We attend JSpring 2022 organized by The NLJUG Java Spring Conference at Utrecht, Netherlands. We went with multiple colleagues. We had different technical session on cybersecurity, JVM, Spring, error handling, Kubernetes, Reactive programming, etc while some of the non-tech talks on NFTS, Metaverserve, improving your skills other than programming etc. This blog is a summary of a day full of learnings, networking and diving deep into the Java community.
The opening of the conference
First thought, during the opening of the conference; Is this a software conference? I mean, dark big hall, colourful lightning, breakdancers, head-spins, loud music, slow cheering audience… Spectacular opening! Then Bert-Jan and Brian arrived on stage and it became more serious. Unfortunatelly both speakers did not perform any headspisn or break-dancing.
Keynote: DevSecOps at scale: a case study on shifting-left cybersecurity
Why should we think about application security from the beginning, and what actions can we take to make that happen? It was all about security at various phase of software like cycle. There aren’t any major new insights in this session, but it’s always nice to be reminded that it’s something we need to pay attention to. Yup, session presentation was interesting i.e. less words/sentences and more images/GIFs.
parallel tracks #1
What the CRaC – Superfast JVM startup
The structure of the session was excellent, stating clearly the problem it addresses and also introducing the subject in such a way that novices could grasp the broad idea without becoming bored with the basics. This is an intriguing approach for improving boost time and java application warm-up time. The most important takeaway is that this appears to be a technology worth experimenting with and researching.
Robust integration patterns for Spring micro services
Joris Kuipers gave a productive session and began a detailed discussion on his topic. He showed the use case, the implementation and reason to consider this approach of implementation, which was mainly on reusing the feature differently for different scenario. I liked this session more than any other sessions.
parallel tracks #2
Streamlining large-scale Java development using Error Prone
A product talk by an expert user. A pretty solid lecture with a decent structure, neatly timeboxed demos, and Error Prone is something I’d want to examine further.
Wired! How your brain learns new (programming) language
It really felt this topic could have been more than what was presented but my takeaway is that there are a lot of similarities between our programming world and neuro world – was not convinced fully but yes somewhat!
Mastering test containers for better integration tests
I am currently working on this in my current project and felt like this was a must go talk for me. I was not aware of the library which was demoed, it is very usefull, powerfull and time saving. Oleg touched on a lot of the features, configurations and options. Especially the toxic proxy, in particular, appears to be a potential value boost.
Lunch / NLJUG update / 2nd keynote
note: We watched Kermit the Frog and we all liked it. #foreverYoung
Keynote: Future tech trends: NFTs, Web3, and the Metaverse
A short and quick introduction to these hypes (NFTs, Web3, and Metaverse). Talks and presentation were not that engaging and failed to deliver as per our expectation.
parallel tracks #3
Java’s Hidden Gems : Tools and Libraries
There are tools and libraries in Java + Spring which can make our life easy as a developer. The more you explore and the more you implement, the easier it becomes. Speaker presented over 30 examples live which can be quite useful while development and would love to explore more on that by myself.
Greencode: Sustainable Java architectures for low power consumption and better cost/performance
Predominantly was an AWS talk. The snippet promised a lot, but in the end, it was just an overview of AWS technologies rather than best practices and long-term structures.
parallel tracks #4
Modelling universal values
A vibrant and amusing discussion about the challenges of domain modeling. Although the topic was not innovative, the speaker’s ability made the event a good one. The CLDR effort was something new to me.
Reactive Java Micro-services on Kubernetes with Spring WebFlux, Spring Cloud and Hipster
The very important takeaway from this session was, your presentation should always be time-boxed, choose your words wisely (not the boring and repetitive words/sentences like oh God if I have more time I would have done this..) and for any reason (e.g. your Laptop froze) you are going out of time limit, calmness makes it more presentable than repetitive words. And about a topic, it’s good to learn reactive programming but unnecessary we should not prefer to use (Still I need to look into this).
parallel tracks #5
Diabolical Developers Guide to JVM Ergonomics on Containers and K8s
It began with a technical session and finished with a technical session. This interaction took me back to the beginning (when hardware was expensive). Consider the GC, the optimal scaling choices, and optimizing your virtual machine. My takeaway is that just tossing your Java software into a container or into k8s on the cloud is not the ideal approach; instead, spending time thinking about resources and configuration is worthwhile.
Community hacks to enhance your career
A lot of what we preach at Techspire. Not only your development skills can make you grow in your career, other things should also be considered e.g. Conferences, talks, blogs, and internal presentations, you will never be ready – the time is today, the cycle of learning/ready-implementing-presenting, etc.
CONCLUSION
Approximately 650+ smart-minded people around you, discussing the same (and high) notch as yours. JSpring 2022 was a positive suprise for us. Most of the discussions were top notch. Good lunch and spacious break-out rooms for participants. Getting a brew during the end drinks was troublesome so we spend a bit longer to associate with numerous old, present and future partners 🙂
There were some of the session which none of could attend due to multiple sessions happening in one time. But surely these sessions would have also been quite interesting and great learning.
