Belgium might be tiny, but we have a strong Java Community! As I was doing interviews at Devoxx in October, I met several of these people, and we talked about their projects, how you can get involved in OpenJDK, and maybe even start a company out of it. This podcast will teach you more about Devoxx, VoxxedDays, Devoxx4Kids, JobRunr, Timefold, OpenJDK Mobile, OpenJFX, Thymelead, htmx, and more!

Guests
   Stephan Janssen
      https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanjanssen/  
      https://x.com/Stephan007
      https://www.devoxx.com
      https://events.voxxeddays.com
      https://www.devoxx4kids.org/
   Ronald Dehuysser
      https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronalddehuysser/
      https://x.com/rdehuyss
      https://www.jobrunr.io/en/
   Geoffrey De Smet
      https://www.linkedin.com/in/ge0ffrey/
      https://x.com/GeoffreyDeSmet
      https://timefold.ai/
   Johan Vos
      https://www.linkedin.com/in/johanvos/
      https://mastodon.social/@johanvos
      https://x.com/johanvos
      https://gluonhq.com/
      https://github.com/openjdk/mobile
      https://github.com/openjdk/jfx/
   Wim Deblauwe
      https://www.linkedin.com/in/wimdeblauwe/
      https://x.com/wimdeblauwe
      https://www.wimdeblauwe.com/books/modern-frontends-with-htmx/
      https://www.wimdeblauwe.com/books/taming-thymeleaf/
      https://www.wimdeblauwe.com/projects/

Content

00:00 Introduction

00:47 Stephan Janssen about how Devoxx started
02:22 Difference between Devoxx and VoxxedDays
03:47 About Devoxx4Kids
04:22 Sponsors are needed to keep the entrance fee low
06:26 About the speakers and CFPs
07:11 Important Belgian Java people and tools

09:08 Ronald Dehuysser about JobRunr
10:00 How to turn an open-source project into a company
11:09 Reviewing and validating the evolutions in Java
12:35 Importance of conferences
13:23 How government support can help a startup
14:02 Challenge of starting a company...

14:40 Geoffrey De Smet about Timefold and the challenges in scheduling
16:47 How AI helps to find the best schedule
18:34 How it started as an open-source project (Optoplanner)
19:06 The challenges of growing Timefold as a company
21:26 Visiting conferences as a "yearly training"

22:36 Johan Vos about OpenJFX and how he got involved
24:49 Everyone can contribute to OpenJDK and OpenJFX
25:50 The goal of the OpenJDK Mobile project
29:33 About the Belgian Java community

30:29 Wim Deblauwe about Spring libraries and books
30:50 About Wim's Thymeleaf and htmx books
32:08 How to get involved in the Java community
33:06 Goal of writing a book
33:40 Wim's involvement in the community

35:08 Outro