From Spring Boot developer to Agentic AI engineer
The Java Developer → AI Engineer Roadmap
Seventy-five topics in dependency order, from your first ChatClient call to multi-agent systems running in production. Nothing here assumes Python, a data-science background, or a GPU.
Who it is for: Java developers who want to build LLM and agent features
Your progress
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Foundation — Modern Java Mastery
6 topics · 6 published
- 1Java 17 to 21 — What's NewBeginner
Records · Pattern Matching · Virtual Threads · Sealed Classes · Text Blocks
- 2Functional Programming in JavaBeginner
Lambdas · Streams API · Optional · CompletableFuture · Method References
- 3Reactive Programming with Project ReactorIntermediate
Mono · Flux · Backpressure · WebFlux · Reactive Streams
- 4Microservices Architecture Deep DiveIntermediate
Service Discovery · API Gateway · Circuit Breaker · Saga · CQRS · Event Sourcing
- 5Containerization with Docker & KubernetesIntermediate
Dockerfile Best Practices · K8s Deployments · Helm Charts · Service Mesh
- 6Modern Build Tools & Dependency ManagementBeginner
Gradle vs Maven · Multi-Module Projects · BOM · Version Catalogs
Spring Boot AI Integration
13 topics · 13 published
- 7Introduction to the Spring AI FrameworkBeginner
Architecture · Supported Models · Portable Abstractions · Quick Start
- 8Setting Up Spring AI with OpenAIBeginner
Dependencies · Auto-Configuration · API Key Management · Model Options
- 9The Spring AI ChatClient APIBeginner
ChatClient · Prompt Templates · System Messages · Streaming Responses
- 10Prompt Engineering for Java DevelopersBeginner
Prompt Patterns · Few-Shot · Chain-of-Thought · Output Parsers
- 11Spring AI Embeddings & Vector StoresIntermediate
EmbeddingModel · pgvector · Pinecone · Qdrant · Milvus · Similarity Search
- 12Building a RAG Pipeline with Spring BootIntermediate
Document Readers · Text Splitters · Retrieval Advisor · Citations · Evaluation
- 13Spring AI Function Calling & @ToolIntermediate
@Tool Annotation · ToolCallback · Tool Registration · Error Handling
- 14Structured Output with Spring AIIntermediate
BeanOutputConverter · JSON Mode · Schema Validation · Records
- 15Multimodal AI with Spring BootIntermediate
Image Input · Vision Models · Audio Transcription · Media API
- 16Spring AI with Ollama (Local LLMs)Intermediate
Local Setup · Model Management · Offline AI · Cost Optimization
- 17Spring AI Observability & MonitoringAdvanced
Micrometer Metrics · Tracing · Token Accounting · OpenTelemetry
- 18Security in AI-Powered Spring ApplicationsAdvanced
Prompt Injection · Data Sanitization · Rate Limiting · OWASP LLM Top 10
- 19Testing AI ApplicationsAdvanced
Mocking ChatModel · Golden Datasets · LLM-as-Judge · Integration Tests
LangChain4j Deep Dive
11 topics · 11 published
- 20LangChain4j Introduction & ArchitectureBeginner
AiServices · Design Philosophy · vs Python LangChain · Core Abstractions
- 24LangChain4j Text SplittersIntermediate
Recursive Splitter · Token-Based · Markdown · Overlap Tuning
- 25LangChain4j Embedding ModelsIntermediate
All-MiniLM · OpenAI Embeddings · Cohere · Vertex AI · In-Process Models
- 27LangChain4j Retrievers & RAGAdvanced
ContentRetriever · Query Transformation · Re-ranking · Compression
- 29LangChain4j Chat MemoryIntermediate
MessageWindowChatMemory · Token Window · Persistent Store · Summarization
Agentic AI — Theory & Practice
13 topics · 13 published
- 31What Is Agentic AI? A Complete GuideBeginner
Autonomous Agents · Agentic vs Generative · Agency Levels · Workflows
- 32Agent Architecture PatternsIntermediate
ReAct · Plan-and-Execute · Reflection · Orchestrator-Worker · Routing
- 33Tool Use & Function CallingIntermediate
Tool Schemas · Dynamic Selection · Composition · Error Recovery
- 34Planning & Reasoning in AgentsAdvanced
Task Decomposition · Hierarchical Planning · Chain-of-Thought · Tree-of-Thought
- 35Memory Systems for AgentsAdvanced
Working Memory · Episodic · Semantic · Vector Recall · Consolidation
- 37Agent Frameworks ComparedIntermediate
LangGraph · CrewAI · AutoGen · Semantic Kernel · Spring AI · LangChain4j
- 38Building Autonomous Coding AgentsAdvanced
Code Generation · Review Agents · Refactoring · Test Generation
- 39Agent Evaluation & TestingAdvanced
Benchmarking · Hallucination Detection · Trajectory Eval · Human-in-the-Loop
- 41Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) SystemsIntermediate
Approval Flows · Escalation · Feedback Loops · Confidence Thresholds
- 42Productionizing Agentic SystemsExpert
Deployment · Scaling · Guardrails · Cost Control · Durable Execution
- 43Ethical AI & Responsible Agent DesignIntermediate
Bias · Transparency · Accountability · Safety · Compliance
Generative AI — Broad Spectrum
12 topics · 12 published
- 45Transformer Architecture ExplainedAdvanced
Self-Attention · Multi-Head Attention · Positional Encoding · KV Cache
- 47Vector Databases Deep DiveAdvanced
HNSW · ANN Search · Cosine Similarity · Product Quantization · Filtering
- 48Embedding Models & Semantic SearchAdvanced
Bi-Encoders · Cross-Encoders · ColBERT · Hybrid Search · Re-ranking
- 49Prompt Engineering MasterclassIntermediate
Prompt Chaining · Meta-Prompting · Self-Consistency · Optimization
- 50Tokenization & Context WindowsIntermediate
BPE · SentencePiece · Token Limits · Context Management · Cost Math
- 52Model Distillation & QuantizationExpert
GPTQ · AWQ · GGUF · Knowledge Distillation · Latency Trade-offs
- 53Guardrails & Safety SystemsAdvanced
Input Filters · Output Validation · Content Moderation · Jailbreak Defense
- 54LLMOps & MLOps for Generative AIAdvanced
Prompt Versioning · CI/CD for LLMs · Model Registry · A/B Testing · Canary
- 55GenAI on AWS, Azure & GCPIntermediate
Bedrock · Azure OpenAI · Vertex AI · SageMaker · Cost Comparison
Real-World Integration Patterns
10 topics · 10 published
- 56Building AI-Powered REST APIsIntermediate
SSE Streaming · Async Processing · Webhooks · Timeouts · Backpressure
- 57Event-Driven AI ArchitecturesAdvanced
Kafka + AI · Async Agent Pipelines · Event Sourcing · Dead-Letter Queues
- 59AI-Powered Search ApplicationsAdvanced
Hybrid Search · Faceting · Query Understanding · Personalization
- 60Chatbot & Conversational AI ArchitectureIntermediate
Intent Classification · Dialog State · Slot Filling · Multi-Turn Context
- 61AI for Data EngineeringIntermediate
Text-to-SQL · Data Cleaning · Anomaly Detection · Schema Mapping
- 62AI Observability & LLM TracingAdvanced
LangFuse · OpenTelemetry GenAI · Span Attributes · Cost Dashboards
- 63Multi-Tenant AI ArchitecturesExpert
Tenant Isolation · Quota Enforcement · Cost Allocation · Data Residency
Advanced Topics & Emerging Trends
10 topics · 10 published
- 67Code Generation & AI-Assisted DevelopmentIntermediate
Copilot Internals · Repo Context · Code LLMs · Evaluation
- 68AI for DevOps & SREAdvanced
Incident Agents · Log Analysis · Alert Correlation · Runbook Automation
- 69GraphRAG & Knowledge GraphsAdvanced
Neo4j + LLM · Entity Extraction · Graph Retrieval · Community Summaries
- 72Federated Learning & Privacy-Preserving AIExpert
Differential Privacy · Federated Averaging · Secure MPC · PII Redaction
- 74Open Source vs Proprietary AI StrategyIntermediate
TCO Analysis · Vendor Lock-In · Hybrid Strategy · Migration Paths
Build it for real
Reading a roadmap teaches you the vocabulary. Shipping the project is what makes it stick.
- AgenticHR — Intelligent HR Assistant PlatformA Spring Boot HR platform that answers policy questions from your own documents, screens résumés against a role, and handles leave requests through a tool-using agent — the project that turns phase 1 and 2 into something you can demonstrate.~25 hours · Intermediate
- DevAgentic — Autonomous DevOps AgentAn agent that investigates incidents, analyses logs, reviews pull requests and proposes remediation — with every write action behind a human approval gate. The project where autonomy meets consequences.~40 hours · Advanced
- FinAgentic — Multi-Agent Financial Analysis PlatformA multi-agent research platform where an orchestrator dispatches to specialists — filings analyst, news analyst, quantitative analyst — and reconciles their findings into a cited report. The capstone project.~60 hours · Expert