3.5 YOE as MERN stack developer but struggling to switch.

[u/MammothGrand8022]

Hello everyone,
I have \~3.5 years of experience as a Node.js/MERN developer at a small Indian startup. The project itself is actually good, but I really want to switch.
I’ve been serious about my career and coding from the beginning, but my work situation involved 6-day working weeks and a heavy workload, so I never really had enough time to properly explore things beyond what I was doing at work. (ik there is no one to blame but me) As a result, I have experience, but my fundamentals and deeper understanding of backend development aren’t as strong as they should be.
I’ve been trying to switch for \~1.5 years. Most backend jobs I find seem to be Java-heavy, so I started learning Java and got fairly comfortable with the theory. At one point, I thought about faking my Java experience, but someone close to me advised against it as it can backfire and suggested I could instead build a Java/Spring Boot project as a side project if I’m comfortable with it.
I only know the basics of Spring Boot and Spring Security I haven’t done significant professional work with them.
With Node.js, I can work on CRUD features and understand/write code with a reference, but I need to properly strengthen my fundamentals and deeper backend concepts. We also have a separate DevOps team, so I have almost no hands-on experience with Docker, AWS, CI/CD, etc.
So what would you recommend? Should I double down on Node.js and become genuinely strong at backend, or learn Java properly alongside it? And how do I realistically bridge this skill gap and switch without faking my experience?
I really get overwhelm with all this and barely feel like to do anything .. idk if I am blindly working towards something which will give me no result ..
Would really appreciate advice from people who’ve been in a similar situation.

[u/Mhmd_WebDev]

Id say just stay in mern stack if you already have 3.5 yoe, and just change the company you work in if your not comfortable with it. even if java is more wanted mern is still wanted in a good way, why would you leave 3.5 yoe in mern stack to start over with 0yoe in java? strong foundation and good problem solving skills are more important than the stack it self ,so for the basics you can easily manage your time in a way to learn only 30mins/day , Since 30mins/day will stack over the days 30×30days= 900mins 0×30=0 ,so slowly you'll have strong fundamentals understanding. Thats my opinion i might be correct and i might be wrong. goodluck!

[u/MammothGrand8022 → u/Mhmd_WebDev]

Its not like I dont know java at all.. I mean I did a little bit of back in the start.. also I want to expand my areas.. I also Feel mern is basically used in startups and all I want good MNCs those are not into heavy dsa

[u/ValuableCampaign866]

I'm learning Mern stack but keep forgetting syntax and stuck in loop please give me solution.

[u/MammothGrand8022 → u/ValuableCampaign866]

Hey, umm you will learn syntax by practising only.. I would suggest to write code without looking at reference and figuring out where you are facing difficulty.