Setting Up New .NET Development Team - Advice Needed on What to Buy

Hi folks,

I'm in charge of hiring and setting up a tiny team (2-3) of programmers to do .NET web development and I need to go shopping for equipment & software. Maybe you can help!

These staff will be work for 4-6 months on an interactive web portal that will talk to an MS SQL Server back-end database. Complexity-wise, on a scale of 1 to 10, this project is probably about a 5 or 6 (not rocket science, but still tricky).

Anyways, I'm working on a shopping list! Maybe you can offer some guidance based on your experiences.

I'm assuming I'll need to get each of the programmers...

1) A fast PC with lots of RAM

2) Visual Studio 2008

3) Their choice of a programmer's text editor (e.g., UltraEdit, SlickEdit, etc)

4) Maybe some pre-fab .NET components or code generators? e.g., CodeSmith, .netTiers?

But what else... if you have any suggestions for other items, I would GREATLY appreciate any input you can provide!

I was an old classic-ASP developer a few years back, but I have not yet made the transition to .NET, so my knowledge is VERY limited. What sorts of tools would make YOU happy and productive if you were on my team?

THANKS EVERYBODY! I APPRECIATE THE HELP!

- Walter

Hi there,

1. Don't go for any .NET component library without consulting the developers concerned. Most likely you will not need any. There is a learning curve you want to avoid, there are licence implications, there are questions about how well the components are supported and what to do when the developers run into problems with them. For a 4-6 month project it is not worth it. I've got nothing against. I've used them before and would still used them in future but only where actually necessary and worth it. Without looking at the specific project requirements I would recommend against them. Again if you hire experienced developers they will tell you if any third party tools/components would be benefitial.

2. Do go SQL Server licences for the developers so they can work with their local copies of the database or else provide a server with development databases.

3. Do go for something like JetBrains ReSharper. Most developers find it useful.

4. Consult with the development team once it is assembled they will be able to tell you what you ACTUALLY need.

5. You don't really need any other editors besides Visual Studio. Again when the developers get on the project they might highlight some specific requires (e.g. maybe some specialised XML editors with XPATH/XSL processing capability or a tool for UML diagrams)

Thanks Nelo! That is VERY helpful advice. Appreciate your insights. Best wishes!