 2013-11-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using it for all my .NET API and web work lately”
neutral · production · icey · 2012-12-19 · source ↗ · wrong label?“In the end I learned some .Net, some Javascript and even more about working within a large organization.”
neutral · production · saryant · 2012-12-05 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I haven't been using the project recently (was out of the .Net world for a bit) but may be using it again soon”
neutral · personal · troygoode · 2012-11-28 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Our production environment is running on Windows + IIS + .Net, but we are moving everything to Mono.”
neutral · production · aespinoza · 2011-12-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“we use the ILOG embedded Gantt chart in a .NET application”
neutral · production · parasubvert · 2011-12-13 · source ↗ · wrong label?“As Kiln is written in .Net, we require that users installing it use Windows.”
neutral · production · tghw · 2011-12-09 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I program .NET client applications for my day job”
neutral · production · TimGebhardt · 2011-11-30 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using Azure lately for my .NET projects.”
neutral · personal · hughesdan · 2011-11-18 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We have been using fluent migrator for our .net based projects at work for database migrations and versioning”
neutral · production · lukencode · 2011-11-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I believe that we use VB6 and .NET because that's one of the two main platforms student learn (the other being Java)”
neutral · production · GFischer · 2011-11-15 · source ↗ · wrong label?“Since we run on .Net and SQL Server it felt like the right choice.”
neutral · production · vyrotek · 2010-12-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I work at a .NET shop who had to interoperate with another company developing WSDL based webservice in Java.”
neutral · production · kaffiene · 2010-12-07 · source ↗ · wrong label?“I've been using .NET professionaly since its debut”
neutral · production · 8 yr · city41 · 2010-10-29 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We use the latest MS APIs (DirectX 10.1, DirectCompute and .NET 4) to get the best native performance targeting modern Win7 PCs.”
neutral · production · clabs · 2010-10-21 · source ↗ · wrong label?“194 of them are written in PHP (1 is Java, 2 are .NET, 1 Ruby, 2 Coldfusion)”
neutral · production · byoung2 · 2010-07-14 · source ↗ · wrong label?“We are a .NET shop and I've used DNN which is a slow kludgy nightmare.”
neutral · production · keltex · 2010-06-16 · source ↗ · wrong label?