Chris Hermansen: Don't be Afraid to Create
Duke's Corner
Chris Hermansen: Don't be Afraid to Create Summary Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Chris Hermansen, a Java developer, consultant, and data analyst from Canada. Chris discovered Java in the 1990s and was drawn to its free accessibility and object-oriented design. He particularly appreciated Java’s straightforward single inheritance model over C++'s complexity. But Chris's path to technology came through mathematics rather than computer science. He identifies streams as Java's most transformative feature for data analysis work and praises how it improved code readability...
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Barry Burd: Teaching Java as an Art Form
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Barry Burd, a computer science teacher, an author, and the co-leader for two Java User Groups (JUGs). Barry is based in New Jersey and he’s taught at the undergraduate level for decades. His journey with Java began in 2004 when he attended small user group meetings of just five or six people. Those gatherings, once part of the Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey, have evolved into the Garden State Java User Group and the New York Java SIG, which now regularly feature Java Champions and prominent speakers from the Java development...
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Mattias Karlsson: I think it's Brilliant
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Oracle Java Developer Relations talks with Mattias Karlsson, Java Champion and prominent developer in the Java community who was also honored with the Java Community Lifetime Achievement recognition at Jfokus in February 2024. “I was shocked and honored — very humbled!” Mattias said about being recognized for his lifetime of achievements in the Java community by Sharat Chander of Oracle’s Java Developer Relations Team. Mattias, a Stockholm-based engineer and long-time leader of the Stockholm Java User Group, shares his journey with Java, from its early days to...
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Venkat Subramaniam: I Teach Because I Learn
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Venkat Subramaniam who was recognized with the Java Community Lifetime Achievement honors by Oracle’s Sharat Chander at Devoxx UK in May 2024. Venkat is a Java Champion, author, speaker, founder of Agile Developer, co-founder of the dev2next conference, and teacher at the University of Houston. In this conversation, which is part of an ongoing series honoring Java pioneers, Venkat expresses profound humility about his accomplishments and credits industry giants and his passion for learning and sharing technical knowledge. He reflects on...
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Bruno Souza: My Greatest Pride is the Community
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Bruno Souza, who is a Java Champion, leader of the SouJava User Group in Brazil, and a member of the JCP Executive Committee. Bruno received the first Java Community Lifetime Achievement recognition in October 2022 at JavaOne in Las Vegas. "I was totally surprised! I was jumping up and down! I was so honored! It’s an honor to be a member of that group." he said. Bruno Souza is known as the "JavaMan" from Brazil and that nickname started back at Sun when Java was announced and Bruno started evangelizing the technology. Bruno's message to...
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Trisha Gee: It’s all about Relationships and People
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Trisha Gee, an author, a Java Champion, and a Developer Advocate at Gradle. In February 2025 at Jfokus in Stockholm Trisha received the Java Community Lifetime Achievement honor from Sharat Chander from Oracle Java Developer Relations. Trisha has been a Java developer for 25 years, and since 2011 she’s been actively blogging, presenting technical sessions at conferences, and evangelizing Java globally. Recently, Trisha has moved from a traditional developer advocate role to more of a facilitator of developer advocacy internally at her...
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Cay Horstmann: Java Still Vibrant After 30 Years
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Cay Horstmann, a professor, author, and Java Champion. In April in Cologne, Germany at JCON Cay received the Java Community Lifetime Achievement recognition from Sharat Chander on the Oracle Java Developer Relations Team. This conversation covers the evolution of Java, the constant polishing of the library, the upcoming Java 25 release, the six-month release cycle, improvements in the Java language to make the technology more beginner friendly, teaching methodologies, conferences vs unconferences, and also timeless task-driven learning...
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Heinz Kabutz: Really Life Changing!
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Heinz Kabutz from the Island of Crete in Greece. Heinz has a PhD in Computer Science, publishes the The JavaSpecialists' Newsletter, and runs the JCrete Unconference. Heinz is also a Java Champion and a teacher, and he cares deeply about the technology and the community. Recently, Heinz was recognized for his Lifetime Achievement by Sharat Chander from Oracle Java Developer Relations. “I was on cloud nine! I was so honored,” Heinz said. In this conversation Heinz previews some JEPs in the upcoming Java 25 release, he comments on the...
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Nate Schutta: I Just Love to Learn!
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Nate Schutta, an author, a teacher, a software architect, and Java Champion. Nate lives in the United States and teaches computer science to university students. He loves teaching and he loves learning, and he specializes in exploring the big picture of complicated systems in his career as a software architect. The conversation covers the Java community, the value for developers if they contribute to Java User Groups (JUGs), the benefits and some possible drawbacks of AI, and the engineering feat that is the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)....
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Francisco Contreras: I Felt Like I Could do Anything!
Duke's Corner
Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Francisco Contreras, who is a Java developer and a co-organizer at Nicaragua JUG. Francisco has been a Java developer for over 15 years and he runs his own consulting business with customers around the world. He's passionate about Java the technology and also Java the community. "When I learned Java at university I felt like I could do anything with that," he said, talking about how Java enables him to engage developers, write really great software, and also grow a business. But Java goes well beyond just technology. When Francisco had...
info_outlineJim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Trisha Gee, an author, a Java Champion, and a Developer Advocate at Gradle. In February 2025 at Jfokus in Stockholm Trisha received the Java Community Lifetime Achievement honor from Sharat Chander from Oracle Java Developer Relations. Trisha has been a Java developer for 25 years, and since 2011 she’s been actively blogging, presenting technical sessions at conferences, and evangelizing Java globally. Recently, Trisha has moved from a traditional developer advocate role to more of a facilitator of developer advocacy internally at her company as well as externally. She works with engineering teams, marketing, teams, and sales teams to ensure the voice of the developer resonates throughout the organization and the community. Trisha is always evolving, she’s constantly growing.
In this conversation we talk about the JVM, the six month Java release cycle, writing code, the unique features that make Java special as a technology and as a community, Generative AI, design patterns, understanding requirements, asking questions, problem solving, edge cases, documentation, testing, open source, standards, advice for students, and teaching her 9-year old how to code in Java. Trisha is fascinated with the entire development life cycle of software projects and especially the skills developers need now for working with AI.
“It feels like a very personal thing from him … he’s such a huge powerhouse in the community. Obviously, he cares about the technology, but he understands that the technology isn’t enough. It is about individuals stepping up but not just doing stuff for themselves but doing stuff to enable other people, to empower other people. It’s the community that makes it a great place to be, and Shar is such a huge champion of that. He makes you feel really appreciated for making the effort to help others and to be involved in the community.”
— Trisha Gee commenting about receiving the Java Community Lifetime Achievement recognition from Sharat Chander at Oracle.
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