I'm a .NET developer by day, and I've met numerous Java developers that have crawled into a .NET role, either as a contractor/freelancer or into a entry/mid-level role at a company, claiming that because they are fantastic Java developers they can pick up C# in no time at all.
Yes, if you have been programming for a number of years then the syntax will come quickly, and you'll find yourself able to use the language. Top that off with an existing code-base and it's fairly easy to get started and to write some usable code. However, in my experience, the kind of ego's we see on sites like Reddit and HN either churn out:
1) Decent code, but only after comparing their own code to what is already out there out of fear of writing something that people will laugh at, regardless of if it works or not.
2) Code that looks like a Java developer wrote it, either rewriting methods that are already a fundamental part of the .NET framework, not using LINQ/Lambdas or anything from C#2-4 and failing to use any of the built-in tools within Visual Studio to check code.
The better programmers fully immerse themselves in the differences between the languages and how they are used. They have chosen to use this new language/framework for a reason, and they enter that world knowing why they did so and what they need to know to become productive for that given task.
As I'm sure everyone on here understands, there is a huge difference between being able to write some code in a given language and working on a given project in that language with others.
This is generally solved with a 1 week onboarding processing into company culture/dev tools. Normally done by assigning an experienced engineer a week of priority time with the newcomer with the focus on showing company tools and techniques. This really shouldn't be an issue if managed even slightly.
LINQ or VS.net compiler features are not difficult to grasp.
So if your 'huge difference' translates into a week of onboarding time, then sure, you can call it a 'huge difference'.
Regardless of how good a developer is, there is simply no way that a single week will get a developer proficient in a different language to write sufficient code. Yes, any sane dev team will dedicate senior developer time towards getting a new member up to speed with the code base, but any transitioning developer working on a non-trivial project will not just pick up everything within a week. It might work like that in a beginning startup with a small code base, but it just doesn't work like that in your typical business., to truly understand how they work within .NET, and to conform to the current standard of how code is written within the company.
That doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how long the transitioning developer has been an employee. It's very likely that this developer is brand new to the team, and even new lead developers or team managers take longer than a week to be proficient at a company.
Yes, LINQ, lambda expressions and many of the other constructs within C# are easy to understand. What takes time is learning where to use these things.
A transitioning developer needs a week of time with a senior dev and the code-base at minimum. They need at least a month to write code to the same speed and standard of another team member, and that is if they really try and adapt to their new tools and environment.
I'm a .NET developer by day, and I've met numerous Java developers that have crawled into a .NET role, either as a contractor/freelancer or into a entry/mid-level role at a company, claiming that because they are fantastic Java developers they can pick up C# in no time at all.
Yes, if you have been programming for a number of years then the syntax will come quickly, and you'll find yourself able to use the language. Top that off with an existing code-base and it's fairly easy to get started and to write some usable code. However, in my experience, the kind of ego's we see on sites like Reddit and HN either churn out:
1) Decent code, but only after comparing their own code to what is already out there out of fear of writing something that people will laugh at, regardless of if it works or not.
2) Code that looks like a Java developer wrote it, either rewriting methods that are already a fundamental part of the .NET framework, not using LINQ/Lambdas or anything from C#2-4 and failing to use any of the built-in tools within Visual Studio to check code.
The better programmers fully immerse themselves in the differences between the languages and how they are used. They have chosen to use this new language/framework for a reason, and they enter that world knowing why they did so and what they need to know to become productive for that given task.
As I'm sure everyone on here understands, there is a huge difference between being able to write some code in a given language and working on a given project in that language with others.