Adding a Java and Spring Boot backend to Nexa

Nexa is a campus management platform I built to streamline student records, announcements, and campus events. The frontend was the comfortable part. The backend is where I really learned.

I chose Java with Spring Boot for the backend because I wanted structure and a clear path from a request to a response. Spring Boot's conventions kept the project organised even as I added modules for user management and event coordination.

Connecting a React frontend to a Spring Boot API made the client and server boundary concrete: what belongs on the server, what the client should never trust, and how to shape responses so the UI stays simple.

The SQL layer underneath handles the campus data. Designing those tables up front saved me from painful migrations later. Building Nexa across both ends gave me a much more honest picture of what full-stack actually means.

Written by Khushi Bansal, a final-year Computer Science student at Chitkara University and the founder of Elegant Threads & Beads.