The key takeaway from this article is that dependency issues at runtime are often caused by a misconfigured classpath, resulting in missing or incorrect versions of dependencies being used. Understanding the scoping of dependencies and potential conflicts between transitive dependencies is crucial to resolving these issues. The article highlights the importance of carefully managing dependencies, including specifying explicit version numbers for compatible dependencies, minimizing declared dependencies, and understanding the dependency graph. By taking a proactive approach to dependency management, developers can avoid common pitfalls and ensure that their applications run smoothly.