The Complete Hands-On Java Roadmap — 55 Production-Ready Projects from Core Java to Microservices & DevOps.
Java Forge is an industry-aligned learning path containing 55 projects organized into 10 progressive levels. It bridges the gap between basic syntax and enterprise software engineering, guiding you step-by-step from Core Java to Spring Boot 3, Distributed Microservices, and Cloud DevOps.
- 🧭 Curated Learning Tracks: Choose between a fast-track interview sprint or full mastery. See TRACKS.md.
- 📋 Personal Progress Checklist: Track your daily/weekly journey with PROGRESS.md.
- 🤝 Open for Contributions: Beginner-friendly issues, unit test tasks, and challenges. See CONTRIBUTING.md.
- Structured Learning Path: 10 levels systematically challenging your skills from console apps to cloud microservices.
- Enterprise-Grade Stack: Built with Java 21, Spring Boot 3, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security 6, Redis, Docker, and AWS.
- Production Patterns: Layered architecture, DTO pattern, JWT stateless authentication, token bucket rate limiting, and ELK logging.
- Career & Interview Ready: Directly prepares you for Java Backend and Full-Stack Engineering technical interviews.
Choose the track that fits your schedule:
| Track | Target Audience | Duration | Key Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🚀 Fast-Track Interview Sprint | Java Backend Job Interview Prep | 2–3 Weeks | Core OOP, Streams, Concurrency, SQL, Spring Boot, JWT, Redis |
| 🍃 Spring Boot & Cloud Specialist | Modern Backend & Microservices | 4–6 Weeks | Levels 4 through 8 (REST, JPA, Security, Microservices) |
| ⚙️ Core Concurrency & Internals | Deep Language Mechanics & Performance | 3–4 Weeks | Levels 1 & 2 (Generics, LRU Cache, Producer-Consumer, Sockets) |
| 🐳 DevOps & Observability | Cloud Deployment & Infrastructure | 2–3 Weeks | Level 9 (Docker, CI/CD, AWS EC2, Prometheus, ELK) |
| 👑 Full 55-Project Masterclass | Zero to Senior Engineer Journey | 12 Weeks | Complete Level 1 to 10 linear progression |
👉 Explore full project breakdowns for each track in TRACKS.md.
To run these projects locally, ensure you have the following installed:
- Java Development Kit (JDK) 17 or higher
- Maven or Gradle (varies per project)
- Git
- MySQL or PostgreSQL (for database projects)
- Docker and Docker Compose (for Level 9+ projects)
- IntelliJ IDEA (recommended IDE for all projects)
- VS Code (recommended for frontend projects)
Never commit passwords, API keys, or personal credentials. Database projects that use MySQL provide a database/database.properties.example; copy it to database/database.properties and put credentials only in the local copy. Root .gitignore excludes local credentials files and .env files. If a credential was accidentally committed or shared, rotate it; adding it to .gitignore does not remove it from Git history.
-
Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/Aakash02A/Java-Forge.git
-
Navigate to a specific project directory:
cd Java-Forge/level-01-core-java/01-Student-Management -
Run the project:
- Core Java projects: Compile and run the
Main.javafile in your IDE. - Spring Boot projects: Run
mvn spring-boot:runor./gradlew bootRunin the terminal.
- Core Java projects: Compile and run the
| No | Level | Project | Tech Stack / Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 1 - Core Java | Student Management | Classes, Objects |
| 02 | 1 - Core Java | Library Management | OOP |
| 03 | 1 - Core Java | Bank Account Simulator | Inheritance |
| 04 | 1 - Core Java | Expense Tracker | Collections |
| 05 | 1 - Core Java | Employee Payroll | Interfaces |
| 06 | 1 - Core Java | Quiz Application | File Handling |
| 07 | 1 - Core Java | Contact Book | HashMap |
| 08 | 1 - Core Java | ATM Simulator | Exception Handling |
| 09 | 2 - Java Intermediate | Employee Analytics | Streams |
| 10 | 2 - Java Intermediate | Inventory Manager | Generics |
| 11 | 2 - Java Intermediate | Log Parser | File Processing |
| 12 | 2 - Java Intermediate | Student Ranking System | Comparator |
| 13 | 2 - Java Intermediate | Cache Simulator | LRU Cache |
| 14 | 2 - Java Intermediate | Producer Consumer | Threads |
| 15 | 2 - Java Intermediate | Chat Server | Sockets |
| 16 | 2 - Java Intermediate | URL Shortener | Hashing |
| 17 | 3 - JDBC + SQL | Employee CRUD | JDBC |
| 18 | 3 - JDBC + SQL | Banking System | Transactions |
| 19 | 3 - JDBC + SQL | Hospital Management | SQL |
| 20 | 3 - JDBC + SQL | Railway Reservation | Joins |
| 21 | 3 - JDBC + SQL | Expense Tracker DB | CRUD |
| 22 | 3 - JDBC + SQL | Inventory Database | Normalization |
| 23 | 4 - Spring Boot Basics | Todo REST API | REST |
| 24 | 4 - Spring Boot Basics | Notes API | CRUD |
| 25 | 4 - Spring Boot Basics | Student API | Validation |
| 26 | 4 - Spring Boot Basics | Book Store API | Layered Architecture |
| 27 | 4 - Spring Boot Basics | Movie Review API | Pagination |
| 28 | 4 - Spring Boot Basics | Weather API | External APIs |
| 29 | 5 - Spring Data JPA | Employee Management | JPA |
| 30 | 5 - Spring Data JPA | Blog API | Relationships |
| 31 | 5 - Spring Data JPA | Library API | One-To-Many |
| 32 | 5 - Spring Data JPA | Hospital API | Many-To-Many |
| 33 | 5 - Spring Data JPA | School Management | Hibernate |
| 34 | 6 - Security | JWT Authentication | JWT |
| 35 | 6 - Security | Role Based Access | RBAC |
| 36 | 6 - Security | OAuth Login | OAuth2 |
| 37 | 6 - Security | Refresh Token | Token Rotation |
| 38 | 7 - Advanced Backend | URL Shortener | Hashing |
| 39 | 7 - Advanced Backend | File Storage API | Local Storage |
| 40 | 7 - Advanced Backend | Email Service | Java Mail |
| 41 | 7 - Advanced Backend | Notification Service | Async |
| 42 | 7 - Advanced Backend | Redis Cache Demo | Redis |
| 43 | 7 - Advanced Backend | Rate Limiter | Redis |
| 44 | 8 - Microservices | Product Service | REST |
| 45 | 8 - Microservices | Order Service | Microservices |
| 46 | 8 - Microservices | Payment Service | Events |
| 47 | 8 - Microservices | API Gateway | Spring Cloud |
| 48 | 8 - Microservices | Service Discovery | Eureka |
| 49 | 8 - Microservices | Config Server | Spring Cloud |
| 50 | 9 - Docker & DevOps | Dockerize REST API | Docker |
| 51 | 9 - Docker & DevOps | Docker Compose | Compose |
| 52 | 9 - Docker & DevOps | CI/CD Pipeline | GitHub Actions |
| 53 | 9 - Docker & DevOps | Deploy on AWS | EC2 |
| 54 | 9 - Docker & DevOps | Monitoring | Prometheus |
| 55 | 9 - Docker & DevOps | Logging | ELK |
| 56 | 10 - Resume Capstone | Build: Team Project Management Platform | React, Spring Boot, MySQL, JWT/RBAC, Redis, testing, Docker, CI/CD, deployment |
The Level 10 capstone is a project to build after completing the learning path; it is not an implemented project in this repository yet. Start as a modular monolith and bring together the concepts from earlier levels: a full-stack UI, secure REST API, relational data model, role-based team access, task workflows, automated tests, containerization, and deployment.
Take ownership of your learning journey with our interactive checklist. Fork the repo and check off each project as you complete it:
👉 Open PROGRESS.md to start tracking!
Contributions make the open-source community an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated!
We have many beginner-friendly opportunities:
- 🧪 Writing Unit Tests: Add JUnit 5 / Mockito tests to early console projects.
- 📖 API Documentation: Add Swagger UI / OpenAPI docs to Spring Boot APIs.
- 🚀 Challenges: Add new stretch goals and edge-case challenges to project READMEs.
Please check out our CONTRIBUTING.md for our step-by-step contribution guide, code standards, and PR instructions.
Contributions make this project thrive! Want to see your profile listed here?
- Pick up any task or challenge from CONTRIBUTING.md.
- Submit a pull request!
- All contributors are credited and celebrated.
If you find this repository helpful, please consider giving it a ⭐ star! It helps other developers discover this learning path and motivates continuous updates and new projects.
Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.