OK, It's true, I'm a dinosaur.  Go ahead, blow the dust off of me.

Recently I had the formidable task of interviewing peer developers (er.. let me rephrase that to "highly remunerated software engineers) for employment opportunities, directly related to proficiency within C#.  Now, I know it has taken me years to get "up to speed" and I still feel I myself have a long way to go, but I'm amazed how many "impressive resume holders" I get to interview don't have the basics down pat.. this could be simple topics like object initialization/finalization, composition/inheritance, and class design to the more rigorous and fun stuff like multithreading, generics, anonymous functions and canonical forms of C#. 

But now let's bring that "2008".   Every year our beloved .NET teams bring us framework and language enhancements that are truly, well, for lack of a better term, enhancements.  So why is it when I ask basic questions, I get blank stares? ((Hmm, did I finally learn Mandarin?))

Now, I know what some of you are thinking..  what are these "basic questions"? Let me share a few (and help some of you get employed as software engineers).

What's LINQ?
What is an extension method, and how can you use it?
What is a Lambda expression?
How have object and collection initializers changed in the latest .NET incarnations?
What is Hyper-V?

Mind you I am not looking for dissertations and white papers in response.. but I do look for at least some resemblance of "a clue" to what these question topics reference.

Now, if you're serious, I'm going to point you to some resources to make yourself "Great in 2008":

What's LINQ?
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa904594.aspx 
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/04/21/new-orcas-language-feature-query-syntax.aspx

What is an extension method, and how can you use it?
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/03/13/new-orcas-language-feature-extension-methods.aspx
ExtensionMethods - flavorful syntactic sugar (This one goes with my alternate 'trick question'.. Can a null object return a method in C#?)

What is a Lambda expression?
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/04/08/new-orcas-language-feature-lambda-expressions.aspx

How have object and collection initializers changed in the latest .NET incarnations?
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/03/08/new-c-orcas-language-features-automatic-properties-object-initializers-and-collection-initializers.aspx

What is Hyper-V?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv-faq.aspx

While you're at it, read some more of Scott Gu's Blog, leaf through the latest 3 issues of MSDN Magazine, and find out what PerformancePoint, SkyDrive, and ForeFront are. (You can even download free trials.)   You'll be a better feeling person after all the Kool-Aid. 

Extra Credit Question:
 
What is RoundTable?
(Answer: no, this is not where the Knights sit anymore, although we like to think so. )
Find out here: http://www.microsoft.com/uc/products/roundtable.mspx

Disclaimer
The information in this weblog is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights. This weblog does not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employer. It is solely my opinion. Inappropriate comments will be deleted at the authors discretion. All code samples are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose.