Our Java ecosystem has a number of frameworks, libraries, and tools that accelerate the development of really complex web applications. 
Of course, Spring Boot will continue to dominate in 2026 and beyond.
Mainly with the adoption of AI within Spring and the release of Spring 7. Very very soon, actually.

Effective immediately, the Baeldung course library is 33% off for the next two weeks! 
Over the years, I’m always happy and grateful to see that Baeldung has become a trusted resource for developers in our community. Thank you for that!
If you’ve found the site useful but want to speed up your learning with a structured, guided approach, now is a great time to have a look at the courses.

Cheers,
Eugen. 


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P.S. Of course, Spring is one tool in the toolbox. It’s the foundational one, yes, but there’s definitely more to focus on - to really work on a production-grade application.
JUnit and Mockito on the testing side, Jackson for JSON, Maven as our build tool, a solid understanding of Java Collections and Streams - all definitely foundational as well.
And lots of material on the roadmap :)