Wed, Jun 3 · 5:00 PM CEST
We are excited to announce our next Utrecht JUG meetup on June 3rd hosted by Keylane . Join us for an evening full of creativity, innovation, and practical insights from the Java and Spring ecosystem.
As always, you can expect inspiring talks, great conversations, food, drinks, and plenty of opportunities to connect with fellow developers.
We start the evening with food and drinks before diving into our first session, where Alexander Chatzizacharias takes Spring Boot far beyond its intended use case. In a talk that combines humor, curiosity, and technical depth, Alexander explores what happens when you use Spring Boot as the foundation for real-time game development. From IoC containers to event listeners, this session offers a fresh and entertaining perspective on the Spring ecosystem and the joy of learning by experimentation.
After the break, Josh Long and James Ward take the stage with Bootiful Spring AI. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly becoming part of modern software development, and this session explores how Spring AI makes integrating AI capabilities into Java applications approachable and powerful. Expect an engaging introduction to modern AI concepts and a practical look at how the Spring ecosystem embraces the next wave of AI engineering.
Please join us and RSVP!
Because of the limited number of seats, please keep your RSVP up-to-date, so we can welcome someone else if you can't make it.
Timeschedule
Giveaway
Talks
Let's use Spring Boot to build games, because why not?
If you work on enterprise grade microservices on the JVM, you have undoubtedly heard of Spring Boot. Most developers see it as the reliable backbone of enterprise software. It is stable, predictable, and safe. But what if we took all those conventions and threw them out the window? What if we repurposed the IoC container, event listeners, and bean lifecycles to reveal what Spring Boot was always meant to be? A game development framework!
Join Alexander as he attempts to deconstruct and demystify the Spring ecosystem by forcing it to do things it was definitely not designed for. We are not talking about simple text adventures here. We are talking about building complex, real-time games like a Terraria clone or a souls-like RPG, all powered by the same annotations you use for your day job.
This session explores what happens when you learn technologies by breaking them. Whether you are a Spring veteran or a newcomer, this talk offers a fresh perspective on the tools you use every day. You will leave with a better understanding of how Spring Boot works under the hood and the inspiration to build something completely unnecessary, just because you can. Come for the absurdity, stay for the laughs, and see what happens when you strip away conventions and best practices in the pursuit of a wild idea.
Bootiful Spring AI
The age of artificial intelligence (because the search for regular intelligence hasn't gone well..) is nearly at hand, and it's everywhere! But is it in your application? It should be. AI is about integration, and here the Java and Spring communities come second to nobody.
Speakers
Alexander Chatzizacharias
Alexander, a 35-year-old Software Engineer at JDriven, holds dual Dutch and Greek nationality. He earned his master’s degree in Game Studies from the University of Amsterdam, where he discovered his passion for gamification and software engineering. Alexander aims to bridge the gap between game development and software engineering, believing that both industries have much to learn from each other. He is dedicated to integrating technologies and methodologies from both fields. Additionally, he enjoys experimenting with new technologies and cutting-edge SDKs.
Josh Long
Josh (@starbuxman) has been the first Spring Developer Advocate since 2010. Josh is a Java Champion, author of seven books (including Reactive Spring), creator of numerous video trainings, open-source contributor, YouTuber, and podcaster. He is a well-known voice in the Spring community and a passionate advocate for Java developers around the world.
James Ward
Professional software developer since 1997, with much of that time spent helping developers build software that doesn't suck. A typed pure functional programming zealot who often compromises on his ideals to just get stuff done. Currently a Developer Advocate for AWS.
