Top 80 Spring Interview Questions

Balazs Refi

April 20, 2023

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Spring interview questions: Ace your next Java Spring interview with our comprehensive guide. Be prepared and land that dream job!

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As an IT professional, you are well aware of the importance of being well-prepared for job interviews, especially when it comes to highly sought-after positions in the Java Spring ecosystem. To help you stand out among other candidates and demonstrate your in-depth knowledge of the framework, we have put together a comprehensive list of Spring interview questions that touch upon various aspects of the technology.

These Spring interview questions have been carefully curated by experienced Java Spring developers, ensuring that they cover a wide range of topics that interviewers are likely to explore. Our goal is to provide you with the essential information and guidance you need to tackle even the most challenging questions during your interview.

From Spring Core and Basics to Aspect-Oriented Programming, Model-View-Controller, Data Access, Spring Boot, Security, Microservices, and Testing – our list of Spring interview questions will help you master each of these areas and more. By reviewing and understanding these questions, you will be better equipped to confidently showcase your expertise during your next interview.

Take the time to thoroughly study these Spring interview questions, and you will be well on your way to securing the Java Spring job you have been aspiring to. Good luck, and happy learning!



Spring Core and Basics

  1. 1
    What is the purpose of the Spring framework, and what benefits does it provide compared to other Java frameworks?
  2. 2
    Explain the concept of Inversion of Control (IoC) and how it relates to Dependency Injection (DI) in the Spring framework.
  3. 3
    Describe the different types of Dependency Injection (Constructor-based and Setter-based) and provide examples of when to use each.
  4. 4
    What is the difference between ApplicationContext and BeanFactory in Spring? When should you choose one over the other?
  5. 5
    Can you explain the Spring bean lifecycle and the roles of BeanPostProcessor and InitializingBean in it?
  6. 6
    Describe the different bean scopes in Spring, and provide a use case for each scope.
  7. 7
    What is the significance of the @Autowired annotation in Spring? How does it work?
  8. 8
    What is the difference between component-scan and annotation-config in Spring configuration?
  9. 9
    Explain how to use the @Qualifier annotation to resolve ambiguities when multiple beans of the same type are present in the context.
  10. 10
    How do you configure a Spring application using Java-based configuration? Provide a brief example.

Spring AOP (Aspect-Oriented Programming)

  1. 1
    What is Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), and what benefits does it provide in the context of a Spring application?
  2. 2
    Explain the key concepts of AOP, including aspects, join points, pointcuts, advice, and weaving.
  3. 3
    What are the different types of advice in Spring AOP, and when would you use each one?
  4. 4
    How do you define a pointcut expression in Spring AOP? Provide an example of a pointcut expression.
  5. 5
    What is the difference between the @AspectJ and the Spring AOP schema-based approach for defining aspects?
  6. 6
    How can you implement and configure around advice in Spring AOP? Provide a brief example.
  7. 7
    What is the role of the AOP proxy in Spring? How does it work, and what is the difference between JDK dynamic proxies and CGLIB proxies?
  8. 8
    Can you explain the limitations of Spring AOP compared to a full AspectJ implementation?
  9. 9
    How do you control the order of aspect execution when multiple aspects are applied to a single join point?
  10. 10
    Explain how to use the @Order annotation and the Ordered interface for specifying the order of aspect execution.

Spring MVC (Model-View-Controller)

  1. 1
    Describe the architecture and components of a Spring MVC application.
  2. 2
    What is the role of the DispatcherServlet in Spring MVC, and how does it handle incoming requests?
  3. 3
    How do you configure a Spring MVC application using both XML and Java-based configurations?
  4. 4
    Explain the usage of the @Controller and @RequestMapping annotations in Spring MVC.
  5. 5
    How do you handle form submissions, validation, and data binding in a Spring MVC application?
  6. 6
    What is the difference between @ModelAttribute and @RequestParam annotations, and when should you use each?
  7. 7
    Describe the role of ViewResolver in Spring MVC and provide an example of how to configure it.
  8. 8
    How do you handle exceptions in Spring MVC? Explain the usage of the @ExceptionHandler and @ControllerAdvice annotations.
  9. 9
    What are the different ways to return a response from a Spring MVC controller, and when should you use each?
  10. 10
    Explain how to handle file uploads in a Spring MVC application.

Spring Data Access

  1. 1
    What is the purpose of the Spring JDBC Template, and how does it simplify database operations?
  2. 2
    How do you configure and use the Spring JDBC Template in a Spring application?
  3. 3
    Describe the difference between RowMapper and ResultSetExtractor in Spring JDBC.
  4. 4
    What is Spring Data JPA, and how does it simplify database access using the Java Persistence API (JPA)?
  5. 5
    How do you configure and use Spring Data JPA in a Spring application? Provide a brief example. 
  6. 6
    Explain the role of JpaRepository and its usage in Spring Data JPA.
  7. 7
    What are the key differences between JpaRepository, CrudRepository, and PagingAndSortingRepository interfaces in Spring Data JPA?
  8. 8
    Describe the concept of transaction management in Spring and its importance.
  9. 9
    How do you configure and use declarative transaction management in Spring using both XML and Java-based configurations?
  10. 10
    Explain the propagation and isolation levels in Spring transactions, and when to use each.

Spring Boot

  1. 1
    What are the main benefits and features of Spring Boot, and how does it simplify the development and deployment of Spring applications?
  2. 2
    Explain the concept of Spring Boot starters and their role in dependency management.
  3. 3
    How does Spring Boot auto-configuration work, and what is the role of @EnableAutoConfiguration or @SpringBootApplication annotation?
  4. 4
    Describe the use of application.properties or application.yml files in a Spring Boot application.
  5. 5
    How do you create and run a Spring Boot application using both Maven and Gradle?
  6. 6
    Explain how to create a custom Spring Boot starter and its benefits.
  7. 7
    What is the purpose of the Spring Boot Actuator, and what features does it provide?
  8. 8
    How do you secure and customize Spring Boot Actuator endpoints?
  9. 9
    What is the role of profiles in Spring Boot, and how do you use them?
  10. 10
    Explain how to deploy a Spring Boot application as a standalone JAR and as a WAR file in an external application server.

Spring Security

  1. 1
    What is Spring Security, and what are its main features?
  2. 2
    Explain the concepts of authentication and authorization in Spring Security.
  3. 3
    How do you configure Spring Security in a Spring application using both XML and Java-based configurations?
  4. 4
    Describe the role of filters in the Spring Security filter chain.
  5. 5
    What is the difference between the @Secured and @PreAuthorize annotations, and when should you use each?
  6. 6
    How do you implement custom authentication and integrate it with Spring Security?
  7. 7
    Explain the role of UserDetails and UserDetailsService interfaces in Spring Security.
  8. 8
    How do you configure and handle CSRF protection in Spring Security?
  9. 9
    What is OAuth2, and how do you integrate it with Spring Security for implementing single sign-on (SSO)?
  10. 10
    Describe the usage of JSON Web Tokens (JWT) in a Spring Security application.

Microservices with Spring

  1. 1
    What is the purpose and benefits of Spring Cloud in building and deploying microservices?
  2. 2
    Explain the concept of service discovery and how to implement it using Eureka or Consul.
  3. 3
    How do you configure and use client-side load balancing with Ribbon in a Spring Cloud application?
  4. 4
    Describe the role of Hystrix in implementing circuit breakers and fault tolerance in a microservices architecture.
  5. 5
    What is Spring Cloud Config, and how does it simplify the management of application configurations across microservices?
  6. 6
    Explain how to implement distributed tracing with Spring Cloud Sleuth and Zipkin.
  7. 7
    How do you use Spring Cloud Gateway for API Gateway implementation and its benefits?
  8. 8
    Describe the role of Spring Cloud Stream in event-driven microservices and message-driven systems.
  9. 9
    What is Spring Cloud Bus, and how does it simplify the communication between distributed services?
  10. 10
    Explain how to implement containerization and deployment of Spring microservices using Docker and Kubernetes.

Spring Testing

  1. 1
    What is the importance of testing in a Spring application, and what are the main types of testing?
  2. 2
    Explain how to write and execute unit tests for Spring applications using JUnit and Mockito.
  3. 3
    Describe the role of Spring Test and Spring Boot Test in writing integration tests for Spring applications.
  4. 4
    How do you use the @MockBean and @SpyBean annotations in Spring testing, and what is the difference between them?
  5. 5
    Explain the use of the @WebMvcTest annotation and its role in testing Spring MVC applications.
  6. 6
    How do you test Spring Data JPA repositories using the @DataJpaTest annotation?
  7. 7
    What is the role of TestRestTemplate and MockRestServiceServer in testing RESTful APIs in Spring applications?
  8. 8
    Describe how to use the @SpringBootTest annotation and its different configurations for integration testing.
  9. 9
    How do you test Spring Security configurations and secured endpoints in a Spring application?
  10. 10
    Explain the importance of testing profiles in a Spring application and how to configure them using the @ActiveProfiles annotation.

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