Java is not fading. It holds its place among the most used programming languages better than its main rivals, and large organisations now build their AI and backend work on the same JVM platforms they have run for years. For a Java developer who wants to grow, the opportunity sits where both meet: depth in modern Java combined with the AI and cloud work that is landing on it.
Java holds its place
The TIOBE index, which tracks how often languages appear in search engines, shows Java losing less ground over the past year than Python or C#. The Stack Overflow developer survey and the JetBrains developer ecosystem report point the same way: Java remains among the languages professionals use most at work, especially in large companies. Newer languages grow around it, Kotlin in particular, but mostly on the same platform.
The reason is simple. Banks, insurers, government bodies, logistics firms and telecom operators run critical systems on Java. Those systems are not rewritten; they are extended. Every extension needs developers who know the existing code and the platform under it.
AI lands on the JVM
Large organisations rarely build AI products from scratch. They connect language models to the systems they already have: the customer file, the claims process, the order flow. That integration work happens in the backend, and in these organisations the backend is Java. Frameworks such as Spring AI and LangChain4j bring model calls, retrieval and agents into the Java stack, so the team that owns the system also builds the AI feature.
That changes what a strong Java profile looks like. Knowing Spring and a database is the baseline. The developers in demand also understand how a model is called safely, how its output is tested and how it runs in production next to everything else.
The labour market
LinkedIn Talent Insights shows a broad population of developers working with Java in the Netherlands, far larger than the group with Java in their job title. Most of the work is posted as backend developer or software engineer. Applying directly only to vacancies titled "Java developer" therefore shows you a small part of the market. The roles that fit are often described by the system and the stack, not by the language.
What this does not show
Language rankings measure attention and survey answers, not jobs or pay. Survey samples lean towards developers who answer surveys. Talent Insights relies on how people describe themselves on LinkedIn, and not every developer keeps a profile. A rise of a new platform, or a shift by large employers away from the JVM, would change this reading; we see no sign of either yet.
Advice for those who want to grow
- Work on a recent long-term support release of Java and know what changed: records, virtual threads, sealed classes.
- Build something that calls a language model from a Java service, with tests and error handling, and be able to explain it.
- Learn how your code runs in production: containers, Kubernetes and the cloud platform your employer uses.
- Read vacancies for backend developer and software engineer, not only those with Java in the title. Many fit.
- Describe your work by the systems you built and what they handle, so an employer sees the depth behind the language.