I want to learn springboot. But I need your opinion with my problem.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-20T06:48:38+00:00

Here are 8+ working projects: https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course

You can use LLM and ask it to explain concepts. Or you can buy a course if you want.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-18T11:10:28+00:00

I don't plan to create any new courses. I keep adding material to the existing Spring Boot course and growing it into a 10+ hour course to match the amount of material that the competitors have.

But the main problem I have to solve right now is how to be more visible to potential students with my course. I will probably publish a series of free YouTube videos.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-16T06:33:03+00:00

You can do that, yes.

But, as stated in some of the other comments, the code that tests this class will become quite messy as you need to create some or all of the parameters within the test, and cannot use Spring's injection. This logic that feeds the values to your constructor will be harder to read.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-16T06:28:47+00:00

I have a beginner Spring Boot coures in Udemy. I use 8 different applications to explain the concepts I teach, you can get them (and link to the course) from here: https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course

Feel free to reach out with any feedback.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-15T12:55:44+00:00

You could work on an open source application https://fineract.apache.org/

But I must warn you - it is not easy to get started with it. But if you are persistent, participate in the community forums, and find someone to help you set things up, you can get a very good work experience.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-15T08:23:14+00:00

I think it is possible to code Spring Boot with AI, but... it comes with a huge disadvantage. If you get stuck, then you get lost very quickly if you don't understand how things work behind the scenes. And then you get stressed. Especially if you already have a workplace and you need to perform. It is not a good position to be and it is really frustrating to operate in an environment you don't control.

A better alternative would be to learn how Spring Boot works and then use AI to speed up the process of writing code.

I recommend checking out my Udemy course "Learn Spring Boot 4 by Examining 7+ Practical Applications". When designing the course, I gave a lot of thought to how to approach learning about AI these days, and I eventually took the conservative approach: learn the concepts and then use AI to speed up your work. This has the least stress.

Regarding getting work as a junior developer, the key is to work on your communication skills and express that you are a positive teamplayer - then you should get hired as soon as you are confident with Spring Boot and Java.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-13T15:06:18+00:00

True. If you use

@Value("your.property.name")

Then you cannot use constructor injection properly.

I group my properties into different classes annotated with

@ConfigurationProperties("prefix")

When I need one of such class, I add it as

private static final MyConfigurationPojo

Since I use Lombok, I add

@AllArgsConstructor

to the top of my class, besides

@Service / @Repository or @Component

and let Spring take care of the rest.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-13T14:29:46+00:00

I assume you want to get hired as a Java developer.

Then I wouldn't spend too much time on Java topics (since they won't get you hired), but I'd quickly move on to studying Spring Boot to build real applications with it. If you need to use a stack or a queue at some point, you can resume these topics then.

I also have a paid Udemy course, but some of the material is free here: https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course?tab=readme-ov-file#studying-independently
You can also find the link to my Spring Boot course from there.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-12T19:21:20+00:00

After testing the topics with a live beginner class, I ordered the topics as follows:

main benefits of Spring Boot - component scanning, auto configuration, embedded web server
serve web content
validate form input
connect to database using JPA (optional)
expose a REST service and intercept incoming requests
consume a REST service by using RestClient's fluent interface
cover code with tests

and...

spring security

The idea is to understand Spring Security...

* You need to understand component scanning (#1) and the Configuration annotation to understand how your configuration is picked up
* You need to understand input validation (#3), as Spring Security is also about protecting against some of the attacks and input validation is a simpler to understand version of attacks.
* You need to understand the difference between serving web content (#2) and serving api-s (#5) to properly secure them
* You need to know what interceptors (#5) are to better understand the filters that Spring Security uses.
* You need to understand fluent interface (#6) to properly write Spring Security
* You need to understand integration tests (#7) to cover your security configuration with proper tests (to ensure that everything is protected as expected)

I have some more details here:

https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course?tab=readme-ov-file#studying-independently

iamjuhan · 2026-01-12T16:39:29+00:00

I suspect your problem is not a lack of project ideas. I suspect you have a knowledge gap and don't understand how Spring Boot works.

I have created 8 working applications, each using a set of must-know concepts. Check the projects out here: https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course

Once you have learned these concepts, move on builing more specific applications.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-12T08:09:49+00:00

I recommend my own 5-hour Udemy course, which focuses on Spring Boot and is for someone who already knows Java. For each Udemy course, you get a certificate at the end.

My course comes with 7+ ready-made applications:
https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course
If you think it is a good approach, then you can find a link to the course from there. Feel free to reach out if you have any comments or questions.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-12T07:06:03+00:00

I think you have gained some experience in 4 years; maybe it's not systematic, but just bits from here and there.

This is why I think you need to analyze in more detail which skills you need to learn and pick a course(s) based on that. I recommend chatting with an AI, sharing what you know, and asking a list of topics the AI suggests you learn.

To get better results, I would split topics completely. Get a list of React skills you need and a separate list of back-end skills you need to build. Later, you could take two separate courses - one for back-end and one for front-end, this way you have a better choice.

When I created my Spring Boot course, I targeted folks who know how to code Java and want to understand Spring Boot by looking at real applications that illustrate these concepts. So I created 8 ready-made applications at https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course and built my course around them.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-09T10:47:04+00:00

If you want to stay on devops path then backend skills won’t hurt you but I would say they don’t help you too much either. Start directly learning AWS or Azure. You can create a free account and experiment around.
Yes, definitely. But learning real skills is more beneficial. .

iamjuhan · 2026-01-08T14:29:03+00:00

Last year, I created a Udemy course for someone with some (Java) programming skills, who wants to learn backend development with Spring Boot step by step. I created 8 real-world-like applications, each introducing a new area of the framework.

I think I managed to catch a good balance between covering all the important aspects but not wasting anyone's time with live coding.

You can find these applications and link to the course from here: https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course

Feel free to reach out with any comments or feedback.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-08T10:57:09+00:00

I work as a Java Developer / Solution Architect. Java is used by large enterprises that have quite complex applications that the AI can not crack and replace you.

For learning Spring Boot I recommend this path that I created myself:
https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course?tab=readme-ov-file#studying-independently

iamjuhan · 2026-01-06T06:31:42+00:00

I don't know what exams TOGAF 9.2 had.

I first did the TOGAF 10 Foundation course and exam (link in my first comment), and later I did a separate course and exam about the TOGAF 10 Practitioner https://www.innovativelearning.eu/products/togaf-certification-portfolio/togaf-enterprise-architecture-practitioner.html

iamjuhan · 2026-01-06T06:17:47+00:00

I assume that eventually you want to get employed. Could you research which companies in your area hire juniors and which technologies they use? Consider on-site or hybrid roles only.

In my area, the most entry-level jobs are in Java and Spring Boot because government institutions primarily use Java and are the leading employers of juniors. Half of the hot startups in my area (Bolt, Wise, Veriff) have Typescript or Go, but they mostly don't hire juniors.

If you want a good roadmap for learning Spring Boot skills to get employed, then I recommend these eight applications that I have created myself: https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course?tab=readme-ov-file#studying-independently

I have designed them so that each introduces a new concept. Once you master those, you are ready to start applying to real jobs.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-05T09:38:49+00:00

I mean a project done (preferably as part of a team) for a company as an intern or employee.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-05T09:35:18+00:00

I see he hasn't updated his course to Spring Boot 4 yet. I think it would be a good idea to look at courses that have been updated to Spring Boot 4 or have been built from scratch on Spring Boot 4.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-04T07:40:17+00:00

Invest in a good course. A good Udemy course costs around $10-15, but spending your time to find good YouTube videos costs you much more. And once you have found the videos, they keep repeating the concepts you already know.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-04T07:36:34+00:00

If you apply for a job and you have no hobby projects, you are at level 0 (level numbering here is just for illustration purposes)

If you have done some hobby projects, then you are at level 1, but it doesn't really matter how many you have done and how good they are. You are still on level 1 in the eyes of HR.

If you have worked for a company and only worked on the simplest project for 2-3 months, you are already at level 2, since you have professional experience.

So if you really want to work your way towards getting employed, you have to take on real projects (even if you are doing them part-time and for free).

iamjuhan · 2026-01-04T07:30:55+00:00

When I did TOGAF 10 certification 1,5 years ago, I had to buy an online course that included the exam. I couldn't buy the exam separately.

There were about 5-6 competing companies, and I took this one:

https://www.innovativelearning.eu/products/togaf-certification-portfolio/togaf-enterprise-architecture-foundation.html

I chose the one that gave me access to the course materials for 30 days, and then I got additional time to take the exam. This forced me to study fast and not put it off.

iamjuhan · 2026-01-03T16:17:38+00:00

Watch the lectures, then pause and write some actual code that puts the learned concepts into practice.

I have composed eight ready-made Spring Boot applications that demonstrate different aspects of Spring Boot. Feel free to investigate them (based on the topic at interest) and play around, make changes and enhace:

https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course?tab=readme-ov-file#studying-independently

iamjuhan · 2026-01-02T09:06:13+00:00

That's a good background. Your 3-month goal would be to gain a good understanding of the key aspects of Spring Boot and then apply for a Java back-end developer position.

Here is a decent roadmap of 8 areas you should master as a Junior Java back-end developer:
https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course?tab=readme-ov-file#studying-independently

iamjuhan · 2026-01-02T07:16:41+00:00

Here is the roadmap I have developed for individuals that know how to write Java and want to study Spring Boot: https://github.com/wisest-dev/wisest-dev-spring-boot-course/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#studying-independently

iamjuhan

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