If you are a Java developer and passionate about technology, you can follow these ten points which could make you an outstanding Java developer.
1. Have strong foundation and understanding on OO Principles
For a Java developer, having strong understanding on Object Oriented Programming is a must. Without having a strong foundation on OOPS, one can’t realize the beauty of an Object Oriented Programming language like Java. If you don’t have good idea on what OOPS is, even though you are using OOP language you may be still coding in procedural way. Just studying OO principle definitions won’t help much. We should know how to apply those OO principles in designing a solution in OO way. So one should have a strong knowledge on Object modeling, Inheritance, Polymorphism, Design Patterns.
2. Master the core APIs
It doesn’t matter how strong you are in terms of theoretical knowledge if you don’t know the language constructs and core APIs. In case of Java, one should have very strong hands-on experience with core APIs like java.lang.*, I/O, Exceptions, Collections, Generics, Threads, JDBC etc. When it comes to Web application development, no matter which framework you are using having strong knowledge on Servlets, JSPs is a must.
3. Keep coding
Things look simpler when talking about them theoretically. We can give a solution to a problem very easily in theory. But we can realize the depth of the problem when we start implementing our approach. You will come to know the language limitations, or design best practices while coding. So keep coding.
4. Subscribe to forums
We are not alone. There are lots of people working on the same technologies that we are working on. While doing a simple proof of concept on a framework may not give you real challenges, when you start using it on real projects you will face weird issues and you won’t find any solution in their official documentation. When starting to work on a new technology the best and first thing to do is subscribe to the relevant technology forums. Whatever the issue you are facing, someone else in the world might have already faced it earlier and might have found the solution. And it would be really really great if you can answer the questions asked by other forum users.
5. Follow blogs and respond
As I already told you are not alone. There are thousands of enthusiastic technology freaks around the world blogging their insights on technology. You can see different perspectives of same technology on blogs. Someone can find great features in a technology and someone else feels its a stupid framework giving his own reasons of why he felt like that. So you can see both good and bad of a technology on blogs. Follow the good blogs and respond/comment on posts with your opinion on that.
Interested in reading more? Check out the original article over on DZone.
