My guests for this episode of the Payara Podcast JUG Spotlight series are the leaders of Chicago and Seattle Java User Groups – Mary Grygleski and Freddy Guime. 

During our chat, we discussed Mary’s and Freddy’s journey to becoming JUG leaders, we talked about the opportunities that come with being part of a local Java User Group, whether as organisers or members. We also explored the impact of AI on modern Java development, which unsurprisingly has sparked significant interest among both new and existing community members. However, it also presents a challenge—how to ensure the next generation of developers remains effective in a workplace where AI is increasingly integrated into development workflows.

The second episode of the new series of Payara Podcast dedicated to the Java community is here! This time, I had a great pleasure to talk to Simone and Roberto from Torino Java User Group.

Roberto, a seasoned developer with 20+ years in open source, has contributed to projects like Jetty, CometD, and JBoss. Simone, a Java Champion and Eclipse Jetty Project Leader, specializes in high-performance JVM tuning and server-side development. We discuss the evolution of Java communities, the challenges JUGs face, and how we can ensure they continue to thrive.

We are kicking off 2025 with the new series of Payara Podcast dedicated to the Java community, which means that over the next couple of episodes, I will be talking to quite a few Java User Group Leaders, representing JUGs all around the world.

For this January episode, I had a great pleasure to talk to Mike and Barry from Garden State Java User Group.

During our conversation, we explored the importance of Java User Groups and their role in maintaining, supporting and educating Java developers within their local communities. Mike and Barry shared what’s coming to Garden State JUG this year that they are excited about, and the challenges their user group is facing.

Are you in London next week? Come and join us for at the 18th LJC Unconference - a full day of discussions, knowledge sharing, learning, and networking with other developers in the industry.

There will be an opening keynote session followed by breakout discussion groups on the topics which are important to you.