Top 12 VB.NET Developer Skills to Put on Your Resume
In today's competitive job market, showcasing the right set of skills on your resume is crucial for securing a position as a VB.NET developer. This article highlights the top 12 skills that you should emphasize to stand out to employers and demonstrate your proficiency in Visual Basic .NET development.
VB.NET Developer Skills
1. VB.NET
VB.NET is a modern, object-oriented programming language from Microsoft used to build a range of applications on the .NET platform, with particular strength in Windows desktop, services, and tooling where readability and rapid development matter.
Why It's Important
VB.NET offers approachable syntax, full access to the .NET ecosystem, and solid tooling in Visual Studio. For teams maintaining Windows apps or building internal tools, it speeds development and keeps code clear and maintainable.
How to Improve VB.NET Skills
Improving your VB.NET skills blends fundamentals, practice, and habits that last.
Master the basics: Deepen understanding of types, OOP, error handling, generics, events, and async/await.
Practice small to medium projects: Build utilities, batch tools, or desktop prototypes. Ship them. Iterate.
Learn advanced topics: Async patterns, LINQ fluency, attributes, reflection, and interop when needed.
Know the libraries: Collections, IO, threading, configuration, logging. Use NuGet packages thoughtfully.
Write clean code: Consistent naming, focused methods, clear error paths, XML docs where it helps.
Test and debug well: Unit tests for business logic, integration tests for data flows, and systematic debugging.
Stay current: Track .NET release notes and language updates. Note that VB focuses on stability rather than new features every cycle.
Get feedback: Code reviews, pair sessions, and refactoring rounds to sharpen judgment.
Consistency wins. Build, read, refactor, repeat.
How to Display VB.NET Skills on Your Resume
2. ASP.NET
ASP.NET is Microsoft’s web framework. Classic ASP.NET (Web Forms, MVC 5) supported VB. ASP.NET Core is the modern, cross-platform successor and is overwhelmingly used with C#; VB is not a first-class language for new ASP.NET Core web apps.
Why It's Important
If you maintain or modernize legacy ASP.NET apps written in VB, you need strong ASP.NET fundamentals. For greenfield web work in today’s stack, plan on C# with ASP.NET Core while still leveraging your VB experience for shared libraries and services where appropriate.
How to Improve ASP.NET Skills
Understand the landscape: Know the differences between classic ASP.NET (IIS-bound, VB-compatible) and ASP.NET Core (cross-platform, C#-centric, middleware pipeline).
Learn MVC and Razor: Separation of concerns, routing, model binding, validation, layouts, partials.
Data access done right: Use Entity Framework Core or Dapper with clean repository or query patterns.
Security first: Identity, cookie vs. token auth, data protection, HTTPS everywhere, input validation.
Client-side awareness: Accessibility, responsive CSS, basic JavaScript, and component libraries.
Source control and reviews: Git flows, pull requests, and CI checks.
Performance and diagnostics: Caching, async I/O, compression, logging, tracing, and health checks.
Migrate with care: When moving from classic ASP.NET (VB) to ASP.NET Core, plan incremental slices and expect to write web code in C#.
Strong web engineering principles transfer smoothly, even if the language differs.
How to Display ASP.NET Skills on Your Resume
3. SQL Server
SQL Server is Microsoft’s relational database engine for storing and querying data, tightly integrated with .NET tooling and drivers.
Why It's Important
Reliable data access is the spine of most business apps. SQL Server gives transactions, indexing, security, and analytics features that keep VB.NET applications fast and correct.
How to Improve SQL Server Skills
Index intelligently: Create targeted indexes for common filters and joins. Avoid over-indexing write-heavy tables.
Optimize queries: Select only needed columns, filter early, and keep predicates sargable. Review Actual Execution Plans in SSMS.
Use connection pooling well: Keep connections short-lived; leverage pooling defaults; pass proper connection strings.
Batch work: Send bulk inserts/updates in batches to reduce round-trips and log pressure.
Locking and isolation: Choose appropriate isolation levels. Consider read-committed snapshot to reduce blocking where it fits.
Stored procedures: Encapsulate hot paths and complex operations; parameterize to plan-cache effectively.
Monitor continuously: Use Query Store, DMVs, and performance dashboards to spot regressions.
Asynchronous data access: In .NET, prefer async I/O to keep UI and servers responsive.
Measure before and after every change. Guessing costs time.
How to Display SQL Server Skills on Your Resume
4. ADO.NET
ADO.NET is the low-level data access stack in .NET, exposing connections, commands, readers, datasets, and transactions for direct control over database operations.
Why It's Important
Even when you use an ORM, you’ll occasionally need precise, high-performance calls. ADO.NET gives you that control with familiar patterns.
How to Improve ADO.NET Skills
Understand the core objects: Connection, Command, DataReader, DataAdapter, DataSet/DataTable.
Manage connections correctly: Use Using blocks to dispose promptly. Keep scope tight.
Parameterize always: Prevent injection, improve readability, and help plan reuse.
Choose the right access model: DataReader for fast, forward-only reads; DataSet/DataTable for disconnected workflows.
Go async: Prefer async calls in UI and web apps to avoid blocking threads.
Pool and batch: Let connection pooling do its job and send large operations in batches.
Profile and log: Capture timings, parameters, and errors for hot paths.
Blend with higher layers: Know when to reach for ADO.NET versus an ORM for maintainability.
Sharp tools, used sparingly, cut cleanest.
How to Display ADO.NET Skills on Your Resume
5. LINQ
LINQ brings query expressions into .NET languages, letting you filter, project, group, and join data over collections, XML, and ORMs with crisp, readable code.
Why It's Important
Less boilerplate, fewer bugs, clearer intent. LINQ unifies data querying patterns, which shortens code and raises signal-to-noise.
How to Improve LINQ Skills
Get fluent with the core operators: Select, Where, OrderBy/ThenBy, GroupBy, Join, Any/All, Distinct, Aggregate.
Know deferred vs. immediate execution: Understand when queries run and how enumeration triggers work.
Mind performance: Be aware of N+1 issues with ORMs, prefer projections to whole entities, and use AsNoTracking for read-only queries.
Prefer clarity: Break complex queries into steps or local variables. Readability beats cleverness.
Use extension methods: Encapsulate repeated patterns to keep code tidy.
Experiment: Rewrite loops into LINQ and back again to understand trade-offs.
Write queries you can explain out loud without squinting.
How to Display LINQ Skills on Your Resume
6. Entity Framework
Entity Framework (EF and EF Core) is an ORM that maps relational data to .NET objects, cutting down the plumbing code for queries and updates.
Why It's Important
Faster delivery, safer data access, easier refactoring. EF lets you focus on domain logic while handling the SQL generation and change tracking.
How to Improve Entity Framework Skills
Use current versions: Target the latest LTS where possible (for example, EF Core with .NET 8) for features and performance fixes.
Model thoughtfully: Keep entities lean, configure keys and relationships explicitly, and avoid giant aggregates.
Choose loading strategies wisely: Eager load when you know you need related data, lazy load sparingly, explicit load when precise.
Track only when needed: For read-heavy screens and APIs, prefer AsNoTracking to reduce overhead.
Craft focused queries: Project to DTOs, filter at the database, and avoid client-side evaluation.
Batch changes: Group writes where it makes sense to reduce round-trips.
Index the database: Align indexes with real query shapes. Measure impact.
Profile and cache: Use logging, diagnostics, and caching of stable lookups to trim latency.
Let the database do the heavy lifting; ask it the right questions.
How to Display Entity Framework Skills on Your Resume
7. WPF
WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) is a powerful UI framework for Windows desktop apps, combining XAML for declarative UI with code-behind in VB.NET for behavior.
Why It's Important
You get rich styling, data binding, templating, and composition. Complex desktops become maintainable and polished without wrestling low-level Win32.
How to Improve WPF Skills
Lean into data binding: Use INotifyPropertyChanged, observable collections, and converters thoughtfully. Keep bindings simple and explicit.
Async all the way: Long-running work goes off the UI thread. Use async/await and progress reporting.
MVVM pattern: Separate views, view models, and models. Commands over event handlers. Test view models.
Resource discipline: Centralize styles, brushes, and templates. Reuse aggressively.
Virtualize lists: Enable UI virtualization on ItemsControls to keep scrolling smooth.
Layout efficiency: Avoid deep trees of nested panels. Choose the right panel for the job and minimize redraws.
Profile rendering: Use Visual Studio diagnostics and performance tools to track layout and binding costs.
Target modern .NET: Move to current LTS (for example, .NET 8) for runtime and tooling improvements.
Clear separation plus careful binding makes for snappy, testable UIs. Note: x:Bind is a UWP/WinUI feature, not WPF.
How to Display WPF Skills on Your Resume
8. WinForms
WinForms is a classic .NET GUI framework for Windows. It’s straightforward, event-driven, and great for internal tools and line-of-business apps.
Why It's Important
Rapid UI composition with a designer, a huge control ecosystem, and predictable deployment in Windows-first environments.
How to Improve WinForms Skills
Target modern runtimes: Move projects to .NET 6/7/8 where practical for better performance and high-DPI support.
Keep the UI responsive: Use async/await, BackgroundWorker, or Tasks for I/O and long-running work.
Adopt a testable pattern: MVP or MVVM-lite to separate logic from UI code-behind.
Extend with NuGet controls: Add grids, charts, theming, and docking where it accelerates delivery.
Profile and trim: Measure startup, reduce control counts, lazy-load heavy components.
High-DPI polish: Enable PerMonitorV2 awareness, use vector assets where possible, and verify scaling.
Consistent error handling: Centralize exception logging and user-friendly messages.
Simple does not mean sloppy—structure it well and it ages gracefully.
How to Display WinForms Skills on Your Resume
9. MVC
MVC (Model-View-Controller) is a pattern that splits an application into three parts to tame complexity:
- Model: Data and business rules.
- View: UI and presentation.
- Controller: Request handling and coordination.
For a VB.NET developer, MVC principles apply across desktop and web: clear boundaries, testable code, and easier collaboration.
Why It's Important
Separation of concerns reduces coupling, improves testability, and makes change safer. Bigger systems demand it.
How to Improve MVC Skills
Follow SOLID: Small classes, single responsibilities, clear interfaces.
Model validation: Keep validation close to the domain with attributes or validators, not buried in controllers.
Repository and unit of work: Decouple persistence and keep transaction boundaries explicit.
Async controllers and services: Non-blocking I/O improves throughput and UX.
Dependency injection: Wire components via DI for easier testing and configuration.
Lean controllers: Push business logic to services; controllers coordinate, they don’t decide.
Reusable views: Layouts, partials, and view components keep UIs consistent and DRY.
Security practices: Guard against XSS, CSRF, and injection; validate input; encode output.
Code style and refactoring: Enforce conventions, prune duplication, and keep complexity in check.
Structure today prevents fire drills tomorrow.
How to Display MVC Skills on Your Resume
10. NET Core
.NET Core evolved into modern .NET (5+). It’s cross-platform, fast, and the future of the platform. VB.NET is supported primarily for Windows desktop and console scenarios on modern .NET; new ASP.NET Core web apps are typically written in C#.
Why It's Important
Targeting modern .NET gets you performance, security updates, and long-term support. Even if you write VB, you’ll often integrate with libraries and services written in C#.
How to Improve NET Core Skills
Know the platform: Runtimes, SDKs, LTS vs. STS, project SDK-style csproj/vbproj, and CLI basics.
Be bilingual when useful: Read and write basic C# so you can adopt ASP.NET Core, many libraries, and examples.
ASP.NET Core fundamentals: Middleware pipeline, dependency injection, configuration, options, logging.
Data access with EF Core: Migrations, relationships, performance features, and testing strategies.
Testing: Unit tests, integration tests, and testable architecture from day one.
Diagnostics: Logging, metrics, tracing, and health endpoints for production readiness.
Packaging and deployment: Self-contained vs. framework-dependent, single-file options, containers where appropriate.
Adopt the parts that fit your app. Pick the right tool; don’t force it.
How to Display NET Core Skills on Your Resume
11. Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps provides repos, pipelines, artifacts, boards, and testing—an integrated suite to plan, build, test, and release software.
Why It's Important
Automation and collaboration. With CI/CD, code reviews, work tracking, and packages in one place, teams move faster with fewer mistakes.
How to Improve Azure DevOps Skills
Automate CI/CD: Build, test, and deploy VB.NET solutions via pipelines. Gate changes with quality checks.
Branching strategy: Use clear Git workflows (mainline, release branches, PR reviews) and protect critical branches.
Test integration: Run unit and integration tests in pipelines; publish results and code coverage.
Artifacts and versioning: Host internal NuGet feeds; version packages semantically.
Boards for visibility: Link work items to commits and PRs. Make status obvious.
Infrastructure as code: Define environments with templates or Terraform, then deploy consistently.
Continuous improvement: Review pipeline times, flakiness, and costs; cache and parallelize where it helps.
Small, reliable automations compound into big gains.
How to Display Azure DevOps Skills on Your Resume
12. T-SQL
T-SQL (Transact-SQL) is Microsoft’s SQL dialect that adds procedural features for robust data manipulation, programmability, and control over SQL Server.
Why It's Important
Better queries, safer transactions, cleaner encapsulation. T-SQL unlocks performance and correctness when your app needs to work with real data at speed.
How to Improve T-SQL Skills
Learn the core syntax: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, JOINs, window functions, CTEs.
Index strategy: Clustered vs. nonclustered, filtered indexes, and covering strategies aligned to queries.
Execution plans: Read Actual Execution Plans to spot scans, key lookups, spills, and cardinality issues.
Stored procedures and functions: Encapsulate logic, parameterize inputs, and design for plan reuse.
Transactions and error handling: Explicit transactions with proper isolation; try/catch and retry logic where needed.
Set-based thinking: Prefer set operations over RBAR (row-by-agonizing-row) approaches.
Practice and review: Solve real problems, then refactor for clarity and speed.
Operational awareness: Understand tempdb usage, statistics, and maintenance jobs that affect performance.
Fast SQL starts with good table design and honest measurements.
How to Display T-SQL Skills on Your Resume
