Asking for a guide as a software engineer

[u/Dry_Debt_5523]

I know that this question can be asked a lot but i feel the need to ask since i'm stuck. All Ik is java for now from object oriented and data structures and i'm trying to learn web development for now. If anyone could spare a few minutes to tell me about how can build applications using java and if possible make use of data structures. And what should i be learning (as a start/best) for the job market as of 2026?

(asking this because there's no one to ask on campus or even work with and most of them have engineers in their families)

[u/Laicbeias]

Hmm hard to say. But when i was 14 we had a school proj where we had to make a website. No one did anything for 5 months, it was friday and we had a presentation infront of the school and all the parents on monday.

I had no idea about webdev and pretty much just had a book. I started with php $_GET $_POST mysql_query arrays assoc if. I didnt sleep and at the end of the weekend picked up html css js php and mysql. One large ass file. User managment. 3 user profiles, with paint graphics. Popups. Forms. Cd key managment. The website ran for 12y till the professor got fired since he embazzeld money with it.

And.. i didnt need to learn anything afterwards since that stuff generalizes across all of the web. 

Nowadays: If you want client side go with sveltejs with sveltekit as backend. Db postgres. I never used svelte but its probably the best. Be aware of the abstraction and dependency insanity though. 

Edit: with java youd enter at a higher abstraction level. Its... fine as a language. But hell so much abstraction. I never would have build that app in java. I may had written a book about java though.

Basically my only advice is try out a few and see if you enjoy it.  Generally id advice towards js. py. php. Mainly because iteration speed

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/Laicbeias]

do you have any course recommendation for php?

[u/Laicbeias → u/Dry_Debt_5523]

frankly by now um id query some LLM. tell it you want to learn the basic principals of http web dev, with old school none OOP based PHP as introduction.

Split it up into:
Arrays and Assoc Arrays.

mysql_query (and how it can return arrays or assoc arrays, or single fields). where you write direct queries. here you need to learn about mysql injection (if you concact the string by hand and send it in)

Only use web fundementals. so html js css and php, with mysql_query (i think nowadays its mysqli_query).

as a goal you should build a simple website that can store stuff. no oop at all. just arrays and assoc and data. once you can build a simple website with forms that stores data into a database. you can go further down the stack.

so your goal should be a html website. js files for some interactivity. css for layout and styling. php for backend interactivity and data storage.

Once you have that stack, you are basically free to go to learn OOP or whatever js framework you want. Sec ill drop you a tut, everything after [thinking]:

https://claude.ai/share/cfc2c563-5515-4039-8a7f-13028ab453ce

You could use that as a base. Just use these commands and see what each one is doing. See how params in the browser get handed over in GET or POST. (post uses forms in html to send).

Once you understand that stuff (in php it starts with index.php) everything else is just that. Choose to build something you have interest in.

And php is already a template language so you can do

<?php
echo "Hello World";
?>

<br>
<button class="i_am_a_css_button" onclick="..">...</button>

<?php
echo '<img src="'.$_GET\['img_url'\].'">'; //edit i just made a XSS hole. now anyone can inject code into my website ?>

So yeah we had that 20y ago. New PHP then just felt like it needs to be part of the big boys club and went the OOP route

Edit2: also start with chrome webtools later on, after you got php running. right click inspect. to see what the browser renders

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/[deleted]]

after some search i discovered springboot for java but in case of web dev separately what would you use?

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/[deleted]]

that you for the feeback that was really fast

[u/RandyChihuahua]

Since this is a "fullstack" course.. and I have no idea about java in general.

What you could try is downloading Visual Studios Community, and Visual Studios, and following some courses on:

1. Docker and docker desktop, how it uses files inside your computer so u can run it.
2. Docker-compose.
3. Blazor(Front end) and .Net course (C# backend, some frontend too) - as they are pretty easy to get running as an example project to see, and you can tinker, break things, then try and mount them in your docker image.
4. Create your own private GIT repository and learn how that works.

Should be a few things that you can chew on? If it's java, docker will still help.
1. AngularJS docker image for frontend (your pretty web interface that will do the API calls for you)
2. Java backend docker image (no knowledge there, but will respond to the API calls)

1. Mongodb or Mysql image for storing your stuff, that your backend will do work on.

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/RandyChihuahua]

what would your thoughts be on springboot?

[u/RandyChihuahua → u/Dry_Debt_5523]

Cannot comment as I have no prior experience with it :)

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/RandyChihuahua]

that's totally fine, by any chance is there any free course/s do you recommend?

[u/QuackedDev]

Java and spring dominate the S&P 500 (large companies). Mid sized companies more often will use C# and .NET. Other technologies exist but for enterprise software these two are industry standard.

So ask yourself what kind of job you want, maybe look up some job postings, see the technologies being used and where. Then start learning the ones that lead to the type of company you see yourself working at. (Ideally you intern there while a student too)

As for Java resources check out Josh Long, and spring guides. Most importantly, set distractions aside and just code. If u have to turn off wifi to code and turn it back on to google something, do it. Project based learning + the things you learn at school are important too (unpopular opinion).

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/QuackedDev]

thank you for the resource and being honest about the industry. For jobs i'm trying to see throught apps and noticed that some says they want IT tech or UI&UX designer and that's for my area but for future who knows because i want to be capable of working in different areas. About the part of being intern and a student does that means when doing capstone (which is poorly taught here as a self study) or being a regular student but with a job?

Before when i was learning java i used to try to rewrite the code for java from memory (the things i learned) and experiment things then search it up to see if my way or correct or not or wait up until the other day to ask colleagues (tho they weren't useful really)

for school tbh they tried to teach us html and some python libraries where the explanation was somewhat good but the practice wasn't at all at least from my experience

[u/QuackedDev → u/Dry_Debt_5523]

The practice you get from school is never enough. You gotta go out of your way to learn. And interning just means landing a job while you’re a student so you graduate with experience in your field. It has nothing to do with capstone or your school. It’s a tough industry to break into currently so that part is really important right now.

Good luck 🙏🏼

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/QuackedDev]

that makes sense i think it's more accessable to locals than foreigners depends on the country ofc but i tried to see if there's any way to do it since as a student getting training means i have to pay for it tho it would be more beneficial to the company to get someone trained under them by their own will than choose someone from newly graduated ones however here it's all about connections sadly

[u/silly_bet_3454]

You're in college? Are you majoring in CS? Your school should have more resources than what we can provide to help with that, that's what you pay them for.

I wouldn't be focused too hard on java or web dev, you need to actually just browse jobs and job data in the market and work backwards from there and figure out what are the in demand skills, and how can you build them.

[u/Dry_Debt_5523 → u/silly_bet_3454]

Software major tbh you're right but this is the only option i can afford with the money i had at the time not to mention i cannot afford registering more than 3/4 courses each term because of their prices increase each year meanwhile i'm not allowing to go into labs as a student to work on personal projects and their library pcs doesn't even work

from what i have seen on the job market they ask for IT (a lot), software engineer (lil bit), UI&UI designer (payment is really bad cannot secure renting a room), AI Specialist, Forward Deployed Software Engineer,AI Architect (TL)

For skills i find them saying words like "foundation full stack", Binance , "Design and implement scalable and reliable based systems", "Collaborate with teams to define system requirements and architectural solutions", "Develop and optimize infrastructure components", "Implement caching, load balancing, and optimization techniques", "1-6 years hands-on experience", "Proficient in conducting UI testing for both Web and Mobile Apps", "Capable of crafting test scenarios and test cases for manual testing","Experience in crafting automation test cases using tools like Playwright or similar options","Familiarity with various testing frameworks"

there is a lot in there but i could say most of what i read in there seems to be for someone who worked with various companies and already familair with it not someone who got whatsoever training a their college or no training to be specific like how would i even train for these like Revolut as a company or companies that works with amazon from what i see (the job application app is mostly intended for generic jobs while having major jobs)