An Anthology of Best Online Courses to Learn Java for Beginners

If you are a computer science graduate or a programmer who wants to learn Java and looking for some awesome resources like books, tutorials, and online courses then you have come to the right place.

In the past, I have shared some great books and tutorials to learn Java and in this article, I am going to share some of the best Java courses beginners can join to learn Java.

One of the main problems with learning Java is to keep pace with the increasing number of releases. For example, Java 8 was released in 2014 which completely changed how Java is written and now within a couple of years, we have several major Java releases in the form of Java 9 and Java 10, Java 11, Java 12, and Java 13.

But the good thing is that the core of Java is still the same and all its releases are backward compatible.

If you are learning Java first time, then it’s very important to choose
the online course which is up-to-date, otherwise, you will be left
behind in the job market and your day-to-day programming job with
outdated skills.

But, before that, let me first congratulate you on making an excellent decision of learning Java, one of the most popular main-stream programming language of the world.

The Java Programming language is been around for more than 20+ years now and it has expanded its reach to almost every single field, from small
mobile apps to large banking application running on major Investment
banks.

Java is mainly used as a server-side language to create high performance,
low latency servers to handle the complex task.

Java is really big on Investment banks which uses it to write end-to-end trading applications like front office application for trade capture, middle office applications to handle booking and allocation and back-office application for sending confirmations.

Another area where Java really shines is for creating Android applications. Though Google has now declared Kotlin as the official language for Android app development, Java is still quite big and there is no sign of any slowdown in coming years.

10 Online Courses to Learn Java in-depth

In this article, I have chosen some of the best Java courses from Udemy
and Pluarlsight, which are both comprehensive and up-to-date but at the
same time suitable for beginners. Btw, I also review courses and get paid if one of you buy the course from the link in this article.

Without any further ado, here are them:

1. The Complete Java Masterclass

This is probably the most popular Java course on Udemy with over 207,000 students enrolled in this course.

It has got more than 40K 4.6 ratings which speak a lot about its quality
but the most important thing I like about this course that instructor
has frequently updated it to include changes from Java 8 and Java 9.

It’s a comprehensive course with over 72 hours of material and you will
learn all major things a Java developer should know like data structure,
OOP, Core Java Fundamentals, Java Collections, MultiThreading, File IO, Networking, Database, Java 8, Unit Testing and Java 9 changes.

The instructor Tim Buchalka is also a famous Java instructor in Udemy
and that shows with enormous social proof associated with this course.
Every single concept is explained in detail and you will learn the
concept one program at a time.

Learn more: The Complete Java MasterClass

You will not only learn concepts but also tools which are free like Eclipse, Maven, etc and essential for Java development.

In short, one of the most complete course to learn Java and suitable for
beginners as well as Java developers who are starting Java after a long
time e.g. last seen Java code before JDK 1.5.

2. Java Programming for Complete Beginners — Learn in 250 Steps

This is a relatively new course to learn Java in Udemy and that’s why it’s also most up-to-date. It uses tools like JShell which is introduced in Java 9 to teach you how to program in Java. No doubt, it’s a great tool and really makes trying stuff in Java pretty easy.

The course structure is also very good and follows a step-by-step teaching
method. I like the instructor’s approach and teaching style, Having gone
through some of his Spring courses in the past.

The course is also very comprehensive and cover all important Java concepts like Java basics, Object-Oriented Programming, Java Collections, Generics, Multithreading and Concurrency, Functional Programming Networking, File handling, and Exception handling.

Once you have gone through a course you would be very comfortable reading and writing Java program and should also feel confident to take any Java interview, if you are learning Java to get a job.

Learn more: Java Programming for Complete Beginners —In 250 Steps

In short, an excellent and most up-to-date Java course as of now and the best thing is it’s free at the time of writing.

In Udemy, the instructor keeps their course for free some time to achieve
their promotional target, after that it’s converted into the paid
course. So, join it now before it becomes a paid course.

Once you are enrolled in the course you will have free lifetime access to all its chapters and associated materials.

3. Java In-Depth: Become a Complete Java Engineer!

This is another awesome Java course on Udemy which you can use to learn Java from scratch. It’s a fantastic course and lived with the tile “In-Depth”.

The Instructor has very good knowledge of Java and his explanation is awesome, which makes learning more interesting.

Like previous Java course, this is also very detailed and comprehensive
course and covers the majority of Java topics a beginner wants to learn
e.g. variables, methods, classes, collections, data structures, threads, networking, etc.

On Downside of the course, it’s mainly a slide-based course with some code examples here and there. A few more code examples, preferably with new tools like JShell will really help.

Learn more: Java In-Depth: Become a Complete Java Engineer!

4. The Complete Java Developer Course

Though Java has changed a lot from Java SE 8, it doesn’t change much in Java 9 and Java 10, hence course which covers Java 8 syntax is good and this is one of such courses.

Like the previous two courses, this course also covers all essential Java topics like Variables, methods, control statements, loops, arrays and Strings, object-oriented programming, file handling, database, multithreading, collections, etc.

It also covers functional programming and Java 8 new features along with
Java FX which allows you to create GUI based Java application, much like
Swing.

You will even learn to build a complete Tic-Tac-Toe game in this
course. In short, a good course to start with Java programming from
scratch.

Learn more: The Complete Java Developer Course

5. Java Fundamentals: The Java Language

This is a great Java course for beginners on Pluarlsight. You will learn the basics of Java, Class, Object, Data Types, Threads, Files, Error handling and other core Java concepts.

The instructor Jim Wilson is an experienced software engineer with more than 30 years of experience under his belt.

In short, a good course to learn Java from a beginners point of view. It
provides complete coverage of Java Programming language and servers as
found for all Java-based development jobs like server-side development
and client-side developing including Android apps.

Learn more: Java Fundamentals: The Java Language

Btw, you need a Pluralsight membership to access this course. A monthly subscription cost around $29 per month but also give access to more than 500+ course which is worth money.

Sometimes, Pluralsight also runs promotions where you can get the annual membership is just $199 and that’s how I got last year during December, but, nevertheless, Pluarlsight membership is essential if you would like to keep your skill up-to-date.

6. Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization Certificate on Coursera

Designed for beginners, this Specialization will teach you core programming concepts and equip you to write programs to solve complex problems.

In addition, you will gain the foundational skills a software engineer needs to solve real-world problems, from designing algorithms to testing and debugging your programs.

The specialization contains 4 courses covering Object Oriented Programming in Java, Data Structure, Advanced-Data Structure, and also covers Mastering the Software Engineering Interview course.

All the courses in this specialization are free-to-audit but you would need
to pay money if you need a certificate which is not a bad deal.

7. Object-Oriented Programming in Java Specialization

This Coursera Specialization is for aspiring software developers with some
programming experience in at least one other programming language (e.g., Python, C, JavaScript, etc.) who want to be able to solve more complex
problems through objected-oriented design with Java.

In addition to learning Java, you will gain experience with two Java
development environments (BlueJ and Eclipse), learn how to program with
graphical user interfaces, and learn how to design programs capable of
managing large amounts of data.

8. Java Programming: Solving Problems with Software

This is an awesome course on Coursera for learning to code in Java and improves your programming and problem-solving skills. You will learn to design algorithms as well as develop and debug programs.

Using custom open-source classes, you will write programs that access and
transform images, websites, and other types of data.

At the end of the course, you will build a program that determines the popularity of different baby names in the US over time by analyzing comma-separated value (CSV) files.

There is financial aid is also available for this course and you will get a certificate if you complete this course.

That’s all about some of the best courses to learn Java in 2019.
There are a lot of opportunities for Java developers and once you know
Java you will be in high demand. You can joint investment banks which
does a lot of Java development, or you can become a mobile application
developer by writing games and apps for the Android platform.

You just chose your domain, there will be no shortage of opportunity to
give Java’s popularity and penetration on the software development
world.

Other Programming Resources you may like

• The 2019 Java Developer RoadMap
• 50+ Data Structure and Algorithms Interview Questions
• 10 courses for Programming/Coding Job Interviews
• 75+ Coding Interview Questions for Programmers
• 30+ Array-Based Questions from Interviews
• 30+ LinkedList Based Java Interview Questions
• Grokking Algorithms — Book Review
• 21 String Programming Questions from Interviews
• 10 Data Structure and Algorithms Courses for Interviews
• How to solve scenario-based Algorithms Interview Questions
• Top 5 Data Structure and Algorithms Books for Programmers

Closing Notes

Thanks for reading this article so far. You might be thinking that there is so many stuff to learn, so many courses to join, but you don’t need to worry.

There is a good chance that you may already know most of the stuff, and there are also a lot of useful free resources which you can use, I have also
linked them here and there along with best resources, which are
certainly not free, but worth of money.

I am a particular fan of Udemy courses, not just because I will get paid when you buy one of these courses but because they are very affordable and provide a lot of values in very small amount, but you are free to choose the course you want.

At the end of the day, you should have enough knowledge and experience about the things mentioned here.

Good luck with your Java journey! It’s certainly not going to be easy, but by following this roadmap and guide, you are one step closer to becoming the Java Developer, you always wanted to be

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P. S. — If you are looking for some free resource to start with then you can also check out this list of 10 FREE Java Courses for Beginners, which contains some of the amazing online courses to learn Java from a beginners perspective.

P. S. S. — If you prefer books over online courses for learning then you should check this list of 11 Java Books for Aspiring devs.