Dev Den

How To Transition Into Tech While Working Full-Time

The tech industry continues to create opportunities for people from all backgrounds. Every year, thousands of professionals from fields like banking, healthcare, education, sales, customer service, accounting, engineering, and even the sciences successfully transition into technology careers.

The good news? You don't need a Computer Science degree to get started.

The challenge? Most people approach the transition the wrong way.

If you're currently employed and considering a move into tech, this article will show you a realistic roadmap that works even if you only have a few hours per week to dedicate to learning.

Why So Many People Want To Transition Into Tech

Technology offers several advantages that attract professionals from other industries:

Higher earning potential

Remote work opportunities

Global job market

Career flexibility

Continuous learning and growth

The ability to build products and businesses

However, many people underestimate what it takes to make the transition successfully.

They start watching random YouTube videos, buy multiple courses, jump between programming languages, and after six months realize they have learned a lot but built very little.

The result is frustration and what many call "tutorial hell."

Step 1: Choose a Clear Tech Career Path

One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is trying to learn everything.

Technology is a massive industry.

Before learning any tool or programming language, decide what role you want to pursue.

Popular entry points include:

Software Engineering

Building web applications, mobile apps, APIs, and enterprise systems.

Frontend Development

Creating the user interfaces people interact with.

Backend Development

Building the systems, databases, and services that power applications.

Data Analytics

Analyzing data to help organizations make decisions.

Data Science

Using statistics and machine learning to extract insights from data.

Cybersecurity

Protecting systems and networks from threats.

Cloud Engineering

Managing and deploying applications on platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Pick one path and focus.

You can always expand later.

Step 2: Create a Learning Schedule That Fits Your Life

Most working professionals cannot dedicate eight hours a day to learning.

That's perfectly fine.

Consistency beats intensity.

A realistic schedule might look like:

Monday to Friday: 1–2 hours daily

Saturday: 3–4 hours

Sunday: Review and project work

This gives you approximately 10–15 hours per week.

Over six months, that becomes hundreds of focused learning hours.

The key is showing up consistently.

Step 3: Learn the Fundamentals First

Many beginners rush into advanced topics.

Don't.

Strong foundations create faster progress later.

For aspiring software engineers, focus on:

Programming fundamentals

Variables and data types

Functions

Loops and conditions

Object-oriented programming

Databases

Git and version control

Problem-solving skills

Avoid chasing every new framework or technology trend.

Master the basics first.

Step 4: Build Real Projects

This is where most learners separate themselves from the crowd.

Employers care less about how many courses you've completed and more about what you've built.

Instead of collecting certificates, build projects.

Examples include:

Personal portfolio website

Expense tracker

Inventory management system

School management system

E-commerce application

Task management app

Booking platform

Projects demonstrate practical skills and provide evidence of your abilities.

A portfolio of five strong projects is often more valuable than ten completed courses.

Step 5: Learn How Developers Actually Work

Many learners spend months coding but never learn industry practices.

Professional developers use:

Git and GitHub

Code reviews

Agile methodologies

Testing

Documentation

Collaboration tools

Understanding these concepts makes you more job-ready and helps you stand out during interviews.

Step 6: Join a Community

Learning alone is difficult.

Many people quit because they lack accountability and support.

A good community helps you:

Stay motivated

Ask questions

Get feedback

Network with professionals

Learn from others' experiences

The people around you can significantly impact how quickly you progress.

Step 7: Prepare for the Job Market Early

Don't wait until you've finished learning before preparing for opportunities.

Start early.

Create:

A professional LinkedIn profile

A GitHub portfolio

A technical resume

A personal website

Practice:

Technical interviews

Coding assessments

Behavioral interviews

The transition becomes much smoother when you're prepared before opportunities appear.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Learning Without a Plan

Random learning leads to random results.

Follow a roadmap.

Consuming More Than Building

Watching tutorials feels productive.

Building projects is productive.

Switching Technologies Too Often

Pick a stack and stick with it long enough to become competent.

Learning Alone

Guidance can save months of confusion and frustration.

Expecting Instant Results

Career transitions take time.

Focus on consistent progress instead of overnight success.

The Reality of Transitioning Into Tech

The truth is that transitioning into tech is absolutely achievable.

People from all kinds of backgrounds do it every year.

But success usually comes from:

Consistency

Structured learning

Real-world projects

Mentorship

Community support

The fastest learners are rarely the smartest.

They simply have better guidance and a clearer roadmap.

Want a Faster Path?

If you're serious about transitioning into software engineering and want to avoid the trial-and-error approach, mentorship can dramatically accelerate your progress.

That's why we created the Lunchpad Software Development Mentorship Program.

The Lunchpad Software Development Mentorship Program

Admissions are officially OPEN.

Whether you're trying to break into software engineering, level up your skills, or finally escape tutorial hell, Launchpad provides the structure, accountability, and mentorship needed to succeed.

Who Is It For?

✅ Career Transitioners looking to enter tech

✅ Upskillers wanting to advance their technical skills

✅ Tech Professionals seeking better opportunities

✅ Self-Learners struggling with consistency and direction

What You'll Get

Flexible & Self-Paced Learning

5+ Real-World Projects

Expert Code Reviews

Mentorship and Guidance

Job Readiness Preparation

Certificate of Completion

Instead of spending months trying to figure everything out alone, you'll follow a structured roadmap designed to help you become job-ready faster.

Applications are now open.

Visit:https://lunchpad.phegon.com

A practical guide to mastering microservices, DevOps, and cloud deployment

If you're a Java developer looking to break into microservices and cloud architecture, you've probably noticed something: most tutorials stop right when things get interesting.

They teach you how to create a REST API. Maybe they show you how to add JPA. But when it comes to deploying that code to the cloud? Setting up CI/CD? Building event-driven systems with Kafka? That's where most courses end—and where real engineering begins.

I've spent months building a comprehensive curriculum around this exact gap. Today, I want to share the architecture, the tech stack, and the learning path that transforms a backend developer into a DevOps-ready engineer.

The Problem with Most Spring Boot Tutorials

Most learning resources follow the same pattern:

Create a simple CRUD app

Run it locally

Call it a day

But in the real world, software looks very different. Production systems require:

Multiple services communicating with each other

Security that actually protects user data

Message brokers to handle async operations

Containerization for consistency

Cloud infrastructure that scales

Automated pipelines that deploy code without human intervention

If you've never built something that checks all these boxes, you're missing what senior engineers do every day.

The Architecture: What a Real Microservices System Looks Like

To truly understand modern backend engineering, you need to build something complex enough to reveal the challenges—and the solutions.

Here's the architecture of the banking system that serves as the capstone project in this learning path:

1. Authentication Service

Built with Spring Security 7+ and JWT (JSON Web Tokens). This handles user registration, login, and stateless authentication across all services. No sessions. No cookies. Pure token-based security.

2. Account & Transaction Services

These manage the core financial operations. They're built with JPA/Hibernate, connected to PostgreSQL (or MySQL), and handle complex transactional logic where data integrity is critical.

3. Notification Service

When a transaction happens, users get emails. This service uses Spring Mail with custom HTML templates to send real-time notifications—asynchronously.

4. API Gateway & Service Discovery

With 6 services running, how do they find each other? Eureka Server handles service registration and discovery. The API Gateway routes all external requests to the right internal service, handling load balancing along the way.

5. Event-Driven Core with Kafka

This is where things scale. Instead of services calling each other directly (synchronous), they publish events to Apache Kafka. When a transaction is created, the notification service picks up the event and sends the email—without blocking the main transaction flow.

The DevOps Layer: From Code to Production

Writing the code is only half the battle. The other half is shipping it.

Here's what production deployment actually looks like:

Docker Containerization

Every service gets its own Dockerfile. This ensures that what runs on your laptop runs exactly the same way on an AWS server. No more "it works on my machine."

AWS Infrastructure

EC2 instances host the containerized services

RDS (Relational Database Service) manages PostgreSQL/MySQL databases with automated backups

Security Groups control network access (what talks to what)

CI/CD with GitHub Actions

Every push to GitHub triggers an automated pipeline:

Code is pulled

Tests run

Docker images build

Images deploy to AWS

Services restart automatically

This is how professional teams work. Code → Commit → Deploy. No manual SSH. No "deployment days."

The Tech Stack at a Glance

If you're building toward this level, here's what you need in your toolkit:

Category

Technologies

Core Framework

Spring Boot 4, Spring MVC

Security

Spring Security 7+, JWT

Data

JPA/Hibernate, PostgreSQL, MySQL

Microservices

Eureka (Discovery), API Gateway

Event-Driven

Apache Kafka

DevOps

Docker, GitHub Actions, CI/CD Pipelines

Cloud

AWS EC2, RDS, Security Groups

Why This Approach Works

Learning through a complex, real-world project changes how you think about software.

Instead of isolated concepts, you see:

How services communicate (Eureka, API Gateway)

How to handle failure (Kafka ensures messages aren't lost)

How to secure distributed systems (JWT across service boundaries)

How to deploy without downtime (CI/CD + Docker)

This is the difference between being a developer who writes code and an engineer who builds systems.

Where to Go From Here

If you're ready to build this yourself—to go from Spring Boot fundamentals to deploying a 6-service banking system on AWS—I've structured everything into a step-by-step learning path.

The full course covers:

3 complete projects (starting with fundamentals, building to the microservices system)

Every line of code explained

Production patterns, not just "it works" code

Cloud deployment from scratch

You can access the full course here: 👉 https://www.udemy.com/course/spring-boot-4-masterclass-from-zero-to-cloud-architect/

Alternative access (with coupon code 4E4LK6E): 👉 https://phegon.com/courses/6

For a limited time, the course is available with full access—no cost. If you're serious about leveling up your backend engineering skills, this is your opportunity.

Final Thoughts

The gap between "I know Spring Boot" and "I can build and deploy microservices on AWS" is real. But it's also bridgeable with the right project and the right guidance.

If you've been stuck in tutorial hell, building the same simple CRUD apps over and over, this is your chance to build something that actually mirrors real-world engineering.