ASP.NET Core Learning Roadmap — Beginner → Advanced

STAGE 1: FOUNDATION (Beginner)

Goal → Understand the Core framework basics.

1. C# Fundamentals

Before Core, make sure you know basic C#:

• Variables, Data Types

• OOP: Classes, Objects

• Inheritance, Polymorphism, Abstraction

• Interfaces

• Collections (List, Dictionary)

• LINQ (important!)

Practice
Create a small C# console app with CRUD operations on a List.

2. ASP.NET Core Basics

Learn what Core actually is:

• What is ASP.NET Core?

• .NET SDK, Runtime

• Program.cs / Startup.cs

• Middleware pipeline

• appsettings.json

• Dependency Injection (DI)

Practice:
Create a simple project → return “Hello World" from a controller.

3. MVC Architecture (Very Important)

Understand:

• Model

• View

• Controller

• Flow of request → controller → database → view

Practice:
Build a simple Student Registration (CRUD) app.

STAGE 2: INTERMEDIATE (Core Project Level)

Goal → Build real applications with database + validations + login.

4. Razor Pages + Views

Learn:

• Razor syntax (@)

• Layout pages

• ViewBag vs ViewData vs TempData

• Partial views

• ViewImports & ViewStart

Practice:
Build a dashboard UI with tables & forms.

5. Entity Framework Core (Database Connection)

This is your key skill.

Learn

• Code-first migration

• DbContext

• DbSet

• LINQ queries

• CRUD operations

• Relationships (1-many, many-many)

Practice:
Build CRUD for Users, Products, Orders.

6. Model Validation + ModelState

Understand:

• [Required], [EmailAddress], [Range]

• ModelState.IsValid

• Server-side vs client-side validation

Practice:
Create signup + login forms with validations.

7. Authentication & Authorization

Learn:

• Cookie authentication

• Session

• Claims

• Role-based permissions (Admin/User)

Practice:
Admin panel + User panel login.

8. Dependency Injection (DI)

Most important concept in Core.

Learn:

• AddScoped / AddSingleton / AddTransient

• Inject services in controllers

• Create your own service class

Practice
Make a service for sending email / calculating price.

STAGE 3: ADVANCED (Professional Level)

Goal → Build production-level applications.

9. API Development

Learn:

• REST API fundamentals

• Controllers vs API controllers

• JSON response

• Swagger

• Postman testing

• JWT authentication

Practice:
Create an API for your SecureVault project.

10. Advanced EF Core

Learn:

• Stored Procedures

• Raw SQL Queries

• Transactions

• Performance optimization

• Lazy vs Eager loading

• Global query filters

11. Asynchronous Programming

Understand:

• async / await

• Task

• When to use async controllers

• Avoid blocking threads

Practice
Make database calls async.

12. Middleware (Custom Pipeline)

Learn:

• Create custom middleware

• Logging middleware

• Exception handling middleware

13. File Upload & Download

Learn:

• IFormFile

• Upload to wwwroot

• Save in database

• Return file to download

14. Email Sending

Use:

• SMTP

• Gmail / Outlook

• Background service (Hosted Service)

15. Logging & Error Handling

Learn:

• Built-in logging

• Serilog / NLog

• Global exception handler

• Try-catch best practices

STAGE 4: EXPERT LEVEL (Mastery)

16. Clean Architecture / Onion Architecture

Learn:

• Repository Pattern

• Services Layer

• DTOs

• AutoMapper

• SOLID principles

This makes your projects professional.

17. Performance Optimization

Learn:

• Caching

• Response compression

• Connection pooling

• Pagination

• ViewModel optimization

18. Deployment

Learn:

• Publish to IIS

• Host on Windows/Linux

• Environment variables

• Reverse proxy (Nginx)

EXTRA MUST-HAVE Skills

These are not Core but needed:

• SQL Server (Joins, SPs, Functions, Views)

• Git & GitHub

• Docker basics

• Postman

• Swagger

• JavaScript (basic)

DAILY PRACTICE PLAN (30–45 MINS)

1. Watch 1 concept

2. Do coding practice for that concept

3. Build one real-life mini project

4. Commit to GitHub

5. End your day with debugging practice