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Self-Taught Java Dev Targeting NYC: Beyond Spring Boot/SSM, What Skills Maximize Junior Role Competitiveness?

Hi everyone, I'm a self-taught developer targeting junior Java roles in NYC. I've built projects with: Backend: Spring Boot, SSM (Spring MVC + MyBatis), REST APIs Tools: Maven, Git, MySQL Basic Frontend: HTML/CSS, JavaScript To align with NYC job expectations, I'd like to focus on high-impact areas: Technical Priorities: Are cloud skills (AWS/Azure) or containerization (Docker/K8s) critical for junior roles? Should I deepen testing (JUnit/Mockito) or learn microservices (Spring Cloud)? Local Tool Trends: Do NYC companies prefer specific CI/CD tools (Jenkins vs. GitLab)? Is React/Angular familiarity expected for full-stack junior roles? Portfolio Optimization: Are cloud-deployed projects (e.g., AWS EC2) more impressive than local-hosted ones? I aim to invest time strategically. Any NYC-specific insights would be greatly appreciated!
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