Java is still one of the most in-demand languages in the world of tech development. For the banking and financial services sector specifically, Java competency is still one of the highest demand skills. Java has been around for over 20 years now and that is part of the reason for its continued popularity. So many tools are already using Java that the demand for developers to enhance and improve them is still massive.
For enterprise back-end and Android, Java is still King and likely to retain that crown. It is also being continuously improved with modern features allowing it to retain its edge over the competition. Average compensation for Java developers is above the industry average which highlights the demands for these roles.
If you are interested in Java development, aseptically for the financial services of FinTech sector, these are the very best online courses available on the market today.
1. Java Web Developer Nanodegree from Udacity
Course Review
As the name suggests, this is more than typical course. It’s a condescend degree program that covers Java with a depth and totality of a full-time degree program. If you are serious about a career in Java development, you need something of this quality and completeness.
You start off by learning the basics of the Spring Boot framework and associated integrations and plugins. The entire program is interspersed with in-depth practical project and here you are tasked to build a web based personal storage application. Next, you move on to web services, microservices and APIs. You lean to develop APIs and how to secure, deploy, document, test and use those APIs and web services. This is followed by another practical project.
The second half of the course focuses on data stores and persistence. You learn to build applications that rad and write to relational databases using JPA and SQL. You also focus on security and DevOps. This means leaning about Git, version control, authorization and authentication best practices and so on. Again, you will have a couple of practical projects to really push your skills to the limit.
Udacity provides a bevy of value-added services to its users. You get access to technical mentors to help you sort out issues and career support like resume and online professional profile reviews. Like I said, it really is closer to a full-time degree program rather than an online course.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 4 months depending on how much time you can devote weekly.
- Offered fully online and on-demand. Complete at your own pace.
- Udacity offers the best practical projects and the best career services as part of its Nanodegree programs.
2. Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals from Duke
Course Review
If you are looking for a more beginner friendly introduction to Java, then this is the best course on this list. It starts from the very basics, covering not only Java fundamentals but the very foundation of programming itself. That does not mean it does not cover complex topics though- you will wangle with complex topics as well. Its just that the learning curve is gradual.
You start with some programming basics like functions, loops, conditional statements and thinking like a programmer. From there, you move on to the meat of the course and learning to use Java for solving complex problems. Designing algorithms is one of the core skills of a programmer and that is you next stop here. By now, you should be able to write, edit and compile Java programs and use them to solve specific problems.
The second half of the course focuses on more complex topics like arrays, lists and structured data. You will learn to read/ write data from files and solve problems using data files, perform a quantitate analysis, store and manipulate arrays, combine classes and so on. Lastly, you learn to solve real world problems using everything that Java has to offer. This is more about logical thinking and design than just coding.
Finally, you will have to complete a capstone project that is essentially a real-world program that you have to build. You will have to essentially design a recommendation tool that works similar to Netflix or Amazon make recommendations to users.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 80 hours depending on your skill level.
- Offered fully online and on-demand via Coursera’s excellent eLearning platform.
- This is the best course for beginners keen on learning Java that gently eases you into programming and Java development.
3. Object Oriented Programming in Java Specialization
Course Review
This is a more intermediate level course which requires some prior programming experience, but it is still rather beginner friendly (the first few modules ease you in). The goal here is to teach you to solve complex problems using Java and object-oriented programming. As the name suggests, object-oriented programming is a major focus of this specialisation.
The first half of the specialisation focuses on learning to code in java and generally enhancing your programming skills. You focus on algorithms and debugging and using custom classes to solve problems. Next, you focus on arrays, lists and structured data and solving problems using these tools. After these introductory topics, you move on to the meat of this course which is object-oriented programming.
This is where things start getting serious as you dive into advanced use of Java. You learn the power of object-oriented programming, how to use the extensive Java libraries to build really powerful tools, how to build graphical user interfaces, how to use algorithms for tasks like searching and sorting, and so on. You also focus on using and analysing data structures that are used in real world applications like lists, trees, hashtables, how these data structures make programs make more efficient and flexible programs, and so on.
You will also have to complete a hands-on, practical project to earn this certification. This project goes a long way in really cementing your understanding and giving you the real-world practical experience that you need to ace interviews and impress recruiters.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 100 hours depending on your skill level.
- Offered fully online and on-demand via Coursera’s excellent eLearning platform.
- Thiis a more intermediate level course that focuses on object-oriented programming for solving more complex problem using Java.
4. Professional Certificate in Introduction to Java Programming from UC3M
Course Review
This is a comprehensive Java program that is suitable for beginners as well as intermediate users. It starts from the very basics and will give you the foundational support necessary to learn a complex object-oriented programming language like Java.
The introductory course will give you basic knowledge about algorithms and java programming which is a great starting point if you are totally new to coding. You will also cover topics like conditionals, loops, recursive algorithms, object-oriented programming, using and interpreting APIs etc.
The second part of the course focuses on better coding habits including debugging, reasoning and testing, efficiency comparisons and resources used and ethics. Lastly, you focus on data structures and algorithms. This includes arranging data on arrays, developing and using linerat dat strcutures like stacks and queues, nonlinear data structures trees, binary search trees, heaps and implementing algorithms for effecting searching and sorting of data.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 100 hours depending on your skill level.
- Offered fully online and on-demand on edX – an eLearning platform created by Harvard and MIT.
- Another comprehensive Java course suitable for Java beginners and even those new to programming in general.
5. Object Oriented Java Programming: Data Structures and Beyond from UC San Diego
Course Review
Another advanced Java course that will train you to unlock the full potential of this powerful programming language with object-oriented programming. If you already have a decent understanding of Java but want to take it to the next level, this is the course for you. Note that the basics will not be covered here.
The course starts right off with advanced topics like memory models, creating GUIs, inheritance, responding to user inputs, search, sorting and so on. Data structure and performance is also covered along with working with strings, efficiency analysis, benchmarking, interfaces, arrays, trees and hash maps. Then we move on to advanced data structures, graphs, class design and graph search, finding shortest paths in weighted graphs and other related topics.
This is when we come to my favourite parts of the course. There is an entire module dedicated to software engineering interviews! This is the practical advice you need to ace those tough tech interviews. From live coding, to explaining your code to algorithmic thinking on the fly – this is as good as it gets. Google as contributed data and guest lecturers to this course.
There is also a rather nifty capstone project to complete. You will get to analyse data from a real-world social network. You can analyse aspects of the network like finding out influential members, sub-communicates, connections and such activities that have real world implications.
Summary
- Time to Complete: Should take around 140 hours depending on your skill level.
- Offered fully online and on-demand via Coursera’s excellent eLearning platform.
- A more advanced course for those who already know Java but want to take it to the next level.
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