If you are a Java developer and passionate about technology, you can follow these ten steps which can make you an outstanding Java developer.

1. Have a solid foundation and understanding of OO principles
   For a Java developer, having a strong kind of object-oriented programming is a must. Without having a solid foundation on OOPS, one can’t understand the good looks of an object-oriented programming language like Java. If you don’t have a good knowledge of what OOPS is, even though you are using the OOP language, you may be still coding in a technical way. Just studying OO principle descriptions won’t help much. We should know how to apply those principles in designing a solution in an OO method. So, one should have a solid knowledge of object modeling, inheritance, polymorphism, design patterns, etc.
2. Master the core APIs
   It doesn’t substance how strong you are in terms of theoretical information if you don’t know the language constructs and core APIs. In the case of Java, one should have exact strong hands-on experience with core APIs like java.lang.*, I/O, exceptions, collections, generics, threads, JDBC, etc. When it comes to structure web applications, no matter which framework you are using, it’s also crucial that you understand concepts about servlets and JSPs — this is a must.
3. Keep coding
   Things look modest when talking about them theoretically. We can give a solution to a problem very simply in theory. But we can realize the depth of the problem when we start applying our approach. You will come to know the language limitations, or design best carry out while coding.
4. Subscribe to forums
   There are lots of people working on the same knowledge that we are working on. While doing a simple proof of concept on a framework may not give you actual challenges, when you start using it on real projects, you will face weird issues and won’t find any answer in their official documentation. When preliminary to work on new technology, the best and first thing to do is subscribe to relevant technology forums. Whatever the issue you are facing, someone else in the world might have previously faced it and found the solution. And it would be really actually great if you could answer the questions asked through other forum users.
5. Follow blogs and respond
   As I previously told, you are not alone. There are thousands of excited technology freaks around the world blogging their insights on technology. You can also gain valued perspectives on the same technology from other blogs and developers. Some may find specific framework features to be very useful, while others might find those countryside stupid and pointless, giving his own reasons of why he felt like that. So you can see both the good and the bad from other designers using those tools. One more way to gain value from looking at other blogs is to respond/comment on posts with your opinions and questions.
6. Read open-source frameworks’ source code
   A good developer will learn exactly how to use a framework. But if you lack to be an outstanding developer, you should learning the basics code of various successful, popular frameworks where you can see the internal working mechanism of the framework as well as best practices. It will help a lot in using when by frameworks in a more effective way.
7. Know the emerging technology trends
   In terms of open-source software development trends, they are developing tremendously. By the time you get a good idea on how to use an exact framework, it risks becoming obsolete as some new framework comes into the picture with super-set of features. Then, the problem you are trying to solve with your in progress framework may be already solved more easily by the new framework with a single line of configuration. So, hang onto an eye on what’s coming in the picture, and what’s going out.
8. Keep commonly used code snippets/utilities handy
   Over time, you may need to write/copy-paste the same part of code/configuration again and again. Keeping those kind of structure snippets like log4.properties, JDBC configuration, etc. and utilities like StringUtils, ReflectionUtils, DBUtils will be extra helpful. I know it, itself, won’t create you an outstanding developer. But just imagine some co-developer requests you to help in fetching the list of values of a property from a collection of objects, and then you just used your ReflectionUtil and gave the answer in a few minutes that will make you outstanding.
9. Know different development methodologies
   Be familiar with many kinds of methodologies like Agile, SCRUM, XP, Waterfall, etc. Nowadays, choosing the development methodology be contingent on the client. Some clients favor Agile and some clients are happy with the Waterfall model. So having an idea on many methodologies would be a real plus.
10. Document/blog your thoughts on technology
    In a day-to-day job, you may study new and better ways of doing things, as well as best practices, architectural ideas, etc. Keep documenting those thoughts, blog about them, and/or share them crossways the community. Imagine you explained a weird problem that happened while doing a simple POC and you blogged about it. Maybe developers away in the world are facing the same issue on a production-deployed application. Think of how valued that solution is to that developer. So, blog your point of view, they might be helpful for others or to yourself one day!

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