I'm teaching myself and have gotten comfortable with the

Decide what kind of java programming you want to do then find out a couple of the most popular frameworks used in that domain and learn them.

Also learn how to use Maven. Large scale java projects aren't built by defining a classpath and calling javac, you use your IDE or CI server to kick off a Maven build.

>>58669293
Can you elaborate on "kinds" of Java?

>>58669342
Broadly speaking there's three primary use cases that make up the vast majority of java projects:

1) Writing firmware for appliances and embedded systems
2) "Enterprise Applications" that serve up web interfaces to interact with databases in large corporate environments
3) Android apps

I don't know much about 1) or 3), but 2) is my dayjob. I can give you more details on "Enterprise Java Development" if you care to know. It's not glamorous, but there's an endless supply of jobs in the field.

>>58669445
not OP but please elaborate. what kinds of side projects should I work on to get an enterprise software job?

>>58669445
Would also like to know about 2.

>>58669445
If I also want to make 2) my dayjob what are some things I should learn? Give me shit to Google. Thanks anon.

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35KB, 509x337px

>>58669496
The buzzword these days is "full stack."

Basically, this means that you write a java application that runs on a server that connects some kind of javascript/html/css user interface to some kind of SQL database.

Check out this book (pdf) to get an overview of the sorts of things you'll want to get familiar with
http://libgen.io/ads.php?md5=9C2D45F6D547F72CB870B3A991F62EF6

If you're conversant with the technologies in that book and have a portfolio with a couple projects using said technologies you'll be able to find work.

>>58669763
following up, I'll name some terms associated with the different components in my diagram.

Web Components / JavaBeans Components
================================
These two often get grouped together within frameworks. Probably the two biggest frameworks in this space today are
1) JavaEE - The most Dilbert of all java frameworks, but it'll get you a job.
2) Spring - open source and written to address many of JavaEE's worst pain points. Introduces some pain points of its own.

Web Server / Application Server
========================
Whatever you write in JavaEE or Spring is going to run on some kind of server. There's literally hundreds of these. There's commercial ones like WebLogic (Oracle) and WebSphere (IBM). There's open-source ones like Tomcat and GlassFish.

There's important differences between web servers and application servers--they don't matter here, but make sure you can elaborate them before your first interview.

Web Client
========
This is just a web browser. But you'll have to know javascript/html/css pretty fluently to put together a usable "front end" that the user sees in their browser. You should learn the javascript library jQuery and then pick a fashionable javascript framework to help you create your user interface (at the moment Angular and React are probably the two most popular).

Learn how to use Bootstrap (a free css library from Twitter) to make your app "Responsive" (not look like shit on a smartphone).

Database (the blue cylinders)
=====================
Learn how to establish a connection to a sql database using JDBC, then find java utility to avoid having to use JDBC directly.

Postgres or MySql are both free to use databases that will serve well for personal projects. I've heard Postgres is pretty similar to Oracle's (commercial) database product which is probably what your employer will use.

For extra credit find out what an ORM is and how to use one.