Top 30 Most Common Spring Framework Interview Questions You Should Prepare For
Written by
James Miller, Career Coach
Preparing for a Java developer interview often involves demonstrating a solid understanding of core frameworks, and Spring Framework is undoubtedly one of the most crucial. Its widespread adoption in enterprise applications means that interviewers frequently probe candidates on their knowledge of its core concepts, modules, and best practices. Whether you're aiming for a junior role or a senior architect position, a firm grasp of Spring can significantly boost your confidence and performance in the interview room. This guide covers 30 of the most common Spring Framework interview questions, offering concise, effective answers designed to help you articulate your expertise clearly and impress potential employers. Mastering these questions will not only prepare you for the interview but also solidify your foundational knowledge of this powerful framework.
What Are spring framework interview questions?
Spring Framework interview questions cover a range of topics related to the Spring ecosystem. They assess a candidate's understanding of fundamental concepts like Dependency Injection (DI), Inversion of Control (IOC), Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), and transaction management. Beyond the core, questions often delve into specific modules such as Spring MVC, Spring Boot, Spring Data, and Spring Security. Interviewers might also ask about reactive programming with Spring WebFlux, interactions with databases using Spring JDBC or JPA, and building microservices with Spring Cloud. The complexity can vary from basic definitions to explaining architectural patterns, configuration options, and troubleshooting scenarios, providing insights into a candidate's practical experience and theoretical knowledge.
Why Do Interviewers Ask spring framework interview questions?
Interviewers ask spring framework interview questions for several key reasons. Firstly, Spring is a de facto standard for building Java enterprise applications, so proficiency indicates a candidate can contribute effectively to most projects. Questions help gauge a candidate's practical experience and ability to apply Spring principles to solve real-world problems. They reveal whether a candidate understands the benefits of using Spring, such as modularity, testability, and reduced boilerplate code. Furthermore, questions about Spring Boot, Cloud, or WebFlux assess awareness of modern development trends and microservice architectures. Ultimately, these questions help differentiate candidates and identify those with the strong foundation and advanced skills necessary for successful development using the Spring ecosystem.
Preview List
What is Spring Framework?
What are the major features of Spring Framework?
What is Spring IOC Container?
What is Dependency Injection in Spring?
What are the different modules in Spring Framework?
What is Spring MVC?
How does Spring MVC handle requests?
What is Spring Boot?
What is the difference between Spring and Spring Boot?
What is AOP (Aspect-Oriented Programming) in Spring?
What are aspects in AOP?
What are the different types of advice in AOP?
What is the purpose of a configuration file in Spring?
What is Spring JDBC?
What is Spring JPA?
What is Spring Security?
What is the role of Spring Data JPA?
How does Spring handle transactions?
What is Spring WebFlux?
What are Mono and Flux types in Spring WebFlux?
What is the use of WebClient in Spring WebFlux?
What are RESTful services?
How does Spring support RESTful services?
What is the difference between REST and SOAP?
What are the best practices for designing RESTful APIs?
What is BeanFactory in Spring?
What is Application Context in Spring?
Can you explain the concept of scope in Spring?
How does Spring handle bean lifecycle?
What is Spring Cloud?
1. What is Spring Framework?
Why you might get asked this:
This foundational question checks if you understand the core purpose and nature of the framework you'll be working with. It's a starting point.
How to answer:
Define Spring as a comprehensive Java framework for building enterprise apps, emphasizing its role in providing infrastructure support.
Example answer:
Spring is a comprehensive Java framework providing infrastructure support for building robust enterprise applications. It simplifies development through dependency injection, transaction management, and integration with other technologies.
2. What are the major features of Spring Framework?
Why you might get asked this:
Tests your knowledge of Spring's main capabilities and how they contribute to application development and architecture.
How to answer:
List key features like Dependency Injection, AOP, transaction management, and support for various technologies/modules (MVC, JDBC, JPA).
Example answer:
Key features include Dependency Injection (DI), Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP), comprehensive transaction management, and strong support for web frameworks (MVC), data access (JDBC, JPA), and security.
3. What is Spring IOC Container?
Why you might get asked this:
Evaluates your understanding of the central component responsible for managing application objects (beans) and their dependencies.
How to answer:
Explain that the IOC Container (like BeanFactory or ApplicationContext) manages bean lifecycles and implements Dependency Injection.
Example answer:
The Spring IOC (Inversion of Control) Container is responsible for managing the lifecycle of beans (objects) in a Spring application. It facilitates Dependency Injection, reducing coupling between components.
4. What is Dependency Injection in Spring?
Why you might get asked this:
A core concept. Ensures you understand how Spring promotes loose coupling and simplifies object creation and management.
How to answer:
Describe DI as a pattern where the container injects dependencies into objects, rather than objects creating them internally. Mention it's managed by the IOC container.
Example answer:
Dependency Injection is a design pattern where components receive their dependencies from an external source (the IOC container) instead of creating or looking them up themselves, leading to loosely coupled code.
5. What are the different modules in Spring Framework?
Why you might get asked this:
Demonstrates your awareness of the framework's modular structure and the specific areas it addresses (web, data, core, etc.).
How to answer:
Name some key modules like Core, Web (MVC), AOP, Data Access (JDBC, ORM), Security, etc., explaining their purpose briefly.
Example answer:
Spring is modular. Key modules include Core Container (IOC), Web (MVC), AOP, Data Access/Integration (JDBC, ORM/JPA), Security, Transaction, and Testing, allowing developers to use only needed parts.
6. What is Spring MVC?
Why you might get asked this:
A common web development module. Assesses your knowledge of building web applications with Spring using the Model-View-Controller pattern.
How to answer:
Define Spring MVC as a web framework built on the MVC pattern for handling HTTP requests and responses.
Example answer:
Spring MVC is a model-view-controller framework within Spring used for building flexible and loosely coupled web applications. It handles incoming requests and manages the flow to controllers and views.
7. How does Spring MVC handle requests?
Why you might get asked this:
Tests your understanding of the request processing lifecycle in a Spring MVC application, including the role of the DispatcherServlet.
How to answer:
Describe the flow: request comes to DispatcherServlet, it consults handler mappings, dispatches to controller, controller processes, returns model/view, DispatcherServlet resolves view, renders response.
Example answer:
Spring MVC uses a DispatcherServlet. It receives requests, consults handler mappings, dispatches to a controller. The controller processes the request, returns a ModelAndView, which the DispatcherServlet resolves to a view for rendering.
8. What is Spring Boot?
Why you might get asked this:
Given its popularity, this is almost guaranteed. Checks if you know its purpose and main benefits over traditional Spring setups.
How to answer:
Explain Spring Boot simplifies standalone, production-ready Spring applications with minimal configuration (auto-configuration, embedded servers).
Example answer:
Spring Boot simplifies creating standalone, production-grade Spring applications. It provides auto-configuration, opinionated defaults, and embedded servers (like Tomcat or Jetty), reducing boilerplate setup.
9. What is the difference between Spring and Spring Boot?
Why you might get asked this:
Distinguishes between the core framework and its opinionated extension. Crucial for understanding their relationship.
How to answer:
Clarify that Spring is the core framework providing broad features, while Spring Boot builds on Spring to ease setup and deployment with conventions and auto-configuration.
Example answer:
Spring is the core framework with many modules. Spring Boot is an extension that simplifies Spring development by providing auto-configuration and opinionated defaults, making it easier to create standalone applications quickly.
10. What is AOP (Aspect-Oriented Programming) in Spring?
Why you might get asked this:
Evaluates your understanding of how Spring handles cross-cutting concerns like logging, security, or transactions separately from main business logic.
How to answer:
Define AOP as a paradigm to separate cross-cutting concerns from core logic using concepts like aspects, joinpoints, and advice. Mention Spring's AOP module.
Example answer:
AOP in Spring is a paradigm used to modularize cross-cutting concerns, like logging, security, or transaction management. It allows you to define logic that applies across multiple points in your application using aspects.
11. What are aspects in AOP?
Why you might get asked this:
Tests your knowledge of the primary building block in AOP that encapsulates concerns.
How to answer:
Define an aspect as a module that encapsulates cross-cutting concerns. It's a class or object containing advice and pointcuts.
Example answer:
An aspect is a module that encapsulates cross-cutting concerns in AOP. It combines advice (the "what") and pointcuts (the "where") to define specific behaviors that are applied to different parts of the application.
12. What are the different types of advice in AOP?
Why you might get asked this:
Checks your understanding of when an aspect's logic gets executed relative to a method call or other joinpoint.
How to answer:
List and briefly explain common advice types: Before, After, Around, After Returning, and After Throwing.
Example answer:
Common advice types include Before (before method execution), After (after execution, regardless of outcome), Around (wraps execution), AfterReturning (after successful return), and AfterThrowing (after throwing an exception).
13. What is the purpose of a configuration file in Spring?
Why you might get asked this:
Historically important, though less common now with Java config/Boot. Shows understanding of defining beans and their relationships.
How to answer:
Explain that configuration files (XML or Java) tell the Spring container how to create, configure, and manage beans and their dependencies.
Example answer:
Configuration files (XML, Java config classes, or Groovy) instruct the Spring IOC container on how to instantiate, configure, and assemble beans, defining their properties and dependencies.
14. What is Spring JDBC?
Why you might get asked this:
Evaluates your knowledge of Spring's approach to database access using standard JDBC, focusing on simplifying code and handling exceptions.
How to answer:
Describe Spring JDBC as a module simplifying standard JDBC usage by handling boilerplate code (connection management, statement creation, exception handling).
Example answer:
Spring JDBC is a module that simplifies database interaction using the standard JDBC API. It reduces boilerplate code by handling connections, statements, and exception translation, making data access easier.
15. What is Spring JPA?
Why you might get asked this:
Tests your understanding of using Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) with Spring, specifically the Java Persistence API.
How to answer:
Explain Spring JPA as a module integrating Spring with JPA providers (like Hibernate, EclipseLink) to simplify ORM-based data access.
Example answer:
Spring JPA is a module that integrates the Spring Framework with the Java Persistence API (JPA). It simplifies data access layers when using an ORM tool like Hibernate by providing templates and helper classes.
16. What is Spring Security?
Why you might get asked this:
Security is critical. This question checks your awareness of Spring's robust framework for handling authentication and authorization.
How to answer:
Define Spring Security as a powerful and highly customizable authentication and access-control framework for securing Spring applications.
Example answer:
Spring Security is a comprehensive security framework for Spring applications. It provides robust solutions for authentication (verifying identity) and authorization (granting permissions) in a flexible and extensible manner.
17. What is the role of Spring Data JPA?
Why you might get asked this:
Tests knowledge of a very popular module that further simplifies data access layers beyond just Spring JPA by introducing repository patterns.
How to answer:
Explain Spring Data JPA adds a repository abstraction on top of JPA, significantly reducing boilerplate by automatically generating query implementations from method names.
Example answer:
Spring Data JPA provides a higher level of abstraction over JPA. It simplifies repository implementation by generating queries automatically based on method names, significantly reducing boilerplate code for CRUD and custom queries.
18. How does Spring handle transactions?
Why you might get asked this:
Transaction management is vital for data consistency. This question checks your understanding of Spring's declarative and programmatic transaction support.
How to answer:
Describe Spring's transaction abstraction layer, supporting various transaction managers. Mention both programmatic and declarative (@Transactional) transaction management.
Example answer:
Spring provides a consistent transaction management abstraction supporting various transaction strategies (JTA, JDBC, ORM). It allows both programmatic control and declarative management via @Transactional annotations, ensuring data consistency.
19. What is Spring WebFlux?
Why you might get asked this:
Assesses your knowledge of reactive programming in Spring, important for building scalable, non-blocking applications.
How to answer:
Define Spring WebFlux as a reactive web framework for building non-blocking applications on the Reactive Streams API.
Example answer:
Spring WebFlux is a reactive web framework, part of the Spring 5 release, designed for building non-blocking applications using the Reactive Streams API. It's suitable for high concurrency and efficient resource usage.
20. What are Mono and Flux types in Spring WebFlux?
Why you might get asked this:
Tests your understanding of the fundamental building blocks for handling asynchronous data streams in reactive programming with Spring.
How to answer:
Explain that Mono represents a publisher emitting 0 or 1 item, while Flux represents a publisher emitting 0 to N items. Both are Reactive Streams Publisher implementations.
Example answer:
Mono and Flux are key types from Project Reactor, used in Spring WebFlux. Mono represents a stream that emits 0 or 1 item, while Flux represents a stream that emits 0 to N items.
21. What is the use of WebClient in Spring WebFlux?
Why you might get asked this:
Checks your knowledge of consuming reactive web services from a Spring application.
How to answer:
Describe WebClient as a non-blocking, reactive HTTP client provided by Spring WebFlux for making asynchronous requests to other services.
Example answer:
WebClient is a non-blocking, reactive HTTP client provided by Spring WebFlux. It's used to consume RESTful APIs or other web services in a reactive way, fitting well with reactive application architectures.
22. What are RESTful services?
Why you might get asked this:
Often paired with Spring MVC/WebFlux questions. Basic web service knowledge is essential for backend roles.
How to answer:
Define RESTful services as web services adhering to the REST architectural style, using standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) for resource interaction.
Example answer:
RESTful services are web services that follow the principles of REST (Representational State Transfer). They use standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to interact with resources identified by URIs, aiming for statelessness and cacheability.
23. How does Spring support RESTful services?
Why you might get asked this:
Connects your knowledge of web services to the Spring framework's capabilities.
How to answer:
Explain that Spring supports REST via Spring MVC (synchronous) and Spring WebFlux (reactive), using @RestController and annotations like @GetMapping.
Example answer:
Spring provides excellent support for RESTful services primarily through Spring MVC (for imperative/synchronous endpoints) and Spring WebFlux (for reactive/non-blocking endpoints), using annotations like @RestController and request mapping annotations.
24. What is the difference between REST and SOAP?
Why you might get asked this:
Highlights your understanding of different web service paradigms and their trade-offs.
How to answer:
Contrast them: REST is an architectural style (stateless, uses HTTP methods, flexible data formats like JSON/XML), while SOAP is a protocol (XML-based messaging, strict, uses its own messaging framework).
Example answer:
REST is an architectural style (stateless, uses HTTP methods, supports multiple data formats like JSON/XML). SOAP is a protocol (XML-based, uses WSDL, often requires more overhead and state). REST is typically simpler and more flexible.
25. What are the best practices for designing RESTful APIs?
Why you might get asked this:
Shows practical API design knowledge beyond just implementing endpoints.
How to answer:
Mention using meaningful resource URIs, appropriate HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE), proper status codes, versioning, and providing clear error messages.
Example answer:
Best practices include using clear, noun-based URIs for resources, utilizing appropriate HTTP methods (GET for retrieval, POST for creation, etc.), using HTTP status codes correctly, versioning the API, and providing helpful error responses.
26. What is BeanFactory in Spring?
Why you might get asked this:
Tests knowledge of the most basic Spring container interface.
How to answer:
Define BeanFactory as the core interface of the Spring container, responsible for creating, configuring, and managing beans. It's simpler than ApplicationContext.
Example answer:
BeanFactory is the basic container interface in Spring. It provides the mechanism for managing and configuring beans. It's a simpler container compared to ApplicationContext, offering fewer features.
27. What is Application Context in Spring?
Why you might get asked this:
Distinguishes between the basic and more advanced Spring container. Most modern apps use ApplicationContext.
How to answer:
Explain ApplicationContext is an extension of BeanFactory, offering more enterprise-specific features like message source handling, event propagation, and resource loading.
Example answer:
ApplicationContext is an extension of BeanFactory. It provides additional features like internationalization, event publishing, resource loading, and easy integration with AOP, making it the preferred container for most applications.
28. Can you explain the concept of scope in Spring?
Why you might get asked this:
Checks understanding of how Spring manages the number of instances of a bean and their lifecycle.
How to answer:
Define scope as controlling the lifecycle and visibility of a bean instance. List common scopes like singleton (default), prototype, request, session.
Example answer:
Scope in Spring defines the lifecycle and number of instances for a bean. Common scopes are singleton (one instance per container, default), prototype (new instance every time requested), request, and session (web scopes).
29. How does Spring handle bean lifecycle?
Why you might get asked this:
Evaluates your understanding of how Spring manages beans from creation to destruction.
How to answer:
Describe the sequence: instantiation, population of properties, BeanNameAware, BeanFactoryAware, ApplicationContextAware, BeanPostProcessors (before initialization), @PostConstruct, initialization methods, application use, BeanPostProcessors (after initialization), @PreDestroy, destruction methods.
Example answer:
Spring manages the bean lifecycle from instantiation, dependency injection, initialization callbacks (@PostConstruct), to destruction callbacks (@PreDestroy). The container handles these stages, often influenced by BeanPostProcessors.
30. What is Spring Cloud?
Why you might get asked this:
Relevant for roles involving microservices or cloud-native development. Checks knowledge of building distributed systems with Spring.
How to answer:
Define Spring Cloud as a collection of projects for building distributed systems patterns (e.g., service discovery, circuit breakers, configuration management) on various cloud platforms.
Example answer:
Spring Cloud is an umbrella project providing tools for building common distributed system patterns, like service discovery (Eureka), circuit breakers (Hystrix/Resilience4j), and distributed configuration (Config Server), often used for microservices.
Other Tips to Prepare for a spring framework interview questions
Beyond memorizing answers, active preparation is key for spring framework interview questions. Practice coding Spring applications, even small ones, to solidify concepts like Dependency Injection and transactional behavior. As famously quoted by Bruce Lee, "Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." Familiarize yourself with different configuration styles – XML, JavaConfig, and Spring Boot's auto-configuration – as interviewers might ask about your experience with them. Understand common annotations like @Autowired, @Component, @Service, @Repository, and their specific uses. Be ready to explain design choices you made in past projects involving Spring.
Consider using tools designed to help you practice and refine your responses for spring framework interview questions. The Verve AI Interview Copilot can provide simulated interview experiences, allowing you to practice articulating answers clearly under timed conditions. It offers feedback on your delivery and content, helping you identify areas for improvement. Leveraging Verve AI Interview Copilot can simulate the pressure of a real interview, making you more confident when tackling complex spring framework interview questions. Prepare specific examples from your projects where you applied Spring principles effectively. Don't just state definitions; demonstrate how you've used Spring to solve actual problems. The Verve AI Interview Copilot at https://vervecopilot.com can be a valuable resource in this practice phase, helping you structure your thoughts and responses for maximum impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What's the default scope for Spring beans?
A1: The default scope for Spring beans is singleton.
Q2: What is auto-wiring in Spring?
A2: Auto-wiring is a mechanism in Spring to automatically inject dependencies between beans.
Q3: What is the difference between @Component, @Service, and @Repository?
A3: They are stereotype annotations. @Component is generic, while @Service and @Repository are specific specializations for service and persistence layers.
Q4: What is the role of DispatcherServlet?
A4: DispatcherServlet is the front controller in Spring MVC, handling all incoming requests.
Q5: Can Spring be used without a web framework?
A5: Yes, Spring's core container and modules can be used for non-web applications, like desktop or batch processing.
Q6: What is Spring Expression Language (SpEL)?
A6: SpEL is a powerful expression language supported by Spring for querying and manipulating object graphs at runtime.
