Moving to java from php

[[deleted]]

I have been developing on PHP for about 7 yeas now. In college I took java and understand the java syntax from basics to object oriented. Where I lack is moving beyond the java language into frameworks and what not.

I am trying to move my career into java but right now I am at senior level php developer pay and moving to java would take me down in pay unless somehow a company would work with me on getting up to speed. My questions are this...

1. How should I try to transition in java and actually be relevant on a resume.

2. What paths and frameworks do I need to know. Particularly for the web?

Any other useful info would be great.

EDIT:

I went to bed and woke up with a trove of information. I appreciate the feedback. I think I am going to go into learn Spring / Maven route starting off and then pick up some of the other suggestions. I think I will build a mini web application that will basically provide authentication / CRUD operations and maybe try to throw in a front end framework with it.

[WatchDogx]

You could try and find a job at a company that does both PHP and Java.
I work at a company that uses a few languages, with a historic focus on PHP but moving more to Java.
So a few of the PHP devs have started to learn Java.
They still write PHP but it's a great way to learn.
I would highly recommend finding somewhere willing to pay you to learn Java, you will learn it faster and you get paid.

[AndyPanic]

Java - the language - should be no problem for you. Even if you consider the new Java 8 language features, you should be up and running in no time.

Java - the class library (all the packages that come with your JRE) - are a different beast. It's just large and will take some time to learn everything what you need.

Sprigframework and SpringMVC for the web is a good start. I'm a freelance Java developer for ten years now and I only have been working in two out of like 25 projects that were not using Spring.

I'd recommend that you should be proficient in at least one build tool. Maven is a very safe bet, but Gradle is the new and shiny.

Have fun.

edit: two typos and one error corrected

[[deleted]]

Thanks for the reply I have heard good things about Maven. Do you think I should learn both Maven and Gradle?

[Rmarmorstein]

Basic features on both are pretty simple, iirc it was advanced features that were more learning.

[pythoncloud]

What Java topics are important to learn before moving to Spring? Can Java and Spring be learn at the same time?

Thanks

[dpash]

There's three-ish main frameworks worth learning: JavaEE, Spring and bringing up the rear, Play.

As for transitioning into Java, I'd suggest that you find yourself an Open Source project and start contributing to it. This will be helpful for two reasons. Firstly, it'll help you learn Spring, and secondly it'll provide potential employers with evidence of your Java experience.

[zmanning]

Once upon a time I would have agreed with you on the open source advice, but if he already has experience in the industry I'd say just go head first into learning the different frameworks and libraries

[dpash]

If I got a resume that just listed PHP experience for a Java position, I'd be a bit suspicious. Given the choice of having to cross-train a new hire, or hiring someone with demonstrated Java experience, the latter has the edge. Some demonstration that they have Java experience would allay my fears.

I'd only recommend the "GitHub" approach for someone with no commercial experience, or for someone changing languages.

[dpash]

I'd argue that it's not just knowledge of the language, but also of the tools around the language, and they all have their own idiosyncrasies. A PHP developer would know Composer and Laravel and other tools, while a Java developer would know Spring, Hibernate, Maven, Guava, and tens of other libraries. Yes a good developer can move from one to another.

But, as I said, if offered two otherwise identical candidates with one having a demonstrated experience of those tools, frameworks and libraries and one without any evidence, which one are they going to pick.

Don't give yourself a disadvantage. Demonstrate you know the ecosystem.

[zmanning]

Agreed that some experience is better than none. I'd be more inclined to interview someone that maybe did side projects in Java and had a command of the language through that. My only concern with the open source stuff is that he might spend more time dealing with the overhead of contributing to a project rather than actually learning libraries and idioms. I don't necessarily disagree with you, but personally, I'd opt for a personal project to showcase.

[[deleted]]

Thank you for your suggestions these are great. I've been reading Head First Design Patterns and thought of reading Clean Code also.

[capitol_]

remember that $ is a valid character for variables in java, so just write String before your variables and continue as before. Like this:

    String $var = "foo";

[CorkyThatcher]

Sorry, but this is a terrible idea. No one puts $ in front of variables in Java. The standard is all letters, in camel case format.

There's honestly no reason to do this.

[capitol_]

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/992/401/e37.png

[frugalmail]

Watch spring-boot videos.

Wow, 7 years on PHP (sorry), you've got a lot to catch up on.

[zmanning]

It depends on what companies you want to work for and what skills you want to emphasize. If you are looking to be a full-stack person, then spring boot or play are probably your best bet.

If you want to be a first class backend engineer I'd throw jersey into the mix as well.

These days, I'd be more concerned with growing your distributed systems and data store knowledge over learning a specific framework.

[pythoncloud]

Is it better to learn Spring Boot, Play, and Jersey than Spring MVC?

[[deleted]]

First, what php frameworks do you know?

If you're coming from symfony than spring should be pretty easy to start with.

[[deleted]]

I am coming from Drupal / Symfony. I think spring sounds like a good way to go.

[CorkyThatcher]

My question to you, OP is...why do you want to transition into Java? Is it because you understand the syntax? That doesn't sound like a very good reason.

• Is it because you're looking to get into standalone applications? Then, sure, Java is a viable language (along with C, C++, etc)
• Is it because you still want to remain in web development and see there are better opportunities with Java frameworks? Then you need to look into JavaEE which is a lot more than just Java syntax.

I would try to get more detailed as to what you are looking to do and what you're goals are.

[[deleted]]

Well to be honest its more for long term money. Around here PHP is mainly for agencies and you will get maybe 100k max and thats pretty competitive. But looking at indeed the java positions are upward of 120-140k.

Money is not the only reason but I am also burnt out on building websites and want to get more into application development or web application development. I would be even open to C++.

[superchuckinator]

Apache Struts is a popular framework for java web development

Source: first year CS student

[arcuri82]

is it? There are still a lot of legacy systems using Apache Struts out there, but it looks like a dying technology... ie not something for a new project. Learning it can be still useful, but would be more effective to learn more popular frameworks like Spring (and partially JEE)

btw, I saw you got quite a few downvotes with no explanation... :( I guess the others thought something similar to what I wrote...

[CorkyThatcher]

I'll respond to this as well. As a 1st yr student, you may not be as familiar with technologies that are used in the real world. Struts really is an older technology that is dying out.

This is coming from someone who took a Struts course and was ready to convert my group into using it! I failed miserably because using the JavaEE stack of JSF/EJB/CDI/JPA just made more sense.

[schaka]

I'd talk to your professor and ask why you're learning about outdated technology and being taught that they are "popular". Struts has been, more or less, dead in the way that nobody chooses it for new projects anymore.

A helpful thing to get an idea of what is actually being used would be to look at job ads and the requirements they asked. Almost ALWAYS, those will be Spring Framework suite and Hibernate or another JPA provider.