10 ways to accelerate your career with Jakarta EE

When discussing a software engineer's career, several key points naturally come to mind. If you want to make progress, it doesn’t matter whether you focus on management or on being an individual contributor; as a staff engineer, you need to go beyond code. Finding a way to acquire those skills and gain field experience can be a challenging task. Luckily for us software engineers, open source provides a way to achieve this. This article explores ten reasons to get involved in open source, highlighting how contributions to the Java standards for enterprise applications, Jakarta EE, can help you grow professionally while shaping the future of the software industry.

If you’ve never heard of Jakarta EE and you are a Java developer, you are most likely already using it. In summary, Jakarta EE (formerly Java Enterprise Edition, Java EE) comprises several specifications designed to make a Java developer’s life easier, including dependency injection, JAX-RS, and support for both relational and non-relational databases.

Thus, contributing to Jakarta EE means contributing to a project that every Java developer will eventually use, with a truly global impact. We often associate open source with philosophy; however, open source also encompasses some of the most advanced software engineering techniques, helping you advance your career. 

1. Shape the future of Enterprise Java 

By contributing to technologies that shape the cloud native era, you stay aligned with the future. As Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, once said: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” By participating in Jakarta EE, you not only stay updated, you also help build that future.

2. Enhance your coding discipline

Open source contributions are often made in one's spare time, which forces efficiency. Through reviews, clean architecture practices, and testing, you learn to write disciplined code. These habits extend beyond coding, improving time management, and even how you invest in your personal education.

3. Learn from the best

By contributing to Jakarta EE, you’ll collaborate with Java Champions, architects, and experts from leading tech companies such as Fujitsu, IBM, Oracle, Payara, Red Hat, and Tomitribe. You gain exposure to methodologies and design approaches from recognised professionals, including book authors and reference figures in software architecture and design.

4. Improve your writing skills

Software engineering is more than code; it requires clear communication, writing specifications, documentation, and participating in discussions forces you to be precise. Documentation is a long-term investment that ensures scalability within organisations. In open source, you practice this on a global stage. For non-native speakers, it also provides a chance to improve a second, or even third language.

5. Enhance your public speaking

Whether you aim for management or staff engineering, communication is non-negotiable. Open source provides opportunities to present what you are learning at community calls, meetups, and conferences. Beyond the talks themselves, you also learn to “sell” your ideas through calls for papers, proposals, and pitching why your presentation should be accepted. You will apply the selling skill to get a promotion or find a new job.

6. Expand your global network

Open source connects you with developers, architects, and companies around the globe. Networking creates opportunities: a new job, a startup, or even a role that finds you. Let's say goodbye to the whiteboard. In tech, interviews often involve “whiteboard” coding challenges where candidates must solve problems live in front of interviewers, but strong open source contributions can sometimes help you skip that step, as your work and coding are visible in your contributions. I personally experienced this when contributing to a project, which helped me land my first job in English.

7. Grow your personal brand

Your name appears in release notes, commits, and community channels. By presenting, writing blogs, and sharing your knowledge, you build visibility. Certifications are valuable, but far fewer people can claim to have shaped the technology itself. For example, many use Jakarta Persistence or Hibernate, but how many know the creator of Hibernate? Being part of Jakarta EE makes you stand out globally.

8. Gain credibility and recognition

As you invest in contributions and personal branding, people start to associate you with your work. This recognition translates into credibility. Over time, contributions may even become part of your professional “surname”. Think of the creator of Quarkus or the creator of Hibernate.

9. Develop leadership skills

Leadership in Jakarta EE requires aligning roadmaps, negotiating APIs, guiding collaborative decisions, and going to conferences. Being a leader is not just about technical expertise, it’s about communication, influence, and impact. Open source provides a unique training ground for these skills, offering real-world human interactions that cannot be easily simulated elsewhere.

10. Sharpen your hard skills

Finally, contributing sharpens your technical mastery. Jakarta EE fosters collaboration and convergence on best-practice APIs. You gain a deep understanding of architecture, design principles, documentation, testing, refactoring, and layering. These are the same practices enterprises want to implement internally, and Jakarta EE gives you direct experience with them.

Indeed, open source offers more than just ten advantages, blending soft and hard skills to help you grow. For example, some conferences support speakers by covering travel costs, and your chances of being selected increase when you’re part of the Java ecosystem as a contributor. Open source can even open doors to travel the world.

With all these benefits, how do you start contributing? Here are a few practical steps:

1. Visit the Jakarta EE page: https://jakarta.ee/
2. Explore the specifications: https://jakarta.ee/specifications/ or the Jakarta EE Projects: https://github.com/eclipse-ee4j
3. Pick one or two specs (start small and commit time to just one).
4. Introduce yourself in the specification mailing list or channel.
5. Read the documentation and learn the history and context.
6. Contribute by fixing or enhancing the documentation, creating some samples, and updating it. (The documentation is, usually, the best approach to start on open source projects; nobody will reject updating, making a sample, or enhancing the documentation).
7. Review mailing lists, issues, and pull requests. Look for items labeled first contribution.
8. Once familiar, suggest improvements or new features, but only after fully understanding the project context.
9. Keep contributing consistently. Small, regular steps matter more than occasional big efforts.

Remember: your career is a marathon, not a 100-meter sprint.

One of the biggest mistakes I have observed in software engineers is believing that the ability to write code is sufficient. In reality, we also need to interact with people; therefore, an excellent software engineer must cultivate both hard and soft skills.

Yes, open source can help you go “to infinity and beyond” in your career. It strengthens your understanding of design, architecture, and coding practices while enhancing your communication, writing, and leadership. Open source changed my life in many ways, and I hope it impacts yours too.

Ready to start contributing to Jakarta EE? Explore the Contribute to Jakarta EE page to learn precisely how to get started, the benefits of contributing, and where your skills can make an impact.

Start strong with the support of an experienced mentor. Explore our Mentorship Program to be paired with someone who can help you onboard smoothly and find your place in the community.