Top 5 Courses to Learn Spring Boot in 2019

If you are interested in learning Spring Boot in 2018 or 2019 and looking for some awesome resources, e.g. books, tutorials, and online courses to start with, then you have come to the right place!

Earlier, I have shared some great books for learning more about the Spring framework, including Spring Boot (see), and today, I’ll share some of the best online Spring Boot courses you can join to learn Spring Boot on your own.

In the past, I was a big fan of learning from a book, but online courses have changed that completely. Now, I prefer to start with an online course, like the Spring Boot Essentials, and then move on to a book like Spring Boot in Action for more comprehensive learning.

Anyway, before going through those Spring Boot courses, let’s first address what is Spring Boot, it’s benefits, and why you should learn it.

Spring Boot is one of the best frameworks for Java developers, and if you don’t know yet, 2018 is the best year to learn Spring Boot.

Just like Spring makes Java development easier, Spring Boot makes Java application development easier when using the Spring framework by taking out all pains related to dependency management, configuration, bean declaration, etc.

It seriously makes Java development fun, particularly web development, and ridiculously easy by providing features like starter dependency, auto-configuration, Spring Boot CLI, Spring Initializer, and Spring Boot Actuator. But the best thing about Spring Boot is how it allows you to run your Java application. Can you guess?

Yup, you guessed it right, now with Spring Boot, you can run your Spring application just like a core Java application by using the classic main method.

There is no need to set up a web server, build a war file, and deploy that into a servlet container. Just create a Spring Boot jar for your project and run it as a core Java application using the jar command as we run any core Java application from the command prompt.

You might be wondering how you could deploy that JAR into a traditional web server like Tomcat, which your company is using in production? Well, not to worry!

Spring Boot gives you options to create a JAR or WAR file, and the best thing is that you can even run the WAR file from the command prompt because Spring Boot has an embedded Tomcat server in it.

So learning Spring Boot will help you develop Java projects easily because you can now focus on the application logic rather than worrying about configuration and dependency management.

It’s also now becoming a standard way to use the Spring framework in many companies, and they are looking for Java developers with some Spring Boot experience.

So if you are looking for your next job in Java and Spring development, learning Spring Boot can seriously boost your chances.

Best Courses to Learn Spring Boot for Java Developers

Here is my list of some of the best online courses to learn Spring Boot as Java and Spring developers. It’s good to have some Spring experience when you start with Spring Boot, but that’s not mandatory.

In fact, I suggest all first-timers to start with Spring Boot. It’s better to start with the latest and popular technology rather than traditional ones.

In this list, I have included courses for both beginners as well as intermediate and experienced developers. Most of these courses will help you learn all important Spring Boot features, e.g. auto-configuration, starter dependency, the Spring Initializer, Spring Actuator, and Spring CLI, but some courses are goal-oriented and they will teach you how to develop Microservices and Cloud-based applications using Spring Boot and Spring Cloud.

1. Spring Boot Essentials

This is a short and simple course to start with Spring Boot. I picked this course because of its clarity. The instructor is very focused and has a good voice and explanation skills, which makes it easy to digest new Spring Boot concepts.

The instructor, Nelson Djalo, explains Spring Boot concepts by developing a RESTful web service, which will also spark your interest in this field.

You should take this course if you are in a real hurry to learn Spring Boot. By following this course, you can learn Spring Boot in just a couple of days.

If you are very new to the Spring world and don’t know about dependency injection, Spring containers, and other basic concepts, I don't recommend you to join this course.

You better start with other Spring boot courses on this list, which explain the Spring framework along the way like this one: Spring Framework MasterClass — Beginner to Expert.

2. Learn Spring Boot — Rapid Spring Application Development

This is another excellent course for learning Spring Boot for beginners i.e. someone with no prior experience with Spring Boot.

It will not only teach you Spring Boot basics but also basics of Spring framework e.g. dependency injection, inversion of control, application context etc.

In this course, instructor Dan Vega, a popular Spring framework instructor on Udemy will teach you how to develop a web application using Spring Boot. You will create Spring MVC application end-to-end.

You will build REST services using Spring Boot, connect to the database using Spring Data, and secure your application using Spring Security. You will also learn how to create an executable JAR for your application.

The course also explains key Spring Boot concepts like the Spring Initializer to automatically create the project structure, Starter POMs or starter dependencies, and auto-configuration.

In short, this is a comprehensive course to learn Java application development using the Spring framework. You will learn Spring MVC, REST, Spring Data JPA, Spring Security, and all other related libraries in just one course.

3. Learn Spring Boot in 100 Steps — Beginner to Expert

This is another comprehensive course to learn Spring Boot and related libraries for beginners. Ranga is also another popular Spring framework instructor in Udemy and has a lot of experience in teaching Spring.

In this course, you will not only learn key Spring Boot concepts, e.g. auto-configuration, starter dependencies, and the Spring Initializer, but you will also explore more advanced concepts like Spring Boot Actuator and other Spring Boot dev tools.

The course also covers Spring MVC and teaches you to create a web application using Spring MVC and Hibernate/JPA. If you don’t know anything about Spring MVC, don’t worry.

You will learn enough in this course to create your own web application, e.g. DispatcherServlet, ViewResolvers, Model, Controllers, etc.

Another good thing about this course is that it will teach you to write code for unit and integration testing with Spring Boot.

Additionally, you will learn JUnit 5 and Mockito, two of the leading testing frameworks for Java application development.

In short, this is a great course for beginners that want to start learning Java development with Spring Boot.

4. Creating Your First Spring Boot Application

This is a great introductory course on Spring Boot framework. You will learn what is Spring Boot, how it works, and how it works with other Spring modules, e.g. Spring MVC, REST, etc.

This course walks you through how to use Spring Boot by creating a demo application. You will explore different Spring Boot features along the way, like starter POMs, which allow you to just declare one starter package instead of several individual libraries.

You will also learn how to develop a modern Java web application using Spring Boot, a RESTful web service, and integrating a JavaScript-based UI. Most importantly, you will pay special attention to Spring MVC integration.

Lastly, you learn how to externalize properties and take full advantage of the Spring Boot auto-configuration to reduce configuration in your project.

In short, this is one of the best courses to learn Spring Boot as a beginner. After completing this course, you should have a good idea how to use the Spring Boot architecture and how it works with Core Spring.

5. Master Microservices With Spring Boot and Spring Cloud

This is a task-based course and a little bit different from other courses. It’s a more advanced course and is better suited for experienced Java programmers who have good knowledge of the Spring framework and a basic understanding of Spring Boot and Spring Cloud, two leading frameworks under the Spring umbrella for building modern-day Java applications for the cloud.

In this course, you will first start with developing RESTful web service using Spring Boot and then slowly move towards a Spring Cloud and Microservice pattern.

You will learn more about key Microservice and cloud concepts, e.g. client-side load balancing using Ribbon, Dynamic Scaling using Eureka Naming Server, Fault tolerance for microservices with Hystrix, etc.

You will also learn some advanced REST concepts, e.g. how to version your RESTful Web service and document them using Swagger. Overall, this is a great course for Java developers moving towards cloud and Microservices development using Spring Boot and Spring Cloud.

Lastly, some of my readers ask me what is the best way to learn a new framework? Well, I was a big fan of books about a year ago but now I think online courses are a better choice.

They are more interactive and you learn a lot of things in less time. They are also pretty cheap nowadays.

Some of these Spring Boot courses on Udemy cost less money then just taking a taxi to going to a supermarket. If you still like to start with books, Spring Boot in Action by Craig Walls, author of Spring in Action is the best book to start with.

That’s all for now about the best courses to learn Spring boot in 2018 and 2019. Spring Boot is an immensely useful framework; it provides all the power of the Spring framework without all of its complexity, which really boosts productivity.

If you happen to use Groovy, then you can further reduce development time for Java web applications using Spring CLI. If you ask me one thing to learn in 2018, I would suggest Spring Boot — it will not only help you easily write Spring-based Java applications but also give your career a boost.

Other Java and Spring articles you might like to explore:
10 Things Java Developer Should Learn in 2018
Top 5 Courses to Learn and Master Spring Cloud
5 Free Courses to Learn Spring Framework in 2018
5 Courses to Learn Spring Security in 2018
5 Spring Books Experienced Java Developer Should Read in 2018
10 Tips to become a better Java Developer in 2018
Top 5 Frameworks Java Developer Should Know
20 Spring and REST Interview Questions for Java Programmers

Conclusion

Good luck with your Spring Boot journey! It’s certainly not going to be easy, but by following these courses, you are one step ahead in your goal to mastering Spring Boot.

If you are looking for some free resources, you can check out this list of free Spring Boot courses.