7-Day Java Developer Learning Plan (Spring Boot, REST APIs, Microservices)
Day 1: Core Java Refresher
Topics:
- Java 8+ Features: Lambda, Streams, Functional Interfaces
- OOP Concepts: Inheritance, Abstraction, Polymorphism, Encapsulation
- Exception Handling, Collections Framework
- File I/O, Java 8 Date & Time API
Practice:
> Write a CRUD console app using Collections
> Practice Stream API operations on a list of employees
Useful Links:
https://www.javatpoint.com/java-8-features
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/object-oriented-programming-oops-concept-in-java/
Day 2: Spring Boot Essentials
Topics:
- Spring Boot Basics & Key Annotations (@SpringBootApplication, @RestController, @Autowired)
- Application structure & configuration (application.properties/yaml)
- Building REST APIs using Spring Boot
Practice:
> Create a Spring Boot app with GET, POST, PUT, DELETE endpoints
Useful Links:
https://spring.io/guides/gs/spring-boot/
https://www.baeldung.com/spring-boot-start
Day 3: REST API + Spring Data JPA
Topics:
- REST principles (verbs, status codes, JSON)
- Database Integration with MySQL/PostgreSQL
- Spring Data JPA: @Entity, @Repository, @Service
- CRUD operations using JPA
Practice:
> Build a Product Management API with MySQL/PostgreSQL backend
Useful Links:
https://www.baeldung.com/spring-data-jpa-tutorial
https://spring.io/guides/gs/accessing-data-mysql/
Day 4: Spring Security + Testing
Topics:
- Spring Security: Basic Authentication, Role-Based Access Control
- JWT Authentication Overview
- Testing with JUnit & Mockito
Practice:
> Secure an endpoint with basic auth or roles
> Write a unit test for your service/controller
Useful Links:
https://www.baeldung.com/security-spring
https://www.baeldung.com/mockito-junit-5
Day 5: Microservices Architecture + Docker
Topics:
- Microservices Concepts: Loose Coupling, Service Discovery
- Create microservices with Spring Boot
- Intro to Docker & Containerization
Practice:
> Build two services (e.g., Order and Inventory) that communicate via REST
> Dockerize your Spring Boot microservice
Useful Links:
https://www.baeldung.com/spring-boot-microservices
https://www.baeldung.com/dockerizing-spring-boot-application
Day 6: CI/CD, Cloud, Agile
Topics:
- Git, GitHub, GitLab Basics
- CI/CD Tools (GitHub Actions, Jenkins)
- Intro to AWS Services: EC2, RDS, S3
- Agile/Scrum Methodologies
Practice:
> Push your project to GitHub
> Setup a CI/CD pipeline (use GitHub Actions)
Useful Links:
https://docs.github.com/en/actions/quickstart
https://www.atlassian.com/agile
Day 7: Revision + Final Project
Topics:
- Revisit Spring Boot core concepts
- Review REST best practices
- Study common Java/Spring Boot interview questions
Practice:
> Build an Employee Management System with full CRUD, security, Docker support
> Host the project on GitHub with CI/CD integration
Useful Links:
https://www.interviewbit.com/spring-boot-interview-questions/
https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-petclinic
