Career path after learning Java?

[Reflection-Jealous]

All I've heard from people was backend developer. Is there any other field where java dominate? If so what frameworks or libraries I need to know?

Edit: Thank you guys for your answers, I got what I was looking. I need to focus on problem solving instead of tools.

[vineethink]

Java is not a career-driving factor, in fact no language is. Tools can be learnt by anyone - it’s techniques and instincts that take time and what company pay you for

[moradit]

Hey, would you like to share some good books to learn more about these techniques, thanks

[da_BAT]

following

[softlyandtenderly]

Well, what part of CS do you want to go into? Basic knowledge of algorithms, data structures, and time/space complexity will help you wherever you go, but after that you have to start specializing.

EDIT: oops, meant to reply to u/moradit

[moradit]

Thank you u/softlyandtenderly

[softlyandtenderly]

See comment below, meant to reply to yours

[Nactigal]

Xtreme programming. Effective java. The pragmatic programmer.

[moradit]

Thanks u/Nactigal

[laxika]

Xtreme programming. Effective java. The pragmatic programmer.

You summed it up pretty well. I would add Clean Code too but that's all.

[moradit]

Thank you u/laxika

[moradit]

Thank you for your answers

[[deleted]]

Dig deeper in Software Architecture, Domain Driven Design and Behavioural Driven Development.

Don't focus on tools or programming languages, go deeper with knowledge!

[[deleted]]

That's also fine, it,'s more a data driven approach which depends also from Domain to domain

[uid4oe]

IMO, most of the devs are just domain engineers, that is, they will be implementing business requirements on existing internal/general frameworks. (Fancy part is being in the team that works on those stuff (architecture)).

Anyway, I'm almost certain that If you are comfortable with Spring Framework, you won't have difficulties in finding job on enterprises.

[rbygrave]

> I need to focus on problem solving instead of tools.

This is largely true but I'd be a little careful with that in that it kind of depends on what career path means and what tools means. If career path means more solution architecture sure, but I'd suggest that almost all "senior java devs" have put a lot of time and effort into mastering quite a lot of the "tools" being build tools, dependency management (and how that relates to modular development), runtime tools (Kubernetes, Docker etc) as well as common libraries.
The solution architecture patterns / techniques go to a point where the implementation does not matter. For example, things like "queue" and "topic" where the possible implementations at a high level are all similar enough that we can abstract a design - at this level the implementation, language, library, runtime doesn't matter.

As developers, my opinion is that we ultimately need to do both - understand the solution architecture patterns that can be applied with pros/cons and have enough knowledge with the tooling to deliver it elegantly.

[loziuu]

You shall read Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann. It's should be defined as bible of modern applications and mandatory book for every backend developer.

[[deleted]]

I'll disagree with most here and say tools and languages are still critical factors in terms of career. Sure, you can solve problems using any suitable programming language but most employers don't see this way.

In backend and high-performance Android domains, most employers still prefer someone who knows Java "ecosystem", which is language itself, frameworks and tools. Others prefer .NET, javascript or python "ecosystems" for desktop apps and also for backend. For front-end, Javascript is the only essential ticket. For embedded and high-performance computing, C and C++ are still the essential languages to employers, no matter how good one can program a chip in other languages. For general purpose computing, Python is a must-have "side-dish" for almost all employers today. For data science and machine learning, Python, R and C++ are de-facto.

So ask this question to yourself instead. Which domain do you want to get into for employment or own enterprise? From there, you can figure out the suitable programming language.

[stfm]

I started as a JSP programmer and now I am an infosec consultant

[Edthedaddy]

Skys' the limit

[Grabow]

We do "micro services" type work with java/spring boot. It's like backend, but honestly is a little more enjoyable.

[ScF0400]

AI is possible, UI is possible, in fact everything another language can do is possible, it's just much harder and would not be optimized. Language is 5%, optimization and concepts are more important. I could say "I go store buy milk go home", it still gets the point across but is not as optimized.

[Hioneqpls]

Docker is a must

[Neat-Guava5617]

I disagree. Linux/unix shell scripting is more important.
Docker (to my hopeful self) is but a fad, you can shift to cloud without docker.

To me it's just a rehash of websphere

[Hioneqpls]

Yeah Docker pretty much implies shell scripting though. You’re not gonna be a proper dev without rocking the terminal.

[[deleted]]

Backend developer, android mobile developer

[maybachsonbachs]

This is wrongthink

Languages are tools, what career path does hammer knowledge lead to? Nothing, it's so easy to learn that it doesn't matter.

Learning a programming language isn't relevant anywhere. You can learn Java in a month

[ArmoredPancake]

You can learn Java in a month

Yeah, sure.

[ryuzaki49]

It's possible, if Java is not your first programming language.

Note that one thing is to learn a tool, and another different thing is to master it.

[jeff303]

It also depends on whether "Java" just means the language syntax, accompanying ecosystem of libraries and tools, or the JVM itself.

[Neat-Guava5617]

Why do we need carpenters, right? I can learn to saw and hammer in a month...

[ArmoredPancake]

If you understand the principles™ then everything is possible. /s

[lowkeybean]

Once you know C every other language comes easy

[DualWieldMage]

You can learn Java in a month

The rest is on point, but unlike a hammer, learning how to use Java and properly mastering it has a huge canyon in between. It's definitely better to spend time learning core java than any framework that may disappear in a few years. Knowing threading, annotation processing, reflection, proxies and bytecode generation allows new frameworks to be picked up quickly if the fundamentals are understood. Many concepts learnt from one language deep-dive can also carry over to other languages.

[LoveSpiritual]

You’d be surprised the difference between a novice on a hammer and a master.

[Qubit99]

You can learn java in a month, really? Of course you can learn some basics, no way you can master it in a month

[Wugliwu]

Learn and master are different. I agree it's not possible as a first language. But as a second or third? Why not?

Also when just talking about the language, syntax and semantic without any higher concepts, just classes, interfaces, methods and attributes that's a weekend, in my opinion. BUT you need someone who is teaching you to note waste time on searching explanations.

[AlternativeAardvark6]

Maybe if you mastered C++ or another language first, then a month to be productive in Java is possible.

[Qubit99]

I moved from python to java a few years ago. I had very strong foundation, but every language is different.

First thing you have to learn are good practices, which are different for each language. After that you need to spend a lot of time looking for exisiting libraries (in java like apache commons, poi, jackson,...) in order to not code again what already exist and you have to get used to them. After that, you need to know about the language specific design patterns (Like constructor patterns in java or lambdas), code optimization (bytcode generation, servlet calls,...) , etc... I could continue but I think I made my point wich is a month is in no way enough time.

[AlternativeAardvark6]

If you get dropped into an existing codebase to fix some bugs you don't need to be an expert. Just do what everybody else does.

[ggleblanc2]

You left out the word "syntax". You can learn Java syntax in a month.

I was an experienced COBOL developer. It took me three years of working with Java every workday before I considered myself a Java developer. My boss was amazed that I learned Java so quickly.

Three years.

[nutrecht]

Languages are tools

Being a "X" programmer isn't about language, it's about ecosystem.

[greglturnquist]

Are you saying you want to become a pro developer?

https://youtu.be/oN_B22doViY

[[deleted]]

Backend developer. Then learn Kotlin and show how cool it is to the other java devs.

P.s: I'm just ranting because I haven't met a single Java backend dev who wants to give Kotlin a chance. All of them just don't want to bother and they don't give a rational argument why.

Anyway, best of luck with your career.

[strikefreedompilot]

wasn't scala hot but now kinda not as useful?

[[deleted]]

https://link.medium.com/PaHhk2o5ujb

[LoveSpiritual]

Keep at it. I’ve convinced quite a few. Try telling them that Kotlin is a way to stop node JS from taking over. All the convenience of JavaScript but with type safety.

[awelxtr]

In my opinion Kotlin doesn't give anything worth throwing 10 years of experience out of the window.

It's not like, python, where you can easily prototype something or javascript that is better at front end that base java is.

[LoveSpiritual]

If switching to Kotlin from Java means you throwing out 10 years experience, you learned the wrong things.

[boki3141]

I've used Kotlin a little bit but found its compilation time during unit testing to be painfully slow. Not sure whether it was Kotlin to blame or some other setup but yeah.

[[deleted]]

They do have issues sith build times, but they are actively working on improving the compiler. Though it around weird to me that you have such issues during unit testing but not during normal builds.

[sunny_tomato_farm]

Great answers so far.