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Foojay Podcast #94: More Than a Blog: How Foojay Connects, Sustains, and Evolves the Java Community

Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

What keeps a developer community alive after six years, and what does it take to stay relevant while AI reshapes how we write code? For Foojay’s sixth anniversary, we gathered a crowd of voices from across the Java world to answer those questions in their own words. We talked with Sharat Chandar, Markus Westergren, Iryna Dohndorf, René Schwietzke, Gerrit Grunwald, Catherine Edelveis, Jago de Vreede, Annelore Egger, Buhake Sindi, François Martin, Dominika Tasarz-Sochacka, and Geertjan Wielenga in Foojay Podcast #94.

Foojay Podcast #85: Code, Community, and Opportunity: Making Tech Accessible for Everyone

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Talent shows up everywhere, but the chance to use it does not. Kids in underserved schools, students without a laptop, and developers outside the usual hubs all hit walls the rest of us never see. In this episode we talk with Daniel De Luca, Kenny Schwegler, Cassandra Chin, and Igor De Souza about the work they do to lower those walls, in Foojay Podcast #85.

Foojay Podcast #77: DevBcn Report, Part 2 - Spanish Knowledge Sharing

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Conferences sound different when you hear them in the language of the people who built them. For DevBcn in Barcelona, that language is Spanish, and this short episode hands the mic to the local community to share their view of the event. Jonathan Vila records with Marlene Maldonado, Barbara Teruggi, Santiago Rincon, Vicente Soriano, Alvaro Navarro, and Vicente Cabanes in Foojay Podcast #77, the final episode of Season 4.

Foojay Podcast #70: Celebrating 5 Years of Foojay

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Five years ago, a single post about OpenJDK kicked off what grew into a hub for the Java community. The site now hosts more than 1,600 posts from over 250 authors. To mark the moment, we gathered founder Geertjan Wielenga, Gerrit Grunwald, Richard Fichtner, Simon Ritter, and many other community voices in Foojay Podcast #70.

Foojay Podcast #46: JUG Switzerland

Tue, 02 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

What does it take to keep a Java User Group alive across a small but multilingual country? Switzerland has an active Java community spread over several cities, and the people behind it have plenty of stories about sponsors, speakers, and the long road back after COVID. We sat down with Patrick Baumgartner and Simon Martinelli from JUG Switzerland for Foojay Podcast #46.

Foojay Podcast #44: Quarkus Club

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A Java User Group dedicated to a single framework, started less than a year ago, already counts as one of the largest Quarkus communities in the world. That kind of growth raises an obvious question. How do two organizers build that kind of momentum from scratch? We talked about all of it with Igor De Souza and Luis Fabrício De Llamas in Foojay Podcast #44.

Foojay Podcast #42: Jozi-JUG and Cape Town Java Community

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Java communities thrive on the people who show up month after month to run meetups, line up speakers, and welcome newcomers. This episode takes us to South Africa to hear how two of those communities keep the lights on. We talked with Corneil du Plessis and Steven Makunzva about Jozi-JUG and the Cape Town Java Community in Foojay Podcast #42.

Foojay Podcast #35: Dublin JUG

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Running a local Java User Group takes more than booking a room and waiting for people to show up. It needs steady organizers, a steady stream of speakers, and a community that keeps coming back. In this episode we sit down with Barry Alistair from the Dublin JUG to hear how they keep their group active. This is Foojay Podcast #35, part of the monthly series about the people behind Java User Groups.

Foojay Podcast #30: Utrecht JUG

Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

A local Java User Group lives or dies by the people who show up and the people who keep showing up to organize. On September 12th, I spoke at the Utrecht JUG and brought a camera and microphones to capture what makes this group tick. In this conversation we sit down with Michel van Dongen, Willem van de Griendt, Elias Nogueira, Gerard Meijwaard, and Hanno Embregts for Foojay Podcast #30.

Foojay Podcast #27: Chicago JUG and KUG

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

User groups shape careers in ways conferences rarely can. They turn a city into a network of mentors, speakers, and friends who happen to share a language runtime. In this episode we visit Chicago and talk with Mary Grygleski and John Burns about running the local Java and Kotlin communities, episode #27 of the Foojay Podcast.

Foojay Podcast #24: BeJUG, BruJUG and how Devoxx was born as JavaPolis

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Belgium punches above its weight in the Java world, and most of that energy comes from a small group of people who keep local communities alive. This episode digs into how BeJUG started in 1997, how BruJUG joined later, and how a local conference called JavaPolis turned into Devoxx. I sit down with Olivier Hubaut (BruJUG), Stephan Janssen (founder of BeJUG, Devoxx, Devoxx4Kids, and Voxxed), and Tom Cools (AntwerpJUG, BeJUG) for Foojay Podcast #24.

Foojay Podcast #15: Japan JUG

Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Running a Java User Group takes more than scheduling a room and picking a topic. It takes people who care enough to keep showing up, finding speakers, and rebuilding momentum after a pandemic. We sat down with Shin Tanimoto, Ayana Yokota, and Maaya Ishida for Foojay Podcast #15 to hear how the Japanese Java community keeps its meetups alive.

Foojay Podcast #13: Denver and Boulder JUG

Mon, 06 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Running a Java User Group takes more than booking a room and picking a topic. Speakers go quiet, venues close, and attendance swings hard after a pandemic. In this stop of the Foojay Podcast JUG World Tour, we sit down with Greg Ostravich, Zettie Chin-Fong, Kris Woyna, and Matt Raible to hear how two JUGs only 45 minutes apart keep their communities active. This is Foojay Podcast #13.

Foojay Podcast #10: JUG World Tour: Dubai JUG

Tue, 03 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Starting a Java User Group from scratch takes more than enthusiasm. It takes speakers, attendees, sponsors, and a local culture that wants to show up. We sat down with Jad Salhani and Chris Thalinger from the Dubai JUG, which kicked off in May 2022, for Foojay Podcast #10 in our JUG World Tour series.

Foojay Podcast #8: JUG World Tour: Manchester

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Running a Java User Group sounds simple until you try it. Finding speakers, picking venues, keeping people coming back, and growing the audience takes real work. To kick off a new monthly series, we visit the Manchester JUG and talk with the people who keep it going. I host this conversation with Jonathan Bullock and Nick Ebbitt in Foojay Podcast #8.

Foojay Podcast #6: Welcome to Foojay!

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Ever wondered what runs the Foojay.io community behind the scenes? After 2.5 years and hundreds of posts since that first article in April 2020, the site has grown into a hub for friends of OpenJDK. In this sixth episode of the Foojay Podcast, we sit down with Geertjan Wielenga, A N M Bazlur Rahman, and Roy Wasse to walk through the story so far.