Minimum experience in java - actions?

Question

Java

Hello!
Colleagues, tell me how best to proceed. I'm a PHP developer myself, with about 5 years of experience. Worked on complex fancy projects, incl. highload. The whole bunch in the form of mysql, postgresql, html / css / js, of course, is present. As part of my work tasks, I had to deal with java a couple of times. Once it was a small participation in a project on GWT, another time - a script spinning in memory for processing queues, now here's another project ... Cumulatively, it turns out about 0.5 years of experience in pure java, but not very professional and not very difficult tasks . At the same time, I really really like java, and I would really like to start doing it professionally and get a job somewhere (or get large freelance orders). Interested more in JavaEE and less on desktop and mobile devices. Naturally, they are interested in large serious projects, because the soul does not ask for less. Even at the dawn of my career, I tried to squeeze into one company, they bombarded me with questions in the spirit of "how many objects are there" at the interview:

String v1 = "Text"; 
String v2 = v1; 
System.out.println(v2);

I'm always just killed by such theoretical snags.
I would like to hear advice from professionals or those who have already been in a similar situation. How best to act? Everything seems to be clear with literature, Schildt and others like him have not been canceled. Or maybe there is something else, specifically on the "chips" of java and the virtual machine, what you need to know at the interview and for further work? Is it better to beat the threshold and try to squeeze somewhere into real projects, or take some online courses, or just read more and develop yourself? That is, the general question is - what, in your opinion and in my situation, is the most effective and adequate way to become a java developer in the shortest possible time and get on serious projects?
Sorry for being a bit vague and thanks in advance.

Answer 1

IMHO, continue to study (online courses, etc.) and at the same time go to interviews, because after almost every interview, the list of what is worth studying is replenished. + without real practice, even the best courses are worth little.