Why are entry level java web development jobs so sparse?

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I’m a Computer Science student and Android developer trying to get into web development. I chose Spring boot to learn and I’m liking it so far, but I’d love to experience web development as a career and try an internship.

When looking for Java spring / web dev internships, it seems to be really lacking in positions. I can find plenty of node/express but almost none for java spring.

Is Java web development mostly geared for seasoned professionals?

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Afaik [backed up by my experience] what you’re looking isn’t a common thing at all (caveat, I’m in the UK, I can’t comment as to other markets).

What I mean by that is that, if I look for jobs including “Spring Boot” in the description, I get 500-odd job postings across the UK. Of those, there are a fair few entry-level positions. But, almost universally, the companies involved are either financial (banks mainly) or science/medical research (companies spun out of university incubators), or are consultancies (so are primarily using skilled developers to build products for enterprise). So use of a web framework is most often likely to be part of the job.

It’s not as if it’s a common thing at all to have places that primarily exist to build web applications using Java.

And yeah, most jobs are looking for experienced Java developers [to maintain complex systems].

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I believe there are 2 main factors impacting the job market for “Java Web Dev internships”.

  1. Java is used for a lot of use-cases beyond web development. Enterprise applications, mobile, banking, etc. I’ve had blue ray players, and microwaves that run Java. Its a very capable language.
  2. It’s over 20 years old, and is a very mature language that already has a lot of experienced developers.

It isn’t true that there aren’t any Java internships, I’ve seen a good amount when I was looking for jobs, how-ever just like any technology it really depends on where you are looking and what is the “most popular” in that area.

If your a student, I recommend not committing to one technology too early. Being more of a “jack of all trades” allows you to be more flexible with the job market. Specializing too early will limit your overall breadth of knowledge and limit your job opportunities out of the gate.

Its very possible you will be learning one thing, and then end up using something totally different at work, don’t be afraid of learning new things!

Good luck!

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