🔍 Review Checklist – Week 5: Spring Boot
This checklist is used during the weekly mentor review session to evaluate:
- Code quality
- Architectural understanding
- API design
- Testing mindset
👉 Both mentor and mentee should go through this together.
🎯 Review Objectives
The goal of this review is to ensure:
- Proper understanding of Spring Boot fundamentals
- Correct use of layered architecture
- Clean and maintainable code
- Confidence in building REST APIs
🧠 Section 1: Conceptual Clarity
Ask the mentee to explain:
- ☐ What is Spring Boot?
- ☐ What is IoC (Inversion of Control)?
- ☐ What is Dependency Injection?
- ☐ Difference between Spring and Spring Boot
- ☐ What is a REST API?
👉 Expectation: Clear explanation in their own words (no memorization)
🏗 Section 2: Architecture Review
Check project structure:
- ☐ Controller layer exists
- ☐ Service layer exists
- ☐ Model class created
- ☐ Proper package structure
Layer Responsibilities
- ☐ Controller handles only HTTP requests
- ☐ Service contains business logic
- ☐ No logic written directly in controller
💻 Section 3: Code Quality
Naming & Readability
- ☐ Meaningful class names
- ☐ Clear method names
- ☐ Variables are descriptive
Clean Code Practices
- ☐ Methods are small and focused
- ☐ No duplicate code
- ☐ Proper indentation and formatting
Dependency Injection
- ☐ No manual object creation (
new) in controller - ☐ Constructor-based injection used
- ☐ Proper use of
@Service,@RestController
🌐 Section 4: API Design
Endpoints
- ☐ RESTful naming conventions followed
- ☐ Correct HTTP methods used
API Coverage
- ☐ GET (all resources)
- ☐ GET (by ID)
- ☐ POST (create)
- ☐ PUT (update)
- ☐ DELETE (remove)
Request & Response
- ☐ Proper request body handling
- ☐ Meaningful responses returned
- ☐ No hardcoded or unclear responses
🧪 Section 5: Testing & Validation
API Testing
- ☐ APIs tested using Postman or curl
- ☐ Correct responses verified
- ☐ Status codes understood
Edge Cases
- ☐ Invalid input handled
- ☐ Missing data handled
- ☐ Non-existing ID handled
🐞 Section 6: Debugging Ability
Ask the mentee:
- ☐ How did you debug issues?
- ☐ What problems did you face?
- ☐ How did you fix them?
👉 Expectation: Logical explanation of debugging steps
📊 Section 7: Assignment Review
Functionality
- ☐ All APIs implemented correctly
- ☐ CRUD operations working
Structure
- ☐ Layered architecture followed
- ☐ Code is modular
Completeness
- ☐ Code pushed to GitHub
- ☐ Application runs without errors
🧠 Section 8: Thinking Like a Backend Engineer
Evaluate mindset:
- ☐ Thinks about edge cases
- ☐ Understands separation of concerns
- ☐ Writes reusable code
- ☐ Avoids shortcuts
📈 Scoring (Optional)
| Category | Score (/10) |
|---|---|
| Concept Clarity | |
| Code Quality | |
| API Design | |
| Testing | |
| Problem Solving | |
| Total |
💬 Feedback Section
Strengths
*
Areas for Improvement
*
Action Items for Next Week
*
🚀 Final Verdict
- ☐ Ready to move to Week 6
- ☐ Needs improvement (repeat concepts)
🏁 Mentor Notes
Focus more on:
- Understanding over memorization
- Clean code habits
- Confidence building
Avoid:
- Overloading with advanced concepts
- Criticizing without guidance
🚀 Next Step
➡️ Week 6 – JPA & Hibernate (Database Integration)