If you’re learning Java, or want to become a Java developer, memorizing the syntax isn’t enough. You also need to be familiar with the tools every industry-level Java developer uses. These tools increase your coding speed, simplify debugging, and help you work like a professional developer.

Table of Contents

So, in the same conversational style, let’s talk about the top 10 Java tools every Java developer should learn.

1. First – Learn Java Well

Before learning any tool, it’s important to have a good grasp of Java’s basics.
This means concepts like:

OOP
Exception Handling
Collections
Multithreading
Streams
Lambda

All of these should be clear.

Why?

Because unless you have strong Java skills, you won’t understand the IDE, debugging, or frameworks.

Strong Java = Strong Developer.

2. IDE (IntelliJ IDEA / Eclipse)

IDEs are the tools we use to write code.

They are essential because:

They automatically show errors
Debugging becomes easy
Refactoring is simple
Code completion is extremely powerful

IntelliJ IDEA is the most powerful IDE.
Eclipse is free and widely used by companies.
NetBeans is less common these days.
VS Code works, but isn’t as perfect for Java.

3. Build Tools – Maven and Gradle

Java projects often have many dependencies—like JSON, MySQL, Spring, Hibernate, and more.
You can’t manually download each dependency anymore.

That’s where build tools help:

Maven – the industry standard
Gradle – fast and flexible

These tools automate everything:
Compile → Build → Test → Package

4. Git – Version Control System

Suppose you wrote 50 lines of code today.
If you make a mistake tomorrow—how will you go back?

That’s why Git is the most important tool.

Its advantages:

Code history is maintained
Teamwork becomes easy
You can instantly revert mistakes
Every developer uses Git

Tools used with Git include GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.

5. Debugger

You learned Java, you learned the IDE — now comes the real work:

Finding bugs in code.

A professional developer is the one who understands debugging.

With a debugger, you can:

Place breakpoints
Run code line-by-line
Check variable values
Find the exact cause of an error

IntelliJ and Eclipse both offer very powerful debuggers.

6. JUnit and Mockito (Unit Testing)

Your code shouldn’t just run — it should be properly tested.

7. Servers – Tomcat, WebLogic, WildFly

When you build web applications, they need servers to run.

The simplest and most popular server is:

Apache Tomcat

At the enterprise level, companies use:

WebLogic
WildFly

Learning servers helps you understand deployment and production concepts.

8. SonarQube – Code Quality Tool

SonarQube helps you track code quality.
It tells you:

Where bugs exist
Where improvements are needed
What coding standards are not followed

Companies regularly use this tool to keep projects clean and maintainable.

9. CI/CD Tools – Jenkins / GitHub Actions

Imagine you wrote code and pushed it.

Now:

It needs to build
It needs to test
It needs to deploy

Doing all this manually takes time.
That’s where automation tools help:

Jenkins
GitHub Actions

These tools automate the entire workflow.

10. Logging Tools – Log4j, Logback, SLF4J

Logs are extremely important in real-world Java applications.

Why?

Because logs reveal:

What’s happening inside the application
Where errors are occurring
How the performance is

The most widely used logging tools:

Log4j
Logback
SLF4J

These tools are heavily used in production environments.

Conclusion

So these were the top 10 Java tools every Java developer should know.

If you’re a beginner or intermediate developer, learning even five of these tools will significantly increase your confidence, coding speed, and job opportunities.

And if you become strong in all ten tools —
you’ll be an industry-ready Java developer.

Top 10 Java Tools Every Java Developer Must Know