Dev Leader

@devleader

Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft. Views are my own.

Total Audience: 94.9k+

About Dev Leader
Nick Cosentino — known online as Dev Leader — is a Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft, content creator, and co-founder of BrandGhost, an AI-powered social media management platform built for creators and founders.

Nick has spent over a decade working across software engineering roles at Microsoft, leading teams and shipping products at scale. Outside of his day job, he has built one of the most recognized C# and .NET education brands online.

His primary YouTube channel, Dev Leader, covers C#, .NET, software architecture, design patterns, dependency injection, performance optimization, and engineering career growth — all with a focus on making complex concepts approachable. Whether you are a junior developer learning the fundamentals or a senior engineer tackling distributed systems, Dev Leader content meets you where you are.

His second channel, Code Commute, is a long-form conversational show and companion podcast designed for developers on the go. Episodes explore real-world software engineering topics, industry trends, and career advice — the kind of conversations that happen between engineers, not in textbooks.

In addition to YouTube, Nick publishes a weekly newsletter on Substack and runs live coding streams on Twitch and Kick. His writing spans software architecture, C# language features, open source projects, and engineering management.

BrandGhost — the platform Nick co-founded — powers the content workflow behind many of the posts you see from Dev Leader. It is built for creators who want to stop manually juggling social media and start growing with AI-assisted scheduling, topic streams, and multi-platform publishing.

If you are looking to grow as a software engineer, follow the Dev Leader newsletter and YouTube channel. If you are a creator or founder looking to streamline your content, check out BrandGhost.
Courses

Level up your software engineering and career skills with Dometrain courses.

Career: Getting Promoted as a Software Engineer

Career: Getting Promoted as a Software Engineer

Nick Cosentino (Microsoft) and Ryan Murphy (Yelp) share everything you need to know to get your well-deserved promotion — written by two engineering managers who've interviewed hundreds of engineers and helped them climb the ladder.

$99
Enroll Now
Career: Nailing the Behavioral Interview

Career: Nailing the Behavioral Interview

Most developers fail their next job because of the behavioral interview. Nick (Microsoft) and Ryan (Yelp) draw on hundreds of interviews conducted to help you craft strong stories, handle tough questions, and ace it every time.

$99.99
Enroll Now
Getting Started: C#

Getting Started: C#

Whether you have no programming experience or know a different language, Nick Cosentino teaches you everything to get started with C# — one of the most popular languages powering Office, Azure, and Windows.

$89.99
Enroll Now
Deep Dive: C#

Deep Dive: C#

Picking up where Getting Started left off, Nick dives deeper into C#: OOP with inheritance and composition, generics, streams, delegates, LINQ, async/await, and multithreading.

$89.99
Enroll Now
From Zero to Hero: Refactoring for C# Developers

From Zero to Hero: Refactoring for C# Developers

Practical refactoring techniques to improve code quality and maintainability in any C# codebase. Real-world examples from a Microsoft Principal Engineering Manager.

$89.99
Enroll Now
1:1 Services

Work directly with Nick to level up your career or engineering leadership.

Management & Leadership Consult — 30 mins

Management & Leadership Consult — 30 mins

A focused 30-minute 1:1 with a Microsoft Principal Engineering Manager. Ideal for targeted questions on leadership, management, or career growth.

$300
Book a Session
Management & Leadership Consult — 60 mins

Management & Leadership Consult — 60 mins

A deep-dive 60-minute 1:1 with a Microsoft Principal Engineering Manager. Work through complex challenges in team leadership, career strategy, or engineering management.

$500
Book a Session
Merch

Dev Leader branded mugs and gear.

Debugging Mug - Black

Debugging Mug - Black

Fuel your debugging sessions in style. Black ceramic mug, lead and BPA-free, available in 11oz and 15oz.

$8.99
Buy Now
Dark Mode Mug - Black

Dark Mode Mug - Black

Caffeinate and code in style with this black ceramic Dark Mode mug. Lead and BPA-free, available in 11oz and 15oz.

$8.99
Buy Now
99 Bugs Mug - Black

99 Bugs Mug - Black

99 bugs in the code — take one down, caffeinate. Black ceramic mug, lead and BPA-free, available in 11oz and 15oz.

$8.99
Buy Now
99 Bugs Mug - White

99 Bugs Mug - White

99 bugs in the code — take one down, caffeinate. White ceramic mug, lead and BPA-free, available in 11oz and 15oz.

$7.99
Buy Now
Debugging Mug - White

Debugging Mug - White

Fuel your debugging sessions in style. White ceramic mug, lead and BPA-free, available in 11oz and 15oz.

$7.99
Buy Now
Dark Mode Mug - White

Dark Mode Mug - White

Caffeinate and code in style with this white ceramic Dark Mode mug. Lead and BPA-free, available in 11oz and 15oz.

$7.99
Buy Now
Recommended Books

Books Nick recommends for .NET developers and software architects.

Architecting ASP.NET Core Applications

Architecting ASP.NET Core Applications

An atypical design patterns guide for ASP.NET Core. Covers clean architecture, vertical slice, microservices, SOLID principles, and more for .NET 8 and C# 12.

View on Amazon
Web Development with Blazor

Web Development with Blazor

Build modern web apps in C# without JavaScript. Covers Blazor Server, WebAssembly, Hybrid, and SSR with streaming rendering in .NET 8.

View on Amazon
Apps and Services with .NET 8

Apps and Services with .NET 8

A practical guide to modern .NET 8 services and apps — gRPC, GraphQL, SignalR, Azure Functions, Cosmos DB, Blazor Full Stack, and more.

View on Amazon
Software Architecture with C# 12 and .NET 8

Software Architecture with C# 12 and .NET 8

Put software architecture theory into practice with C# 12 and .NET 8. Covers microservices, domain-driven design, DevOps pipelines, and a full real-world case study.

View on Amazon
C# 12 and .NET 8 - Modern Cross-Platform Development Fundamentals

C# 12 and .NET 8 - Modern Cross-Platform Development Fundamentals

A beginner-to-intermediate guide to C# 12 and .NET 8 with hands-on exercises covering OOP, LINQ, Blazor, and ASP.NET Core.

View on Amazon
Digital Products

Digital downloads and templates from Dev Leader.

Design Patterns 1.0

Design Patterns 1.0

A quick-reference e-book covering 23+ Gang of Four design patterns with descriptions, use cases, and C# implementation guidance. Future updates included free.

$4.99
Buy Now
Brag Document / Highlight Tracker Template

Brag Document / Highlight Tracker Template

A free template to track your wins and impact as a software engineer. Supports performance reviews, promotion conversations, and career growth — from a Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft.

Free
Get It Free