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Full-Stack Engineer Learning Path

A structured 12-week journey through the Knowledge Vault for full-stack engineers. This path gives you depth in both frontend and backend, covering component patterns, Spring Boot, mobile engineering, data visualization, WebAssembly, databases, APIs, caching, authentication, deployment, comparisons, and production operations.

Who This Is For

Junior full-stack engineers leveling up to mid/senior
Frontend engineers adding backend depth (or vice versa)
Engineers who want to own features end-to-end
Anyone preparing for full-stack interviews

Prerequisites

HTML, CSS, JavaScript fundamentals
Basic understanding of HTTP and REST APIs
Some experience building a web application (any framework)
Familiarity with at least one database (SQL preferred)

Total estimated time: ~60 hours across 12 weeks

Learning Progression

Week 1-2: Frontend Foundations

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

[ ] Required -- Browser Rendering Pipeline (30 min)
[ ] Required -- Rendering Strategies: SSR vs SSG vs ISR (30 min)
[ ] Required -- State Management Patterns (30 min)
[ ] Required -- Web Performance & Core Web Vitals (30 min)
[ ] Required -- Bundle Optimization (25 min)
[ ] Required -- React Internals (35 min)
[ ] Optional -- Micro-Frontends (25 min)
[ ] Reference -- TypeScript Cheat Sheet (10 min)

Week 2-3: Component Patterns & Design Systems

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

[ ] Required -- Component Patterns Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Atomic Design (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Compound Components (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Headless Components (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Controlled vs Uncontrolled (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Accessibility Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Keyboard Navigation (20 min)
[ ] Required -- Data Visualization (30 min)
[ ] Optional -- Color Theory (20 min)
[ ] Optional -- i18n & l10n (30 min)

Week 3-4: Frontend Advanced -- WebAssembly & Performance

Estimated reading time: 4 hours

[ ] Required -- WebAssembly (30 min)
[ ] Required -- HTTP Caching (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Edge Caching (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Browser Profiling (25 min)
[ ] Required -- V8 Optimization (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- Edge Computing Overview (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- Cloudflare Workers (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- CSS Animations (20 min)

Week 4-5: Database Fundamentals

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

[ ] Required -- Database Selection Guide (20 min)
[ ] Required -- PostgreSQL Internals (35 min)
[ ] Required -- Indexing Deep Dive (30 min)
[ ] Required -- Isolation Levels (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Query Planning & Optimization (30 min)
[ ] Required -- Redis Internals (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Connection Pooling (20 min)
[ ] Optional -- MongoDB Internals (25 min)
[ ] Reference -- SQL Cheat Sheet (10 min)

Week 5-6: Backend & APIs

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

[ ] Required -- REST API Best Practices (25 min)
[ ] Required -- API Versioning (20 min)
[ ] Required -- Pagination Patterns (25 min)
[ ] Required -- OpenAPI & Swagger (20 min)
[ ] Required -- GraphQL vs REST (25 min)
[ ] Required -- N+1 Problem (20 min)
[ ] Required -- Webhook Design (20 min)
[ ] Optional -- gRPC Internals (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- tRPC (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- Node.js Internals (30 min)

Week 6-7: Spring Boot for Full-Stack

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

Spring Boot adds enterprise-grade backend capabilities. Essential for full-stack engineers in Java ecosystems.

[ ] Required -- Spring Boot Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Core Concepts (30 min)
[ ] Required -- REST API (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Spring Data JPA (30 min)
[ ] Required -- Exception Handling (20 min)
[ ] Required -- Security (25 min)
[ ] Required -- JWT Auth (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Testing (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- WebSocket (20 min)
[ ] Optional -- GraphQL (20 min)
[ ] Optional -- File Upload (15 min)
[ ] Reference -- Spring Boot Cheat Sheet (10 min)

Week 7-8: Authentication & Security

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

[ ] Required -- Authentication Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Session Management (25 min)
[ ] Required -- JWT Deep Dive (25 min)
[ ] Required -- OAuth 2.0 & OIDC (30 min)
[ ] Required -- OWASP Overview (20 min)
[ ] Required -- A01: Broken Access Control (25 min)
[ ] Required -- A03: Injection (25 min)
[ ] Required -- CORS Deep Dive (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Input Validation (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- CSP Headers (20 min)

Week 8-9: Architecture Patterns

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

[ ] Required -- Clean Architecture Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Layers and Boundaries (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Repository Pattern (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Dependency Injection (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Caching Strategies (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Cache Invalidation (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Queue Selection Guide (20 min)
[ ] Optional -- Event-Driven Architecture (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- Microservices Overview (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- DDD Overview (15 min)

Week 9-10: Testing & Mobile Engineering

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

Testing

[ ] Required -- Test Architecture (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Unit Testing (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Integration Testing (25 min)
[ ] Required -- E2E Testing (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- Contract Testing (25 min)

Mobile Engineering

[ ] Required -- Mobile Engineering Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- React Native (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Flutter (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Mobile Performance (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- Offline-First (20 min)
[ ] Optional -- Push Notifications (20 min)

Week 10-11: Deployment & Infrastructure

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

[ ] Required -- Docker Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Production Dockerfiles (25 min)
[ ] Required -- CI/CD Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- GitHub Actions Deep Dive (30 min)
[ ] Required -- Deployment Strategies (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Blue-Green Deployment (20 min)
[ ] Required -- Database Migrations (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- Kubernetes Overview (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- AWS Lambda (25 min)
[ ] Optional -- GCP Cloud Run (25 min)

Week 11: Observability

Estimated reading time: 3 hours

[ ] Required -- Monitoring Overview (15 min)
[ ] Required -- Metrics Design (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Structured Logging (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Correlation IDs (20 min)
[ ] Required -- Alert Design (25 min)

Week 12: Comparisons, Blueprints & Capstone

Estimated reading time: 5 hours

Framework Comparisons

[ ] Required -- React vs Vue vs Svelte (25 min)
[ ] Required -- Next.js vs Nuxt vs SvelteKit (25 min)
[ ] Required -- REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC vs tRPC (20 min)
[ ] Required -- Prisma vs Drizzle vs TypeORM (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- Express vs Fastify vs Hono (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- Supabase vs Firebase (15 min)
[ ] Optional -- Vite vs Webpack (15 min)

Production Blueprints

[ ] Required -- Auth Service Blueprint (45 min)
[ ] Required -- Feature Flag Blueprint (35 min)
[ ] Required -- File Storage Blueprint (35 min)
[ ] Optional -- Chat Service Blueprint (40 min)
[ ] Optional -- Notification Service Blueprint (35 min)

What You Will Be Able to Do After This Path

Build production UIs with component patterns, accessibility, and performance optimization
Implement backends with Spring Boot, REST/GraphQL APIs, and proper security
Design database schemas, write optimized queries, and implement caching
Build mobile experiences with React Native or Flutter
Implement data visualization and WebAssembly for compute-intensive tasks
Deploy full-stack applications with CI/CD, Docker, and monitoring
Make informed technology decisions using framework comparisons

Frontend Engineer Path -- Deep frontend specialization
Backend Engineer Path -- Deep backend specialization
Spring Boot Engineer Path -- Comprehensive Spring Boot
Mobile Engineer Path -- Deep mobile specialization
System Design Interview Path -- Interview preparation

Total Progress

This path contains approximately 110 pages. At a pace of 5 pages per day, you can complete it in about 3.5 weeks of focused study. This is the broadest path -- use specialized paths to go deeper in your areas of interest.