Java Full Stack Developer - Complete Roadmap

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Java Full Stack Developer – Complete Roadmap
Java Full Stack Developer – Complete Roadmap
1. Understanding the Foundations
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+)
HTTP / HTTPS / REST
Client–server model
Version Control: Git & GitHub
Basic networking (IP, DNS, Ports)
APIs & JSON
Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
Requirements & use cases
Basic UML diagrams
IDE: IntelliJ / Eclipse / VS Code
Build tools: Maven & Gradle
Java SDK (AdoptOpenJDK / Oracle JDK)
2. Java Programming (Core to Expert)
Data types & variables
Operators & expressions
if / switch / loops
Arrays & Strings
Methods & constructors
Method overloading
OOP: Encapsulation
Inheritance & Polymorphism
Abstraction & interfaces
Packages & access modifiers
Exception handling
I/O & NIO.2 APIs
Generics & Collections (List, Map, Set)
Lambda expressions
Streams API
Functional interfaces & Optional
Reflection & annotations
Java Modules (9+)
Records & sealed classes
Pattern matching for switch
Virtual threads (Project Loom)
3. JVM Internals & Performance
JVM architecture
Class loader & bytecode
Heap & stack
Garbage collectors (G1, ZGC, Shenandoah)
JIT compilation
Memory tuning basics
Threading & concurrency
Executors & futures
CompletableFuture
Profilers (VisualVM, JProfiler)
Logging: SLF4J / Log4j
Lombok for boilerplate
4. Web Development with Java
Servlet lifecycle
HttpServletRequest / Response
RequestDispatcher & filters
Listeners & sessions
JSP basics & EL
JSTL tags
Simple MVC with Servlets
Form handling & validation
Legacy to modern evolution
5. Modern Backend with Spring Ecosystem
IoC & Dependency Injection
Beans & ApplicationContext
AOP concepts
Spring configuration (XML / annotations)
Spring Boot auto-configuration
Starter dependencies
REST APIs with @RestController
@RequestMapping / @PathVariable
@RequestBody & ResponseEntity
Global exception handling
Profiles & configuration properties
CommandLineRunner & ApplicationRunner
Spring Data JPA & Hibernate
Entity mapping & relationships
Repositories & pagination
Transactions & caching
Redis / EHCache
DTOs & mappers
6. Spring Security & Authentication
Authentication & authorization
UserDetails & roles
Role-based access control
JWT integration
Token filters
Refresh tokens
OAuth2 & SSO basics
CSRF & CORS
Password hashing (BCrypt)
Security configuration classes
Method-level security
API key protection
7. Spring Cloud & Microservices
Monolith vs microservices
Service discovery (Eureka)
Config Server
API Gateway (Spring Cloud Gateway)
Load balancing
OpenFeign clients
Circuit breaker (Resilience4j)
Retries & fallbacks
Distributed tracing (Zipkin / Sleuth)
8. Frontend Technologies
React.js
Angular
Vue.js
HTML5 & CSS3 basics
JavaScript (ES6+)
TypeScript fundamentals
Tailwind CSS / Bootstrap
Responsive layouts
Accessibility basics
REST API integration (Axios / Fetch)
Routing & navigation
Form handling & validation
State management (Redux / NgRx / Pinia)
Component reuse
UI testing strategy
9. Databases & Persistence
Relational DBs: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle
Tables, keys, relationships
Normalization
SQL: SELECT, WHERE, JOIN
GROUP BY & aggregates
Views & stored procedures
NoSQL: MongoDB
Redis for caching
Elasticsearch for search
JPA / Hibernate
Entity relationships
Lazy vs eager loading
Liquibase / Flyway migrations
Indexing & query tuning
Connection pooling
10. Testing & Quality Assurance
JUnit 5 unit tests
Mockito for mocking
Spring Boot Test / WebMvcTest
Integration tests
Testcontainers
Cucumber (BDD)
Selenium / Playwright UI tests
API tests with Postman
Contract testing basics
SonarQube analysis
Jacoco coverage
Checkstyle / PMD rules
11. Build, Packaging & Deployment
Maven project structure
Gradle build scripts
Dependency management
JAR & WAR packaging
Fat jars with Spring Boot
Multi-module projects
Application servers
Tomcat / Jetty / Undertow
Enterprise: WildFly / Payara
Docker images for apps
Environment configs
Versioning & tagging
12. Linux & System Operations
File operations (ls, cp, mv, rm)
Permissions (chmod, chown)
Search (grep, find)
Processes (ps, top, kill)
Memory & disk usage
System logs
Network tools (ping, curl)
SSH & SCP
Rsync for backups
Nginx reverse proxy
SSL with Let’s Encrypt
systemd services
Cron jobs
Log rotation
13. DevOps & CI/CD Integration
Docker fundamentals
Docker Compose for local stack
Kubernetes basics
Helm charts
ConfigMaps & Secrets
K8s deployments & services
Jenkins pipelines
GitHub Actions / GitLab CI
Build → Test → Package → Deploy
Artifact repos (Nexus / Artifactory)
SonarQube in CI
Automated quality gates
Prometheus & Grafana
ELK stack
Spring Boot Actuator
14. Cloud Platforms & Deployment
AWS: EC2, S3, RDS
Elastic Beanstalk
CloudWatch monitoring
Google Cloud: App Engine
Cloud Run & Cloud SQL
Azure Web Apps
Azure DevOps pipelines
Blue–green deployments
Rolling updates
Environment-specific configs
15. Security & Best Practices
Input validation & sanitization
HTTPS everywhere
CORS & CSRF rules
OWASP Top 10 awareness
Secure password storage
Secrets management
Dependency scanning (Snyk)
Dependabot updates
Code reviews
Rate limiting & throttling
Audit logs
Security testing in CI
16. Agile, Scrum & Collaboration
Agile mindset
Sprints & standups
Retrospectives
User stories & story points
Backlog grooming
Incremental delivery
Jira / Trello / Asana
Slack / Teams
Confluence / Notion docs
Postman / Swagger / OpenAPI
API documentation
Team communication
17. System Design & Architecture
Layered architecture
Controller → Service → Repository
DTO & DAO patterns
Core patterns: Singleton, Factory
Builder, Strategy, Observer
MVC / MVVM
Microservices design
API gateway & service registry
Event-driven architecture
Async messaging (Kafka / RabbitMQ)
Caching strategies (Redis)
Distributed logging
18. Performance Optimization
JVM tuning & GC optimization
Heap sizing
GC logs analysis
Database indexing
Query optimization
Pagination & limits
HTTP caching
Response compression
CDN usage
Thread pool tuning
Connection pools
Performance tests
19. Portfolio Projects (Show Expertise)
Employee Management System
E-commerce platform
Blog CMS
Microservices banking app
Real-time chat application
Job portal / internship platform
UML diagrams
API documentation
CI/CD pipelines
Docker & cloud deployment
README & tech stack notes
Showcase on GitHub & LinkedIn
20. Recommended Learning Path
Core Java → OOP → Collections
Streams & Java 8–17 features
SQL & JDBC
JPA / Hibernate
Spring Boot REST APIs
Testing & security
Spring Cloud & microservices
Frontend framework (React / Angular)
Docker & CI/CD
Linux & cloud deployment
System design fundamentals
21. Bonus Skills & Continuous Learning
TypeScript & advanced React
GraphQL APIs with Spring
Shell & Python scripting
Kafka / RabbitMQ
Advanced monitoring
New Java LTS releases
Follow Java & Spring blogs
Conference talks & meetups
Refactor & improve projects

Complete Roadmap

1. Understanding the Foundations

Before diving into frameworks, build strong programming and web fundamentals.

Core Technologies

  • HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+)
  • HTTP / HTTPS / REST principles
  • Version Control: Git & GitHub
  • Basic Networking: Client-server, IP, DNS, API, and Ports
  • Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

Tools & Environment

  • IDE: IntelliJ IDEA / Eclipse / VS Code
  • Build Tools: Maven, Gradle
  • Java SDK: AdoptOpenJDK or Oracle JDK
  • Terminal / Command Line & Git Bash

2. Java Programming (Core to Expert Level)

Learn Java deeply — this is the heart of backend development. Focus on modern versions:
Java 8 (foundation), Java 17 (LTS), and Java 21/25 (latest innovations).

Core Java Concepts

  • Data Types, Variables, Operators
  • Control Statements (if, loop, switch)
  • Arrays and Strings
  • Methods, Constructors, and Overloading
  • OOP Concepts: Encapsulation, Inheritance, Polymorphism, Abstraction
  • Packages and Access Modifiers

Advanced Java Concepts

  • Exception Handling
  • Generics and Collections Framework (List, Map, Set, Queue)
  • Lambda Expressions (Java 8+)
  • Streams API (Java 8)
  • Functional Interfaces
  • Optional Class
  • Method and Constructor References
  • Multithreading & Concurrency (Executors, Future, CompletableFuture)
  • Synchronization and Locks
  • I/O and NIO.2 APIs
  • Reflection API
  • Annotations and Metadata
  • Java Modules (Java 9+)
  • Records, Sealed Classes (Java 17)
  • Pattern Matching for Switch (Java 17–25)
  • Virtual Threads (Project Loom, Java 21/25)

Memory & JVM Deep Dive

  • JVM Architecture: Class Loader, Heap, Stack
  • Garbage Collection (G1, ZGC, Shenandoah)
  • JIT Compiler
  • Memory Management & Performance Tuning

Java Tools & Utilities

  • JUnit & Mockito for Unit Testing
  • Log4j / SLF4J for Logging
  • Lombok for Boilerplate Reduction

3. Web Development with Java

Servlets & JSP (Foundations)

  • Servlet Lifecycle
  • RequestDispatcher, Filters, Listeners
  • JSP scripting & JSTL
  • MVC architecture

You won’t use these much in modern projects, but they help you understand how frameworks evolved.

4. Modern Backend Development with Spring Ecosystem

Spring Framework Basics

  • Inversion of Control (IoC) & Dependency Injection (DI)
  • ApplicationContext & Bean Lifecycle
  • AOP (Aspect Oriented Programming)
  • Spring Configuration (XML & Annotation)

Spring Boot

  • Auto-configuration and Starter Dependencies
  • RESTful API Development
  • @RestController, @RequestMapping, @PathVariable, @RequestBody
  • ResponseEntity & Exception Handling
  • Profiles & Configuration Properties
  • CommandLineRunner & ApplicationRunner

Spring Data JPA / Hibernate

  • ORM and Entity Mapping
  • One-to-One, One-to-Many, Many-to-Many
  • JPQL & Criteria API
  • Repositories & Pagination
  • Caching with EHCache / Redis
  • Transaction Management

Spring Security

  • Authentication & Authorization
  • Role-based Access
  • JWT Integration
  • OAuth2 / Single Sign-On (SSO)
  • CSRF protection

Spring Boot Advanced Topics

  • Actuator for Monitoring
  • Spring DevTools
  • Custom Error Handling
  • Async Requests
  • Profiles for Environment Configuration

Spring Cloud (Microservices)

  • Service Discovery (Eureka)
  • Config Server
  • API Gateway (Spring Cloud Gateway)
  • Circuit Breaker (Resilience4j / Hystrix)
  • OpenFeign for REST Communication
  • Distributed Tracing (Zipkin / Sleuth)

5. Frontend Technologies for Java Developers

Recommended Options

  • React.js – component-based UI for dynamic apps
  • Angular – enterprise-friendly, TypeScript-based
  • Vue.js – lightweight and flexible

Frontend Essentials

  • HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+)
  • Tailwind CSS / Bootstrap
  • REST API integration (Axios / Fetch)
  • Routing and State Management
  • Form Handling and Validation
  • Responsive UI & Accessibility

(If working with Spring Boot + Thymeleaf, learn:)

  • Thymeleaf templates
  • Form binding
  • Internationalization (i18n)

6. Databases & Persistence

Relational Databases

  • MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle DB
  • SQL Queries, Joins, Functions, Views, Stored Procedures
  • Indexing, Normalization, and Transactions

NoSQL Databases

  • MongoDB – document-based
  • Redis – caching and in-memory store
  • Elasticsearch – full-text search

ORM & Data Tools

  • JPA / Hibernate – mapping and persistence
  • Liquibase / Flyway – DB migrations
  • Prisma or MyBatis – alternative mappers

7. Testing & Quality Assurance

Testing Frameworks

  • JUnit 5 – unit testing
  • Mockito – mocking dependencies
  • Spring Boot Test / WebMvcTest
  • Testcontainers – for integration tests
  • Cucumber – BDD testing
  • Selenium / Playwright – UI testing

Code Quality Tools

  • SonarQube – code analysis
  • Jacoco – code coverage
  • PMD / Checkstyle – static code checks

8. Build, Packaging & Deployment

Build Tools

  • Maven – dependency management
  • Gradle – modern build automation

Packaging

  • JAR, WAR, and Docker Images
  • Multi-module Project Management

Application Servers

  • Apache Tomcat (Spring Boot default)
  • Jetty / Undertow
  • WildFly / Payara / WebLogic (for enterprise setups)

9. Linux & System Operations

Essential Linux Commands

  • File handling (ls, cat, mv, chmod, grep, find)
  • Process & memory management (top, ps, kill, free)
  • Network utilities (ping, curl, netstat, ufw)
  • SSH, SCP, Rsync
  • Environment variables and system paths

Deployment Essentials

  • Nginx reverse proxy setup
  • SSL certificate with Let’s Encrypt
  • Systemd service configuration
  • Log management and cron jobs

10. DevOps & CI/CD Integration

Containerization & Orchestration

  • Docker – containerize Spring Boot apps
  • Docker Compose – run app + DB locally
  • Kubernetes – scaling microservices
  • Helm – K8s deployment templates

Continuous Integration / Delivery

  • Jenkins Pipelines (Declarative & Scripted)
  • GitHub Actions / GitLab CI
  • SonarQube + Nexus / Artifactory for artifact management
  • Jenkinsfile with Build → Test → Package → Deploy

Monitoring & Observability

  • Prometheus + Grafana – metrics visualization
  • ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) – logs
  • Spring Boot Actuator – health checks and metrics

11. Cloud & Deployment

Cloud Platforms

  • AWS: EC2, S3, RDS, Elastic Beanstalk, Lambda, CloudWatch
  • Google Cloud: App Engine, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL
  • Azure: Web Apps, Blob Storage, DevOps Pipelines

Deployment Strategies

  • Blue-Green / Rolling Deployments
  • CI/CD with Dockerized Pipelines
  • Environment-based configuration (dev, test, prod)

12. Security & Best Practices

Application Security

  • Input Validation, Sanitization
  • JWT Tokens, OAuth2
  • HTTPS, CORS, CSRF
  • Password Encryption (BCrypt)
  • Rate Limiting
  • API Key Management

Secure Coding & Auditing

  • OWASP Top 10 Awareness
  • Regular Dependency Scanning (Snyk, Dependabot)
  • Code Review Process

13. Agile, Scrum & Collaboration

Agile Concepts

  • Sprints, Standups, Retrospectives
  • User Stories and Story Points
  • Continuous Delivery & Incremental Builds

Tools

  • Jira / Trello / Asana – project tracking
  • Slack / Teams / Discord – communication
  • Confluence / Notion – documentation
  • Postman / Swagger / OpenAPI – API testing and docs

14. System Design & Architecture

Core Design Patterns

  • Singleton, Factory, Builder, Strategy, Observer
  • MVC, MVVM, DAO, DTO, Repository
  • Layered Architecture (Controller → Service → Repository)
  • Microservices vs Monoliths
  • Event-driven Architecture

Advanced Concepts

  • API Gateway & Service Registry
  • Circuit Breaker (Resilience4j)
  • Distributed Tracing & Logs
  • Asynchronous Messaging (RabbitMQ, Kafka)
  • Caching Strategies (Redis, Hazelcast)

15. Performance Optimization

  • JVM tuning and GC optimization
  • Database indexing and query tuning
  • API response caching
  • Lazy loading and pagination
  • Thread pool tuning
  • Profiling tools: VisualVM, JProfiler, YourKit

16. Portfolio Projects (Show Your Expertise)

Suggested Real-World Projects

  1. Employee Management System – CRUD, Auth, REST APIs
  2. E-Commerce Platform – Spring Boot + React, Payments, JWT
  3. Blog CMS – REST APIs, File Uploads, Comments, Security
  4. Microservices Banking App – Spring Cloud, Docker, Kafka
  5. Real-Time Chat App – WebSockets, Redis Pub/Sub
  6. Job Portal / Internship Platform – Full Stack Integration

Each project should include:

  • UML Diagrams
  • REST API Documentation
  • CI/CD Pipeline
  • Docker & Cloud Deployment

Recommended Learning Order

  1. Core Java → OOP → Collections → Streams → Java 8–17 Features
  2. JDBC & SQL → JPA / Hibernate
  3. Spring Boot → REST APIs → Testing
  4. Frontend Framework (React/Angular)
  5. Security → JWT / OAuth2
  6. Microservices & Spring Cloud
  7. Docker → Jenkins → Linux → AWS Deployment

System Design & Scalability Concepts

Bonus Skills

  • TypeScript / React for UI
  • Python / Shell scripting for automation
  • Apache Kafka / RabbitMQ for messaging
  • ELK / Prometheus for monitoring
  • GraphQL APIs with Spring Boot

⚠️ Disclaimer

The technologies and tools listed above represent the current industry-standard stack for Java Full Stack Development as of 2025. However, the software ecosystem evolves rapidly — newer versions, frameworks, and deployment practices continue to emerge.
This roadmap is meant to serve as a comprehensive and evolving guide, not an unchanging syllabus. Developers should stay curious, follow new Java releases (especially LTS versions like Java 17 and 21/25), and regularly upgrade their knowledge with modern tools, libraries, and design principles.