C# (pronounced “C-Sharp”) is a strongly typed, declarative, functional, object-oriented, component-oriented multi-paradigm programming language. C# is simple, open-source, flexible, and has a great community. It is the most popular language for game development, and since Microsoft developed it, it has a huge target audience.
There are several C# courses that one can make use of to further their career. We list the best C# certifications in 2024 here. First, let’s take a look at what C# is and why certification is important.
What is C# Programming?
C# closely resembles Java, and some of the important topics are automatic garbage collection, Boolean conditions, generics, statements, loops, and more.
Some features of C# are:
- Easy to learn
- Efficient, features automatic memory management
- Low cost of maintenance and extremely safe
- High memory backup
- Fast for game development (Unity)
- Scalable
- Rich set of built-in libraries
Why is C# Certification Required?
Why do we need any certification after all? For one, certifications give you an edge over other candidates who have the same experience as you, when you are applying for a new job, a salary hike, or a promotion. It also tells the employer that you have a solid understanding of the subject, as these certifications are not easy to attain. Certifications also boost your knowledge and capability to handle more complex projects and challenges.
Some people might argue that if you have the necessary experience, certification is not necessary. However, there are thousands of candidates who may have similar or more experience than you, and to stand out from the crowd; you certainly need something more – a certification is what that is!
Best C# Certifications
There are many C# certifications, and we have listed some of the most important and recognized certifications for you.
1. C# Development Fundamentals
Pluralsight’s courses are popular and their C# courses are quite comprehensive. This beginner course called C# Development Fundamentals covers the basics of C#. This includes language features, applied concepts, and object-oriented programming. It’s the perfect place to start for those with no experience C# and grants you a thorough grounding in the fundamentals.
Course Details:
- Level: Basic
- Language: English
- Prerequisites: None
- Course duration: 16 courses over 36 hours
- Course fee: 10-day free trial, then $29/month
Course Syllabus:
- C# syntax
- Object-oriented paradigm
- Arrays, lists, dictionaries
- Interfaces
- Generics
- Events, delegates, and lambdas
- LINQ
- Asynchronous programming
2. C# Basics for Beginners
Udemy courses are comprehensive and recognized by most companies. Upon finishing the course, you can get a certification that could land you many good offers and positions at prominent companies. If you buy the course once, you will get lifetime access to it from mobile or desktop.
With this course, you can learn the basics of C# as well as the .NET framework. The course is very cost-effective, and Udemy offers discounts frequently, so do check for the same. You can complete it at your pace.
Course Details:
- Course duration: 5 hours of video
- Level: Basic
- 11 articles and 10 downloadable resources
- Certificate of completion
- Lifetime access to the course
- Language: English, with subtitles available in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish
- Prerequisites: None
- Course fee: 10-day free trial, then $29/month
Course Syllabus:
- Introduction – about taking up the course
- Introduction to C# and .NET framework - .NET applications architecture, CLR, Visual Studio basics, Resharper, simple C# program, and basics of C# and .NET
- Primitive data types and expressions – variables, constants, scope, conversions, operators, logical expressions
- Non-primitive data types – class, objects, structs, arrays, strings, enums, reference type vs. value type
- Control flow – conditional statements, iterations, random class
- Arrays and lists
- Dates, text, input-output, and files
- Debugging and testing applications
3. Intermediate C# Course
If you have completed the basic course, you can move onto this one. If you have some hands-on experience (through projects or bootcamp programs), you can still take up this course, without having to complete the basic one. This is one of the best courses with a good pace and thorough explanations of concepts.
Course Details:
- Course duration: 5.5 hours of learning videos
- 5 articles and 10 downloadable resources
- Completion certificate
- Lifetime access
- Language: English, with subtitles available in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish
- Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of C#
- Course fee: 10-day free trial, then $29/month
Course Syllabus:
- Classes – constructors, object initializers, methods, fields, properties, access modifiers, indexers
- Association between classes – inheritance, class coupling, composition
- Inheritance – upcasting, downcasting, boxing, unboxing
- Polymorphism – method overriding, abstract classes, sealed classes, members
- Interfaces – interfaces vs. testability, extensibility, polymorphism
4. Advanced C# Course
This is a continuation course of the intermediate course and gives you an edge over candidates while appearing for interviews. It is a practical course that focuses on projects and practical experiences rather than just theory, for example, why we are learning a particular topic and how it will be useful in projects. The instructor attempts to clear the many confusing C# constructs.
Course Details:
- Course duration: 3 hours of on-demand video and 1 downloadable resource
- 5 articles
- Certification of completion and full lifetime access to the course
- Language: English, with subtitles available in French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish
- Prerequisites: Intermediate knowledge of C#
- Course fee: 10-day free trial, then $29/month
Course Syllabus:
- Generics
- Delegates
- Lambda expressions
- Events
- Extension models
- Nullable types
- LINQ
- Dynamic
- Exception handling
- Async/Await
5. Programming in Microsoft C# - Exam 70-483
This is a course that will help you prepare for the MCSD certification using C# certification. It focuses on the exam contents, and the course is structured, keeping in mind the exam objectives. It is a basic course, which means no prerequisites.
The course also talks about MCSD certification, so if your objective is to get MCSD, this course will be a good starting point.
Course Details:
- Course duration: 8.5 hours of video coaching
- Level: Basic
- 1 article and 1 downloadable resource
- Certificate of completion
- Full lifetime access to the course material
- Language: English with subtitles in English and Portuguese
- Prerequisites: None
Course Syllabus:
- MCSD certification options
- Visual studio setup and basics
- Basics of C# - classes, objects, OOP concepts, types, value vs. reference type, collections, arrays, exceptions, StringBuilder, stringwriter, stringreader
- C# types: properties and fields, access modifiers, named and optional arguments, constructors, static, structs, casting, conversion, boxing, and unboxing, indexers
- Class hierarchies – inheritance, overloading, overriding, extensions, interfaces, IEnumerable
- Events and delegates
- Garbage collection
- Asynchronous programming
- Data security
6. KnowledgeHut C# Certification Course
KnowledgeHut has great courses that are monitored by highly qualified professionals to provide the best quality content. They provide virtual as well as face-to-face classes. They have tie-ups with some of the best education providers, thus making their certificate quite valuable and accepted by many firms.
Course Details:
- Course duration: 32 hours of instructor-led classes
- Level: Basic to advanced
- A good mix of theory and hands-on for each topic
- 5 case studies and exam guidance from Microsoft certified trainers
- Extensive lab sessions for better learning
- 80 real-life interview questions and answers
- 40 topics with code examples
- Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of the .NET framework, UI, and C#
- Price: $1,710
Course Syllabus:
- Review of .NET framework and Visual studio, C# data types, operators and expressions, C# constructs
- Creating and calling methods, overloading, exception handling, logging, tracing, profiling
- Structs, enums, collections, event handling (create and subscribe)
- Classes, interfaces, generics
- Class hierarchies, inheritance, understanding and creating classes that inherit from .NET framework classes
- File I/O, streams, input, output, data serialization, and deserialization
- Create and use entity data models, using LINQ to query data
- Accessing data from web services and remote data sources, accessing data using WCF data services
- Use XAML to design UI and apply styles, bind XAML control to data
- Use the parallel task library for multitasking, asynchronous operations, multithreading, concurrent access
- Create and use dynamic objects using Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR), managing object lifetime and controlling unmanaged resources
- Create and consume custom attributes, use reflection to inspect and execute assemblies, use CodeDOM to generate managed code at run time, version, sign and deploy assemblies
- Encrypting and decrypting data
Sign up for the course here.
7. C# Programming Specialization Certification Course
This specialization course from Coursera is a part of the 5-course series. It is specifically for those who want to get into game development using Unity. The course assumes that you are a complete novice to the programming world, and hence there are no prerequisites.
Course Details:
- Self-paced course
- Course duration: Approximately 5 months to complete
- Language: English with subtitles English, Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Spanish
- Shareable certification that can be added to your resume
- Price: 7-day free trial, then $39/month
Course Syllabus:
- Course 1: Introduction to C# Programming and Unity
- Course 2: More C# Programming and Unity
- Course 3: C# Class Development
- Course 4: Intermediate Object-Oriented Programming for Unity Games
8. LinkedIn C# Essential Training 1: Syntax and Object-Oriented Programming
LinkedIn courses are reliable and have great value because LinkedIn is the most trusted professional platform. These courses are designed by industry experts and can stand out in your resume and your LinkedIn profile. Each course has a set of quizzes and exercises, and you get a certificate of completion once done. There are offline and audio-only options too, which is unique.
Course Details:
- Language: English
- Type: Beginner
- Course duration: 3 hours, 14 min, 32 seconds
- Course fee: 1-month free trial, then $19.99/month if billed annually, or $39.99/month if billed monthly
- Prerequisites: None
Course Syllabus:
- C# basics – history, .NET framework, visual studio setup, creating a console app.
- C# syntax, variables declaration, built-in data types, objects, strings, StringBuilder, formatters, parsing, constants, and enums, mathematical operators, date and time
- Class and objects – classes, namespaces, auto-properties, encapsulation, access modifiers, constructors, creating methods, static methods, overriding, creating UI, working with user input, creating ToString()
- OOP – abstract classes and methods, virtual methods, interfaces, extension methods
9. C# Essential Training 2: Flow Control, Arrays, and Exception Handling
This is the next part of the above course, which takes you from beginner to intermediate status. It covers advanced topics like arrays, collections, LINQ, controlling program flow, exception handling, etc.
Course Details:
- Language: English
- Type: beginner + intermediate
- Course duration: 2 hours, 19 min, 45 seconds
- Course fee: 1-month free trial, then $19.99/month if billed annually, or $39.99/month if billed monthly
- Prerequisites: Basic C# knowledge
Course Syllabus:
- Running unit tests and how to do test-driven development
- Arrays, collections, LINQ, dictionaries, and unordered data
- Flow control: if/else, switch, logical OR, AND, NOT, for loop, while, do-while, break and continue
- Exception handling – console project, runtime exceptions, debugging the code, try-catch blocks, use of finally
- Production environment – NuGet packages, NLog, build
10. Beginner’s Guide to C#
This course starts with very basic concepts like syntax, variables, OOP techniques and goes on to explain some important advanced concepts used in most projects like enumerators, interfaces, events, abstract classes, etc. Although this is not a very detailed course, if you have less time and more to do, you can do this certification to get into a challenging project that you have always wanted to.
Course Details
- Language: English
- Type: Beginner
- Course Duration: 3 hours, 4 min, 26 seconds
- Course fee: 1-month free trial, then $19.99/month if billed annually, or $39.99/month if billed monthly
- Prerequisites: None
Course Syllabus
- C# basics – Hello World, variables and data types, input configuration, conditional statements, while, for loop, arrays, for each, functions, switch case, collections
- OOP – encapsulation, properties, member variables, static, namespaces, constructors, inheritance
- Exceptions – exception handling, try-catch, throw, breakpoints
- Advanced concepts – enumerators, null values, references, out and ref parameters, method overloading, interfaces, events, abstract classes
- New features – auto-implemented properties, anonymous types, lambda expressions, extension methods, optional arguments, asynchronous methods, string interpolation
11. Complete C# Unity Developer 3D: Ultimate Guide For Beginners
This one is slightly different. The Complete C# Unity Developer course on Udemy teaches you how to build 3D games on the Unity engine. C# is almost mandatory for a wannabe game developer, and Unity is a popular game engine. The course teaches you how to build several types of games, including a racing game and a ball rolling survival game. Of course, it teaches you the basics of game design too.
Course Details:
- Language: English
- Type: Beginner
- Course duration: 22.5 hours
- Course fee: 10-day free trial, then $29/month
- Prerequisite: Basic programming knowledge
Course Syllabus:
- C# fundamentals
- Coding and design patterns
- Basics and Intermediate C# Skills.
- Game Level Creation, UI Creation, Sound Clips Adding to Games and Manipulating them, Particle System etc.
12. C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners
The C# Fundamentals for Absolute Beginners provided by Microsoft is one of the more beginner-friendly courses here. You’ll learn how to program in C# from an expert in the industry. It will also teach you some of the most basic processes, including installing Visual Basic Studio. The course is also free!
Course Details:
- Language: English
- Type: Beginner
- Course duration: Roughly 8.5 hours
- Course fee: Free
- Prerequisites: None
Course Syllabus:
- C# fundamentals
- Conditional statements
- Data types and variables
- Loops
- Data structures
- Methods
- Exception handling
- Namespaces and .NET library
13. C# Development Best Practices
The C# Development Best Practices course at Pluralsight is another slightly different course. This will not teach you how to code in C# specifically, but it will teach you the best coding practices. This includes object-oriented programming, clean coding principles, defensive coding, and asynchronous programming, among many other things.
Course Details:
- Language: English
- Type: Intermediate
- Course duration: 2 hours, 19 min, 45 seconds
- Course fee: 10-day free trial, then $29/month
- Prerequisite: Basic C# course
Course Syllabus:
- Object-oriented programming
- Clean coding principles
- Refactoring
- SOLID principles
- Defensive coding
- Asynchronous programming
C# Certifications Can Boost Your Career
C# certifications can be what sets you apart from other candidates. It can be difficult, but these certifications can really prove themselves worth the effort. In any case, you’ll always be learning as you move along your career, so some certification will come in handy.
For more information on C#, check out the C# tutorial page to see a list of featured and most popular C# courses. You can also check out the top C# interview questions if you want to prepare for a C# interview.
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