As summer sets a calmer rhythm, it’s the perfect season to pause and reflect. For developers who thrive on sharing knowledge, it’s a chance to look back at how we've contributed to the tech community—and in my case, how Spring Framework has shaped every piece of that journey.
Over the past year, I’ve dedicated my content creation to helping others build production-grade Spring Boot applications, prepare for Spring certification, and master backend development within the Java ecosystem. From in-depth tutorials and open-source tooling to video walkthroughs and certification prep, every resource I’ve created is rooted in Spring.
Here’s a look at my Spring-focused contributions across platforms—from Foojay articles to my personal blog, Udemy course, and YouTube tutorials—all designed to support developers and architects navigating the ever-evolving Spring landscape.
Content creation
🔹 Foojay Articles
Role: Sole creator
Content: Technical tutorials and insights on Java, Spring Boot, developer productivity, and backend architecture
Volume: 4 published articles in the last 12 months
Audience: Java and JVM developers looking for expert-level content and practical advice on real-world Java use cases
🔹 Blog Posts
Platform: https://blog.vvauban.com/
Role: Sole creator
Content: Technical articles focused on Spring Boot, Java, and certification tips
Volume: 10+ articles published in the last 12 months
Audience: Java developers and architects preparing for Spring certification or building production-grade applications
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/generate-beautiful-api-docs-for-spring-boot-using-redocusaurus
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/new-video-alert-cloudevent
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/new-video-drop-kafka-streams-spring-boot-clean-architecture
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/just-dropped-a-new-video-secure-your-spring-boot-app-with-oauth2-and-auth0
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/prevent-ldap-injection-in-java-with-springboot-full
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/speed-up-your-spring-batch-with-native-image-and-graalvm
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/preventing-ldap-injection-with-java
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/using-transactional-readonly-true-in-spring-applications-is-highly
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/testing-kafka-with-embeddedkafka-in-spring
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/feedback-on-spring-certification-with-tips-to-pass-it
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/spring-academy-pro-free
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/springboot-with-github-actions
- ▸https://blog.vvauban.com/blog/springboot-jpa-one-to-many-video
🔹 Practice Course (Udemy)
Course: Spring Professional Certification – 6 Full Tests (2V0-72.22)
Role: Sole creator
Description: Over 6 full-length mock exams with detailed explanations aligned with the Spring Certified Professional curriculum
Audience: 2,500+ students enrolled in the past year
Availability: Publicly available, actively maintained
🔹 YouTube Channel (Spring content)
Role: Sole creator
Content: Technical tutorials and demos on Spring Framework and related technologies, regularly updated
- ▸https://youtu.be/fs6wiUqJGo8 › SpringBoot & Redocusaurus
- ▸https://youtu.be/8i24yOyqGX4 › SpirngBoot & CloudEvent
- ▸https://youtu.be/DUJRew_-Pfw › SpringBoot & OAuth 2
- ▸https://youtu.be/kFVwJSKVckA › Spring Native v2
- ▸https://youtu.be/-ipgWxN_2B8 › Spring Native
- ▸https://youtu.be/lRjzxRKfq9M › Spring & LDAP
- ▸https://youtu.be/cwkXii69IjM › ResponseStatus annotation
- ▸https://youtu.be/GdZMY5kZrzo › Spring & Kafka testing
- ▸https://youtu.be/NiAvjVpp3Y8 › SpringBoot & GHA
- ▸https://youtu.be/_6xyvYaxe8I › SpringBoot & JPA
- ▸https://youtu.be/oQ4uqQZP5eA › SpringBoot & HTMX
- ▸https://youtu.be/EDSKtZBFJOo › Spring certification feedback
🎤 Events & Speaking — Lighting Up the Spring Stage
One of the highlights of this year was stepping out from behind the keyboard to present in person at Spring Meetup Paris, just steps from the Opera. In front of a packed room of around 100 Spring enthusiasts, I shared a live talk focused on pushing performance boundaries with Spring Batch and GraalVM Native Image—and why this combo can be a powerful lever for FinOps optimization.
The session (delivered in French, with an English version available) was titled:
FR: Des Spring Batchs plus rapides que Flash (et plus économiques) avec GraalVM Native Image ⚡ EN: Spring Batch Faster than Flash ⚡ with Spring Native and GraalVM to save FinOps costs
🗓️ Date: March 2025
📍 Location: Spring Meetup Paris, Opera avenue
🎤 Role: Sole Presenter
🌐 Online Communities, Tools & Contributions
Beyond articles and talks, a key part of my mission has been giving back to the Spring community through open-source projects and community support. Whether it's maintaining sample repositories, helping fellow developers debug tricky Spring configs, or contributing solutions around Kafka and GraalVM, these efforts extend the conversation beyond my own platforms.
Here’s how I've stayed actively involved this past year:
🔹 GitHub Repositories
On GitHub, I maintain a growing collection of Spring-focused demo projects. These include working examples for CloudEvents, Kafka Streams, Spring Native integrations, JPA mappings, and security practices—each crafted to be educational, reproducible, and ready-to-use.
- 📍 Profile: github.com/vinny59200
- 🛠️ Role: Maintainer & Contributor
- 🧪 Highlights: Sample projects & demo code for Spring and Java
Selected Projects:
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/foojay-redocusaurus
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/springboot-oauth
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/spring-jpa-top-by-nothing
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/spring-boot-web-xls-export-jsp
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/spring-batch-native-image
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/custoom-qualifier
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/dash-syntax-for-db-springboot
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/actuator-exposed-only-he
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/UdemySPringFooProperties
- ▸https://github.com/vinny59200/jpa-one-to-many
🔹 Stack Overflow Support
I've also kept close to the pulse of developer pain points by offering answers on Stack Overflow. With a growing reputation and badge collection across Java and Spring topics, my contributions here target troubleshooting Spring Boot behavior, native image compilation errors, and configuration quirks.
- 📍 Profile: stackoverflow.com/users/vvauban
- 🧠 Role: Spring & Java Question Answerer
- 🏅 Reputation: 500+
- ⭐ Topics: Spring Boot, GraalVM, Kafka, configuration & optimization
Notable Answers:
- ▸https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27230702/speed-up-spring-boot-startup-time/79281810#79281810
- ▸https://stackoverflow.com/questions/73905381/failed-to-compile-spring-native-on-graalvm-with-the-message-native-image-cmd-re/79261339#79261339
- ▸https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48158249/spring-boot-could-not-resolve-placeholder-in-string/77763551#77763551
- ▸https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74673966/wiremock-issue-when-upgrading-to-spring-boot-3/77344836#77344836
- ▸https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23894010/spring-boot-security-disable-security/77228312#77228312
Prepare your certification: