TL;DR
- future of the Java ecosystem
- JavaSE, Java EE workshops at Devoxx UK 2015
- OpenJDK and JSRs
- extraordinary developers
- hands-on sessions, hackdays and panel
- learn, collaborate and share
- developer communities, JUG leaders, and corporate participations
- thought leaders and tomorrow’s leaders of Java related topics
- agenda, costs, tickets and discount codes
The Adopt team are running workshops at Devoxx UK next month that will help to answer the questions posed above. Why should you get along to a workshop? Well, here’s an imagined conversation between you and the Adopt team to explain. The Adopt Team are an ever growing community from various parts of the developer community, mainly the JUGs worldwide, members of the JCP, developers, evangelists and technical representatives of various companies supporting and extending the Java ecosystem via the JCP, Adopt-a-JSR and Adopt OpenJDK programs.
You: I hear that there are a number of workshops going to be held during the first day of Devoxx UK 2015. What are these?
Adopt team: Yes, you heard right, we have a whole day (Wednesday) dedicated to it. In brief, the adopt team at Devoxx UK this year is comprised of experienced developers and leaders of various Java SE and Java EE topics i.e. OpenJDK, and a number of JSRs. These include members of the JCP as well. The topics range from learning how to build OpenJDK, working with devops tools, quality analysis tools, contributing and working with JSRs (guided by spec leads of the respective JSRs). Learning how to run a hackday if you want to start your own community where you are. And towards the end of the session you can get answers to the questions you have been pondering upon before or at the conference.
Have a look at the agenda to find out more.
You: Apart from OpenJDK, can you name some JSRs we will be involved with?
Adopt team: Good questions. We will have amongst us spec leads from the various JSRs:
- JSR 363, Units of Measurement API – Leonardo Lima
- JSR JSR 365, CDI 2.0 – Antoine Sabot-Durand
- Java EE 8, and some of the proposed component JSRs, including JSR 371 MVC, the Security JSR, and JMS – David Delabassee
You: I’m a busy person, and there’s lots on at Devoxx. Why would I spend time at these workshops rather than doing something else? What do I gain from it?
Adopt team: Depending the workshop you attend you attend and participate in, the benefits can be any or all of these:
- a great opportunity to feedback on tomorrow’s technology
- learn and contribute to these technologies even before they are released
- contributing to the future of the Java / Java platform
- learn how to build your own Java / JVM platform
- learn new technologies and improve your confidence,; including automation, code-coverage, testing technologies etc.
- be able to make contact with and talk to the developers who are leading one or more of the technologies
- be able to share with your own local user group / community the things you learn in the workshop
- become a part of the adopt community and keep in touch about current and future developments, hackdays and other workshops
Contributions can be in any form, from as simple as speaking about it to another colleague, writing a post about it, or even mentioning it on a relevant mailing list.
You: So who is this aimed at? Who is your target audience?
Adopt team: Our primary goal is to propagate the know-how and experience various Java User Group leaders all across the globe, but we see everyone else benefiting from it as well: students, professionals, tech leads, devops, trainers, experts, etc…
You: What if my company wishes to be involved? Can you give me examples of companies who are already involved in this program?
Adopt team: Yes, companies, user groups, dev communities are all welcome. A number of companies are involved with the adoption program including: Oracle, IBM, RedHat, SAP, Google, Twitter, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, among many others.
You: Can I or my company make contributions to any of the projects?
Adopt team: Yes, of course, that’s the whole point. One of the reasons is not just spread awareness and know-how of the upcoming technologies in the Java/JVM world but also to show how you can do it yourself. The topics and subtopics are numerous and this is an opportunity to pick one and lead it. You can drive these technologies with the help other community members, helping move your vision forward. Come along to a workshop to find out more!
You: So how much more does it cost me or my company if I have to attend these workshops?
Adopt team: Have a look at the ticket prices for the university days and the combi-tickets. You can also take advantage of special discount codes from us to get further discounts on the final ticket prices (ranging from 10 to 20%).
You: What do we take along with us to be able to participate in the workshops ?
Adopt team: Bring along a laptop and a fresh mind to absorb all the knowledge and experience we have to share.
You: I hear this theme ‘The Extraordinary…. what is it about, tell me more” Why is this post so titled?
Adopt team: Another good question: to know more about the theme have a look at this http://www.devoxx.co.uk/2015/03/whats-theme/.
Good developers do what every developer does and more. They come to conferences like Devoxx, attend local dev events and talks, participate in workshops similar to the ones this post speaks about and then go out and share many of those things with other fellow developers in the form of blog posts, code snippets or even local community presentations.
You: What about those who can’t get to the workshop. How can they find out more and get involved?
Adopt team: These three websites are a great starting point to get to know more about the adopt programs: http://www.jcp.org, http://adoptopenjdk.java.net and http://adoptajsr.java.net/, but if you are based in London, the LJC organises a hackday every month, see http://www.meetup.com/Londonjavacommunity/events/222368734/, in the past developers from outside London and even outside the UK have visited the day-long hackdays.
You: So tell me how did this come about? Who do you credit the initiative to?
Adopt team: Nice question: credit must go to where it is due. Thanks to the support from the JCP organisation i.e. Heather VanCura and Mark Hazell for making it happen at Devoxx UK this year. Not forgetting that any event like this one isn’t possible without the help of local and worldwide developer communities, with the likes of London Java Community (@LJCJug), continuously supporting good developer endeavours.
You: How to get the code?
Adopt team: That’s an important question, get in touch with Heather VanCura (heather@jcp.org) or Mark Hazell (mark.hazell@devoxx.co.uk) and they should help you sort out a discount code for you, but hurry are they will get exhausted soon.
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