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We need to know what is the level of .NET experience needed to take the SDL courses? Is basic knowledge (Beginner) adequate or do we need to take more advanced courses?

And are there any recommendations for the .NET courses that should be taken?

We are interested in the below SDL courses:

  1. Foundation training
  2. Content Modeling
  3. Modular Templating & Dreamweaver
  4. Microsoft.NET Templating
  5. SDL Tridion Event System
  6. Creating custom activities
  7. Workflow API
  8. Core service and Web Services
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As others have pointed out, it truly depends on what you're trying to achieve with Tridion. If you take it from a pure WCM point of view (content management + publishing) then you'll be fine with basic programming knowledge and some time to adapt to Visual Studio and learning Tridion's Modular Templating. Its is very common too see a set of simple templates in Tridion that really just push a structured data model to the delivery tier (using XML or JSON) which your web application then uses to create layouts, views, etc.

If you're going to implement Tridion in a workflow-heavy, automation-heavy, customization-heavy type of environment/organization, then you're in for a ride.

If you're looking to do Workflow tasks:

  • Learn WCF - half the problems you'll have are related to knowing how WCF works rather than Tridion. There are plenty of resources out there about Windows Communication Foundation, and many Tridion CoreService samples out there. Google truly is your friend

If you're looking to do Event automation (auto-publishing, auto-page creation, etc)

  • The Tridion Object Model for .NET (TOM.NET) is where you'll spend a lot of time, and understanding the intricacies of Blueprint contexts. Knowing about .NET event handlers will also not hurt, but the main learning curve here is the TOM. Any good developer (in any OO language) should pick up the fundamentals of the Event System rather quickly, .NET knowledge comes in very handy when dealing with memory leaks in your code or performance bottlenecks.

If you're looking into customizing the Tridion UI (CME or Experience Manager)

  • You'll need solid javascript knowledge and a very flexible learning attitude, as well as WCF for server-side logic.

From an admin point of view, it really helps to understand WCF configuration (especially when dealing with SSO and LDAP) and IIS configuration.

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  • Thanks Nuno for the very thorough and detailed answer. Much appreciated.
    – Husain Zahid
    Jul 1, 2013 at 7:27
  • Do keep in mind that this list is more about "what you need to run Tridion effectively" than "what you need to take the Tridion trainings" - For the trainings you should be fine with basic .NET and OOP knowledge .
    – Nuno Linhares ♦
    Jul 1, 2013 at 9:56
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I think it probably depends on what goals you're wanting to achieve. I managed fine with just front-end stuff (HTML, CSS, Javascript plus some PHP) any .NET knowledge 18 months ago, but I reckon you need to have a coding mindset - others I know did struggle with .NET templating.

You won't need any .NET for foundation, content modelling or modular templating (but you need some understanding of what abstraction is). The others rely on .NET (I didn't do the custom activities course so I don't know).

If you have a background in Java or any other OO programming, I don't think you'd have a problem. The training really covers the Tridion API and has some practical examples and, from my experience, the trainers were Tridion people with experience in the using the APIs, not just tutors.

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  • You DID have a particularly good teacher though! ;)
    – David Forster
    Sep 5, 2013 at 23:58
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if you are asking from the perspective of the per-requisite before undergoing SDL Tridion Training; then I will say even if you do not know .NET, it should be ok, however, it completely depends on your trainer - what kind of knowledge he/she has, how does he/she presents etc. I have taken up Tridion Trainings in 5 organizations and most of the attendees (> 95%) are java people and do not know .NET at all. And post training they were able to work in Tridion independently.

However, if you are asking this question from handling tasks individually post your training, then very basic knowledge about .NET framework, C# library and concepts of Assembly should be fine. In addition, you should also learn very basics of WCF service.

Most important you must know OOPS (regardless of a language) and somewhat IIS - a web server.

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Personally I suggest to have knowledge on below order

  1. OOP's Concept (Strong Knowledge)
  2. Dot Net (Medium Knowledge)
  3. Java (Medium Knowledge)

Most of Tridion implementations are done around "Dot Net".

With all these, you need to understand on

HOW TO USE AND WHERE TO USE TRIDION API'S? (Strong Knowledge required)

The courses which are listed by you, are recommended with Dot Net Knowledge

  1. Foundation training
  2. Content Modeling
  3. Modular Templating & Dreamweaver
  4. Microsoft.NET Templating
  5. SDL Tridion Event System
  6. Creating custom activities
  7. Workflow API
  8. Core service and Web Services

If you trying to work on Content Delivery related implementations, you need to know Java better.

If you want to work on all implementations of Tridion, you should know

C#, Java, WCF, Javascript, XSLT, Tridion API's, SQL Server (Still more..)

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