Conferences and Events 2023

2023 was a good conference year! I spoke at more than thirty conferences and meetups across four continents. In addition to the more traditional developer conferences, I visited a lot of Java User Groups this year. This is something I will continue to do next year. I already have a couple lined up. Check out my Developer Advocate pages on the Jakarta EE website for an up-to-date list. Please reach out if you are involved in a JUG in the vicinity of an event I am already traveling to as I will be happy to extend my stay and visit your JUG.

Conferences and Events 2023

NameLocationDateBlog Post
Toronto JUGToronto ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆDec 7Toronto JUG 2023
Ottawa JUGOttawa ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆDec 6Ottawa JUG 2023
JakartaOne Livestreamonline ๐ŸŒDec 5JakartaOne Livestream 2023
JCON WORLD ONLINEonline ๐ŸŒNov 21-23JCON WORLD ONLINE 2023
Malmรถ JUGMalmรถ ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ชNov 22Malmรถ JUG 2023
ร˜redevMalmรถ ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ชNov 8-10ร˜redev 2023
J-FallEde ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑNov 9J-Fall 2023
EclipseConLudwigsburg ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ชOct 16-19EclipseCon 2023
Devoxx MoroccoAgadir ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆOct 11-13Devoxx Morocco 2023
Community Over CodeHalifax ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆOct 7-10Community Over Code 2023
Devoxx BelgiumAntwerp ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ชOct 2-6Devoxx Belgium 2023
Montreal JUGMontreal ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆSep 22Montreal JUG 2023
Omaha JUGOmaha ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธSep 21Omaha JUG 2023
Detroit JUGDetroit ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธSep 20Detroit JUG 2023
Garden State JUGNew Jersey ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธSep 19Garden State JUG 2023
Central Ohio JUGColumbus ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธSep 18Central Ohio JUG 2023
IBM TechXchangeLas Vegas ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธSep 11-14IBM TechXchange 2023
Picnic Java MeetupAmsterdam ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑSep 6Picnic Java Meetup 2023
JCreteKolymvari ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ทJul 2-7JCrete 2023
Amsterdam JUGAmsterdam ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑJun 29Amsterdam JUG 2023
GOTO AmsterdamAmsterdam ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฑJun 27-29GOTO Amsterdam 2023
JPrimeSofia ๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ฌMay 30-31JPrime 2023
InfoshareGdaล„sk ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑMay 24-25Infoshare 2023
Devoxx UKLondon ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡งMay 10-12Devoxx UK 2023
Devoxx GreeceAthens ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ทMay 4-6Devoxx Greece 2023
GIDSBangalore ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณApr 25-28GIDS 2023
Java Heroes Conference (Singapore JUG)Singapore ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌApr 13Java Heroes Conference (Singapore JUG) 2023
DevnexusAtlanta ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธApr 4-6Devnexus 2023
JavaLandBrรผhl ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ชMar 21-23JavaLand 2023
ConFooMontreal ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆFeb 22-24ConFoo 2023
DeveloperWeekOakland ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธFeb 15-17DeveloperWeek 2023
JfokusStockholm ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ชFeb 6-8Jfokus 2023
jChampionsConfonline ๐ŸŒJan 19-24jChampionsConf 2023
THAT Conference TexasRound Rock ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธJan 16-18THAT Conference Texas 2023

Earlier this year, in May to be exact, I decided to revive my Instagram presence and started posting pictures there. Please take a look and don’t be shy to ask for a selfie with me if we cross paths.

Since I am an avid runner, I always bring my running gear with me when I travel. I also usually bring some extra Jakarta EE running shirts for those who would like to join me on a morning run before a conference starts. Check out the #runWithJakartaEE tag on social media.

I hope to see you all at conferences and meetups throughout 2024!

Hashtag Jakarta EE #208

Welcome to issue number two hundred and eight of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

I don’t expect many readers on Christmas Eve, so I will keep this one very short. One of the last activities before the Holidays was to release a Milestone 1 release of Jakarta EE 11. You can find the details here:

Jakarta EE Platform 11 M1
Jakarta EE Web Profile 11 M1
Jakarta EE Core Profile 11 M1

The goal of Milestone 1 was to verify that the build chain was up and running and make the API artifacts available to all implementers. The plan from now on is to release milestones each month that will incrementally contain more and more finished specifications and updates.


Hashtag Jakarta EE #207

Welcome to issue number two hundred and seven of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

A new thing we are doing with Jakarta EE 11 is to release milestones as we develop the specifications. This is to make the APIs available for implementers at an earlier stage than previously. The planned milestones for Jakarta EE 11 are:

  • M1: December 2023
    Milestones of all specifications
  • M2: February 2024
    Final versions of specifications in waves 1, 2, 3, and 4
    Updated milestones for the rest
  • M3: March 2024
    Final versions of specifications in wave 5
    Updated milestones for the rest
  • M4: April 2024
    Final versions of specifications in waves 6 and 7

Check out the Jakarta EE 11 Release Plan for more details and an overview of the waves.

According to the plan, all specification projects have published M1 releases. The M1 of the Jakarta EE 11 Platform, Web Profile, and Core Profile will be published this week. We are just tying up the last loose ends, so most likely early in the week just in time for the upcoming holidays.

With just a couple of weeks left in 2023, the work with planning events and conferences in 2024 is in full swing. I had the pleasure of speaking at lots of Java User Groups (JUGs) this year, and this is something I hope to continue next year. If you are involved in a JUG, please get in touch with me if you are looking for speakers.

A trick is to check out my list of upcoming conferences if there is a conference in your vicinity. It does not necessarily need to be in the same city, state, or even country. If it is on the same continent, I can plan my travels to stop by on the way to or from.

Another trick is to cooperate with adjacent JUGs so we can set up a small tour.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #206

Welcome to issue number two hundred and six of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

As you may have noticed, I was in Canada this week. On Tuesday, we hosted the Studio Jakarta EE of JakartaOne Livestream at Tanja’s house in Ottawa. Then I spoke at the Ottawa JUG on Wednesday before going to Toronto to speak at the Toronto JUG on Thursday. Check out my writeups of the events here:

The milestones for the proposed specification updates for Jakarta EE 11 are being published as we speak. We will most likely be able to publish a milestone of the Jakarta EE 11 Platform, Web Profile, and Core Profile to Maven Central in the upcoming week.

After this, we will slowly wind down for the holidays before picking up the pace again in January 2024.

Toronto JUG

Yesterday I spoke at the Toronto JUG with an audience of around 30 interested JUG members. This was the last stop on my mini-tour of Canada, and I did the From Spring Boot 2 to Spring Boot 3 with Java 21 and Jakarta EE presentation here as well. Many thanks to Theresa and IBM for hosting the event!

We had lots of good questions asked and (hopefully) answered as well as great discussions that continued at a restaurant nearby. I really enjoy speaking at Java User Groups. It is usually much more interactive than a regular conference talk, and an opportunity to meet the local Java community at their home turf. I have visited quite a few Java User Groups this year, and this is definitely something I will continue with next year. If you are involved in a JUG and looking for speakers, please let me know!

Ottawa JUG

It was a pleasure to be able to speak at the Ottawa JUG yesterday. This was their third meetup since they did a reboot of the group after the pandemic. IBM Canada hosted us at their offices in Ottawa, as well as provided catering in the form of pizzas, salads, and chicken wings. I did my From Spring Boot 2 to Spring Boot 3 with Java 21 and Jakarta EE talk, which was well received.

After the talk, we had great discussions about Open Source in general and Jakarta EE in particular. Tanja was also there, and we brought lots of swag and even gingerbreads from the JakartaOne Livestream the day before. I think we saw the contours of a great relationship between the Eclipse Foundation and the Ottawa JUG. Here is a picture of Tanja and I together with Sebastien, the organizer of Ottawa JUG.

JakartaOne Livestream 2023

JakartaOne Livestream 2023 was the fifth edition of the conference. The setup of Studio Jakarta EE has improved year-for-year, and now closely resembles a professional TV studio. After the seemingly unavoidable network issues at the beginning, everything worked flawlessly.

It is so much fun getting together for a production like this. Super stressful, yes. But it is also so much more rewarding to be in the same room doing it rather than putting it together remotely. I hope the spirit in the studio reached those watching the streams as well. Just take a look at this video for a feeling of how much fun we had.

All the talks and Studio Jakarta EE sessions will be made available shortly on our Youtube channels for everyone to watch, or watch again.

Everyone involved did a fantastic job pulling it together. Serena and Samantha took care of the speakers and Ian produced the entire thing while Shabnam, Tanja, and I were hosting the Studio Jakarta EE. Here is the whole crew at the after-conference dinner. A little tired after 12 hours of continuous work, but still happy. Already planning for JakartaOne Livestream 2024…

Hashtag Jakarta EE #205

Welcome to issue number two hundred and five of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

Right now, I’m on my way to Canada for JakartaOne Livestream 2023. In addition, I will also speak at the Ottawa Java User Group and the Toronto Java User Group. It’s kind of a small Canadian tour to end the year.

Check out the events, and sign up if you are in the area here:
– December 5 – JakartaOne Livestream
– December 6 – Ottawa JUG
– December 7 – Toronto JUG

The theme for this year’s JakartaOne Livestream is Gingerbread Cookies. Check out this video to get inspired and create your own Jakarta EE branded contribution. Take a picture and tag it with #JakartaOne or #JakartaEE or some other hashtag you believe we will find. As usual, there will be a chance to win great prizes!

Hashtag Jakarta EE #204

Welcome to issue number two hundred and four of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

Last week I spoke at Javaforum Malmรถ and JCON WORLD ONLINE 2023. It was amazing to see so many people showing up at Javaforum Malmรถ (the Malmรถ Java User Group) as it was our first event in two years. Hopefully, it won’t be two years until the next one…

We are fast approaching the Milestone 1 release of Jakarta EE 11. So far, the following specifications have released a Milestone 1 (M1) to Maven Central:

Jakarta Annotations 3.0.0-M1
Jakarta Data 1.0.0-M1
– Jakarta Expression Language 6.0.0-M1
Jakarta Pages 4.0.0-M1
Jakarta Persistence 3.2.0-M1
Jakarta Servlet 6.1.0-M1
Jakarta WebSocket 2.2.0-M1

The rest of the specifications are expected to release a milestone by Tuesday, November 28 so we have time to assemble milestone releases of the Jakarta EE 11 Platform, Jakarta EE 11 Web Profile, and Jakarta EE 11 Core Profile in time for JakartaOne Livestream on December 5.

Speaking of JakartaOne Livestream. There is only a week left, so register today and mark it in your calendar NOW. And while you’re at it, bring out your best baking skills and create the best Jakarta EE-themed gingerbread cookie. There will be great prizes!

JCON WORLD ONLINE 2023

Kin of out of the blue, I was invited to speak at JCON WORLD ONLINE 2023. And not only a regular talk but the keynote of the EclipseStore Summit on the last day of the conference.

It was kind of a last-minute thing and I didn’t have time to create a brand new talk, so I revamped my Responsible Open Source talk to fit with the keynote format. You can check out the slides of Open Source – A Journey of Contribution and Collaboration here.

At the end of the keynote, I invited Markus Kett, the CEO of MictroStream on the stage (or in this case the screen) to talk about EclipseStore.

EclipseStore is a persistence layer for databaseless persistence, built for cloud-native microservices and serverless systems. It is a new project under the Eclipse Foundation. It has just released its first version, so go ahead and try it out. And, even better, take a look at the code in GitHub and start contributing.