The JUG-gle is Real: What JUGs Can Teach Us About Growing Open Source Communities | Dominika Tasarz

In this talk, Dominika Tsatsou Hatska discusses the vital role of Java user groups in nurturing the Java community and fostering connections among developers. She highlights key lessons learned from conversations with various Java user group leaders, emphasizing the importance of location, leadership, and the content shared within these groups. The speaker notes that while geographical context may shape opportunities for each group, it is the dedication of community leaders that sustains them. Dominika also explains how Java user groups serve to bridge the gap for newcomers and seasoned professionals alike by providing relevant content and a supportive environment for skill development. Ultimately, the talk underscores the sentiment that the strength of the Java community lies in its members and their collective passion for technology.

Thanks very much everyone for still being here. I know we're lunchtime, last day. Everyone is tired, probably lots of information through already in your head, but thanks for sticking to it. So, my name is Dominika Tsatsou Hatska and I since recently with Azul team as a I'm I'm also working with Payara Payara products. We were recently acquired, so some of you might actually know me as Payara

person and we are now proudly part of Azul and I'm a developer advocate for Azul and Payara and Jakarta EE. So, over the last couple of months and especially last year, I had an opportunity to talk to a lot of Java user group leaders, mostly as part of the Payara podcast and these conversations led me to um think about very a couple of very common things that

are happening for every Java user group that I spoke to and also the ones that I I spoke to in previous years. And there's some lessons that can be learned from all of them. Although they are different, they're in different locations, they have different communities, different ways of running things, they all have similar opportunities and challenges. And this is what I wanted to bring to you today.

There is this QR code here that you can use if you have any questions. So, you probably have seen it in different presentations. So, just taking a step back because we are all part of this really big Java community and being at the conference like JCON, it's incredibly visible that we are all as individuals part of this great Java community, but open source communities in general, so

not just Java, but other open-source projects, um other communities, they don't obviously grow on their own. Uh they don't just appear and look after themselves. There's a lot of things that go into growing a Java um community, any open-source community. Uh they need care, they need um resources just like a plant. So, there's a lot of different ingredients that you can talk about that open-source communities need,

and some of those would be consistency, passion, expertise, and dedication, and I'm going to expand on those a little bit more using specific examples. But, really what's most important in all of this is you. It's people. It's people that grow communities, it's people that hold the communities together. So, of course, open-source technologies like Java, we all in it because of Java, but really we stay because of

people. And what I would like you to take away not from what I'm talking about right now and the next next 15 minutes, but also from this whole event is this feeling of belonging that you are actually part of something bigger. And we are very often very isolated in our day-to-day work, especially since most of us have been working as um on our own from our homes.

Um most of us are not in the office with other people. It's very easy to feel isolated, to feel like what we're working on, all of these hours of coding, all of these hours of of working on whatever project we're working on are just in isolation, but actually no, everything connects into this pool of people that are building all of this together. And I think J on

is a great example of where you can see it in action and where you can actually feel that. So, it is all about showing up for the community uh consistently, with passion, with dedication. So, it is all about the contributors, committers, project leaders, project owners, and vendors. And Java user groups are really good example of that, and they can teach us a lot about how to become

possibly more active part of this ecosystem, of this community, but also how to get really many benefits from from being part of that community. I am this idea for this talk actually originally came from the fact that I was I was teaching about Java user groups on the at the conference that did not know about Java. It was more open source in general. So, a lot of

people had no idea what Java user groups are, and here, this is if there is one conference that knows everything about Java user groups, it's probably JKon. But, I would like to know a little bit more about you, and your relationship to to Java user groups. So, how many of you, raise your hands, how many of you have heard of jugs? Hopefully everyone, of course. How many

of you know specifically which one is your local jug? So, the name of it, great. And how many of you attended a Java user group meetup in the past? Great. And any regular members? Okay. And any leaders? Those actually actively involved in running it. Great. So, we've got a bit of a mixture, but everyone, just as I expected, would have heard of Java user groups. Great. So,

what I would like to do for the rest of me standing here and talking at you is is show you six lessons that I've learned from my conversations with specific Java user group leaders, and some of you might know them very well from from various community encounters. So, I talked to Garden State Java user group leaders, so Barry and Mike, Chicago Java user group leader Mary, who

was here somewhere. I think she might have left by now. So, Mary and Freddy, I talked to Torino jug leaders, Simone and Roberto, and Richard from JAX London, who everyone should know, everyone who's here. So, those lessons are useful, I believe, to anyone who has anything to do with Java community. So, just to give you again, step back. This is how many Java User Groups are there

in the world right now. Maybe Maybe there's more because I actually took this screenshot probably at the end of last year. So, there's over 300 Java User Groups currently registered, um officially running and active. So, again, see it in this context. It is a global community, and this global community is actively doing work to um educate people about about Java, to actually introduce people to Java, and

expand Java knowledge among those that are already into Java. So, you are part of this, and it's it's it's great to see it in that context. There isn't one in Antarctica, as far as I know, so if anyone wants to volunteer and set one up, feel free. So, lesson one, geography. Geography shapes opportunity, and it is an interesting thing that happened in my conversations with Java User

Group leaders, because every single one of them mentioned location um in some context of an opportunity, even without me prompting it. So, it may seem like an obvious thing that, depending on where you're based, you So, you have some opportunities, you have some challenges, but every single one would talk about their location as a great opportunity to run a specific Java User Group in a specific way.

So, with Garden State Java User Group, these guys are based in the suburbs, so they don't have access to big businesses, they don't have access to um big um locations where they can just, you know, talk to a um big business that can lend them a location for the next jug. But, what they have is university connection. So, this is what they leverage, and this is what

a lot of Java User Groups do. And again, this could be seen as a disadvantage, cuz you're in the suburbs, there aren't that many people, aren't that many businesses that people can just go after work and attend your meetup, but they still make the best of it. Then when you talk to Chicago Java User Groups, they are in the big city, so they have access to offices

that can be lent by bigger organizations, so they can use them for free. That's a really great opportunity. A lot of people are very well connected. You can walk to the to the evening meetup after work. It's very easy. But again, this is this is great opportunity and they take advantage of that. Then you've got really small rural Java User Groups like Richard's Jaco Oberholzer. disadvantage. How

do you get people to actually attend a rural Java User Group? But actually, it comes with many benefits. They are very independent. They actually Something that for Chicago Jug is a benefit, so having access to big businesses and their facilities is something that is not necessarily a good thing for the rural Java User Group cuz they don't want to be associated with a specific business because it

may not be seen well by the employer of members. So, they actually meet in neutral locations. And again, this is an opportunity, not a challenge in that case. So, um these are some examples. So, that's the Garden State Java User Group. That's the Chicago Jug and that's Jaco Oberholzer. So, they're all again, geography and where they're based comes with opportunities and they use them very well to

sustain the community. Lesson number two was leadership. So, all of those user groups, and this is what I think a lot of people may not think about or not realize how much work goes into running those Java User Groups. And some of those groups have actually been there almost as long as Java. So, Java celebrated 30 years last year. Some of those Java User Groups were set

up shortly after that. And they still have the same leaders. So, the amount of dedication and the amount of time that goes into running those communities, but also how many people get involved and how many people help. It's something that I really would community members to appreciate and understand because the leaders usually do it in their own time. They usually are not paid. Quite often it may

be part of the work depending on what company they work for if if that company actually finds benefit in them being involved in Java user group but majority of the time they do it in their own time. It is not necessarily about career. Of course it helps and I will mention that as well from the members perspective how much it could help your career to get involved

in your Java user group but it is more really genuinely about community. It's a great way of transferring the knowledge to people because those people those people in the leadership they are experts. They usually Java champions. They usually have been there for as long as Java has been or or many many years and they can teach you a lot. Not just about the technology but also about

where to find people to talk to how to take this next step in your career. So there's a lot benefits that you can take from them but it's about appreciation that there is a lot of work going into those groups. And one thing that was mentioned to me when I was doing this talk last time and it was from Patrick from Zurich Java user Java community. He

highlighted to me another angle of this. It's the fact that these people from various Java user groups and those leaders they're actually over the years become really good friends and also with the members in the communities locally those people actually not only meet because there is a meet up or there is the speaker coming and we want to learn about this thing. They actually meet because they

really genuinely like each other and they really genuinely help each other. So there is this connection this human connection that is being built as part of Java user groups which again is not necessarily something that you would think of as an as an obvious thing with with open source user groups but it is also about friendships. So you may recognize some of these faces even from the

event um this week. And also, this is an example from the uh Spring um sorry, Garden State JUG group. Um these guys have celebrated 25 years. So, this is only 5 years less than Java itself. And some of those leaders have been there from very beginning. So, imagine how much dedication and how much time went into building that community. And that community is still there and it's

flourishing. And what Freddy said from Chicago JUG that it's almost a given thing. If you happen to be this leader in the community, you are contributing, you are sharing, and you want to share this good thing with the with the rest of the Lesson number three, which is very close to where I do day-to-day is the content and what you actually do at the Java User Groups

and what you actually share at Java User Groups. It It's what brings people back and and why people are actually finding people as as community members are finding benefits and are finding Java User Groups useful for themselves. So, but it is a a balance. There it is an a balancing act to actually make content relevant. So, how do you balance this content relevance, what's useful, and what's

hot, and what's fun, right? So, a lot of the user groups would go and invite the speakers or the speakers would come and speak about this hot new feature or hot new product, but actually it has nothing to do with what most members do day-to-day in their job. So, it is a difficult balancing act and a lot of user groups do it very well. The relevance is

also about balancing the topics for the juniors and topics for more advanced users. So, again, it's a it's a difficult thing to do, but it it happens and it's possible to be done because you do want to serve the new members, the ones that are just joining the community, but also ones that have been there for a while and are more experienced. So, Roberto from JUG Torino

said that what they try to mix this those technical talks with more introductory sessions because for a lot of juniors, Java user groups uh is the first step to actually find out more about what's what's actually in the community, where they can go, where they can learn a bit more, how they can um move up in their career. Java user groups are really really good place to

do that. So, it is a lot of it is also about speakers and a great thing that I've seen in the community is that Java user groups often collaborate together um and this is again a sign of this community working really really well. There is no competition as such or not that I've seen a lot of anyway. If anything, if there is a good speaker in the

area and for a lot of people being at the event like this, it's a privilege. Not everyone can do it. Not everyone can uh spend time to go to a week-long conference. Not everyone has money for tickets. Not everyone hasn't has a possibility to go beyond the the the place where they work or where they live. So, local Java user group give that gives that opportunity for

a lot of people to actually experience uh learning and this knowledge transfer from really experienced speakers who would go to the local Java user group. So, they may not be able to see them at J Spring, but they may be may be able to see them at the local Java user groups. And the the user groups are collaborating together to make sure that those really good educators

that are in the area will come and see each of the Java user group within the same week, for example. And it's again great to see and a really good um example of how this community is actually working together and building this this Java community together rather than in isolation. And really really important, especially if you are part of the user group as a member, is feedback.

You need to give feedback to your Java user group leaders so that you get the best um the best outcome and the best content and the best education, the best exa- um experience from them So, they know what you expect. So, what format do you want the the presentations, conversations be in? What type of content, what type of topics, maybe what type of speakers? Anything you can

say to your leaders, your Java user group leaders, please do. Please share that feedback because at the end of the day, those Java user groups are there for you. So, they they want to bring benefit to you, but you need to tell them what you need to benefit. And lesson number four, and I've touched on it already, is there's so much in it for you. And I

know that I am sort of preaching to the choir because all of you are in some way connected or involved in Java user groups, which is great to see. But, perhaps you are not aware of all the things that Java user group membership and and coming to those talks can give technical skills is an obvious one. So, obviously there is a lot of a very very experienced

Java experts that are coming to those user group meetups and they teach you all about their next product, this feature, whatever that it is that they're working on, and whatever it is that they're experts in. And that's usually technical knowledge. But, a lot of user groups actually help you learn about people skills and soft skills. So, lots of user groups give you opportunity to start speaking, for

example. And this is a much safer environment for a lot of people who just want to start conference speaking. You can do a 1-2 minutes lightning talk at your local Java user groups talking to people that you actually know. And it's so much easier to start this way. Um there's a lot of things that you can do to get involved in organizing your local Java user group.

So, again, you are um you are developing your soft skills, you are developing your organization skills, you are developing your people skills because whether or not you are an introvert, extrovert, if you prefer to work on your own, we still are biologically, as humans, want to have this connection to other people. And and those people skills, those soft skills, and those tech skills, they're all go into

your CV. They all help you actually build your build your portfolio and build your career. So, you can actually use them if you want to get a raise, if you want to find a new job, if you want to find a new client. All of this actually benefits you and you get it for free from your local Java user groups if you go out and find it

and get involved. And obviously, there's the whole benefit of the community which I don't think I have to sell to you because you are here and you can see it for yourself being at at JCON and and being involved in your local Java community through the conference as And some of the some of the quotes from the from the leaders who who can see that those benefits

that that Java user groups are very inclusive. This is from Mary, the place that people can come and feel safe, be encouraged to try different things, and all of this without being judged. So again, this is a really good example where no matter where you are in your Java journey, if you are very experienced, if you are junior, maybe you had a break, may maybe you changed

your career and you were doing something else before and you are new to Java but not necessarily to the tech industry, Java user groups are there to help you no matter where you are in your journey. And then, like I've mentioned before, it's really good place for juniors to actually find out what's even out there for me to do because there's so many things happening and where

do I go? Where do I learn? How do I How do I learn and what do I actually want to do? What am I interested in specifically at the beginning so I can actually then sort of target my career goals based on that. And last but not least, doing a full circle, at the end of the day, it is always about people. And because we are at

we are at the end of the conference, you will be going home soon, I think what I would really love for you to take away from all of this experience is that you are a part of this community and this community, although it is about technology, it is about Java, it is there because of people. So, when people feel seen, when they feel supported, when we feel

like we belong, this is when all of this magic happens and J Fall and other community conferences would not be happening if it wasn't for the people. So, it is about showing up for your community. So, thank you for showing up today. Thank you for showing up over the last week and thank you for showing up in your local Java communities because this is why this community

is great. Thank you.