A YouTube-first Java roadmap: from Java & OOP fundamentals, collections, generics and modern Java, through JDBC/SQL, Spring & Spring Boot, REST APIs, Spring Data JPA/Hibernate, Spring Security, testing, Redis, Docker, and production backend architecture.
Track your progress, earn XP, and pick up where you left off.
Milestone: understand how Java programs are written and executed (JDK/JRE/JVM, bytecode).
What is Java, JDK/JRE/JVM & Setup
~4h · 3 resources
First Program, Compilation & Bytecode
~4h · 2 resources
Milestone: write Java programs without following a tutorial line-by-line.
Variables, Types, Operators & Casting
~6h · 3 resources
Strings, Arrays & Control Flow
~6h · 1 resources
Methods, Input & Formatting
~4h · 1 resources
Milestone: understand and apply OOP rather than memorizing definitions.
Classes, Objects & Constructors
~6h · 2 resources
Encapsulation, Inheritance & Polymorphism
~7h · 2 resources
Abstraction, Interfaces & Composition
~6h · 1 resources
Milestone: solve beginner programming problems independently.
Arrays, 2D Arrays & Strings
~5h · 2 resources
Searching, Sorting & Recursion
~6h · 1 resources
Milestone: select the correct collection for a problem.
List, Set & Map
~7h · 2 resources
Queue, Deque & PriorityQueue
~4h · 1 resources
Iterator, Comparable & Comparator
~4h · 1 resources
Milestone: write predictable error-handling code.
try/catch/finally & throw/throws
~4h · 2 resources
Checked/Unchecked & Custom Exceptions
~4h · 1 resources
Milestone: understand modern Java type-system concepts.
Generics: Classes, Methods & Wildcards
~5h · 2 resources
Enums, Records & Nested Classes
~4h · 1 resources
Milestone: use modern Java idioms comfortably (lambdas, streams).
Lambdas & Functional Interfaces
~6h · 2 resources
Stream API: map/filter/reduce/collect
~6h · 2 resources
Milestone: understand when and why concurrency is needed.
Threads, Runnable & Executors
~6h · 2 resources
Synchronization, Locks & CompletableFuture
~6h · 1 resources
Milestone: understand what happens inside a Java application.
JVM Architecture, Heap & Stack
~5h · 2 resources
Garbage Collection & JIT
~4h · 1 resources
Milestone: build and manage Java projects professionally.
Maven: pom.xml, Dependencies & Lifecycle
~5h · 2 resources
Gradle & Project Structure
~3h · 1 resources
Milestone: connect Java directly to a relational database.
JDBC: Connections & PreparedStatement
~6h · 2 resources
CRUD, Transactions & Pooling
~5h · 2 resources
Milestone: design a production-ready relational schema.
SQL, Joins & Normalization
~6h · 3 resources
Indexes, Transactions & Optimization
~5h · 2 resources
Milestone: understand the Spring ecosystem before Spring Boot.
IoC, Beans & Dependency Injection
~6h · 2 resources
Configuration & Component Scanning
~4h · 1 resources
Milestone: build and run a Spring Boot application.
Setup, Initializr & Structure
~6h · 3 resources
Controllers, Services & Config
~6h · 2 resources
Milestone: build a production-style REST API.
REST Controllers & Request Mapping
~7h · 3 resources
DTOs, Validation & ResponseEntity
~6h · 2 resources
Exception Handling & API Docs
~5h · 2 resources
Milestone: build a Spring Boot API backed by PostgreSQL using JPA.
Entities, Repositories & JpaRepository
~7h · 2 resources
Relationships, Lazy Loading & N+1
~7h · 2 resources
JPQL, Native Queries & Transactions
~5h · 1 resources
Milestone: build secure authentication and authorization.
Spring Security, SecurityFilterChain & BCrypt
~7h · 2 resources
JWT: Access/Refresh Tokens & Roles
~7h · 2 resources
Method Security, CORS & CSRF
~5h · 2 resources
Milestone: create a properly tested Spring Boot application.
JUnit 5 & Mockito
~6h · 2 resources
MockMvc & Integration Testing
~5h · 1 resources
Milestone: understand caching and asynchronous communication.
Redis & Spring Cache
~6h · 2 resources
Kafka & Event-Driven Concepts
~5h · 1 resources
Milestone: deploy a containerized Java backend.
Docker Fundamentals
~6h · 3 resources
Dockerizing Spring Boot + PostgreSQL + Redis
~6h · 2 resources
CI/CD with GitHub Actions
~4h · 1 resources
Milestone: understand the difference between a tutorial project and a production backend.
Logging, Actuator & Health Checks
~5h · 2 resources
Performance, Pooling & Resilience
~6h · 2 resources
Milestone: design a scalable backend architecture. Start simple -> modular monolith -> scale bottlenecks.
Scaling, Load Balancing & Caching
~6h · 2 resources
Queues, Kafka & DB Scaling
~6h · 2 resources
Monolith vs Microservices & Fault Tolerance
~5h · 1 resources
Final milestone: Java Developer — Job Ready. Build a production-style backend.
Capstone: Developer Community Backend
~60h · 4 resources