About us
The London Java Community (LJC) is a group of Java Enthusiasts who are interested in benefiting from shared knowledge in the industry. Through our forum and regular meetings you can keep in touch with the latest industry developments, learn new Java (& other JVM) technologies, meet other developers, discuss technical/non technical issues and network further throughout the Java Community.
FAQ
What is the LJC?
What goes on in the LJC?
Who can join?
Is there a fee to Join, is there a fee for the events?
How do I join?
Do you have to go to every presentation?
Where are the events held?
Can I read some member feedback?
Can I give a presentation to the LJC?
What is the LJC?
The LJC is an official Java User Group for developers based in London. It was founded in November 2007 and since then has grown to over 5000 members and is now the biggest Java User Group in the UK.
What goes on in the LJC?
We run a variety of regular events ranging from social events and technical presentations to our full day unconference. On top of the events we run prize draws and have an active mailing list/forum. We support the Graduate Development Community in London and promote London based Open Source Software projects where possible.
Who can join?
Membership is restricted to Java developers working in or around London (or those hoping to train in Java, or relocate to London). Membership will not be granted to those involved in the recruitment industry.
Is there a fee to Join, is there a fee for the events?
It’s completely free to join and 99% of our events are completely free. The only event which is charged for is the Unconference, the charge is minimal and it is there to cover refreshments on the day.
How do I join?
Just click on the link on this page to sign up to the mailing list, you'll hear of all of our latest news and events and can take part in the monthly prize draws.
Do you have to go to every presentation?
Absolutely not – it’s completely up to you which events you attend and which you don’t. Every event attracts a different crowd.
Where are the events held?
Europe's Premier technical training company, Skills Matter (Barbican) sponsor most of our events by providing the venue.
Can I read some member feedback?
We have been collecting feedback for the last few years from our members you can read it here: https://www.meetup.com/Londonjavacommunity/about/comments/?op=all
Can I give a presentation to the LJC?
We run various in-person and online events, and welcome highly experienced speakers, all the way through to those just starting out. If you have a presentation you'd like to submit for consideration, please visit https://sessionize.com/ljc
For further information see our blog here: https://londonjavacommunity.wordpress.com/s... Do not hesitate to get in touch with any questions.
Barry Cranford
Founder of London Java Community
Upcoming events
2
LJC Meetup at Capital One
Capital One, 1 Old Street Yard, Darlington EC1Y 8AF, UK, London, GBPlease register on Eventbrite to join this event.
Overview
LJC Meet-ups is a series of events, aimed at giving all Community members an opportunity to present at an LJC event.The London Java Community is delighted to invite you to our next LJC Meet-up at Capital One.
Join us for an evening of technical talks, fresh ideas, food, drinks and networking with fellow developers and technology professionals from across the community.
This month, we have two very different but equally fascinating talks lined up. From the engineering behind Capital One UK's Server-Driven UI to an exploration of just how far procedural generation can be pushed.
Speaker 1: Sean O'Toole, Staff Software Engineer, Capital One
Title: Finite States, Infinite Possibilities: Capital One's Server-Driven UIAbstract: Changing anything in a mobile app is slow going: a new binary, an app-store review, and then weeks of waiting for users to actually upgrade before your change reaches everyone. That's in stark contrast to how easily we change data and ship APIs internally, where a change can be live to 100% of consumers the same day.
So why stop at shipping the data? Why not ship the UI itself? That's the idea behind Server-Driven UI: the server doesn't just return the data, it returns the UI definition too, which the client then renders.
In this session we'll go behind the scenes of the real-world SDUI system powering Capital One UK's mobile apps — the Spring Boot service that turns finite states into infinite user journeys, all shipped without a single app release. We'll dig into the engineering that keeps it fast: fanning out a whole journey's data in parallel, coalescing duplicate calls so we don't stampede our own backends, and the honest reason we turned virtual threads down.
About Sean O'Toole
Sean O’Toole is a Staff Software Engineer and has been with Capital One for 11 years. During this time he has completed cloud migrations, rebuilt acquisitions workflows, and built a new server-driven mobile app. His expertise spans RESTful web services in the cloud utilising Java - across servers, lambdas, and containers. Sean is also a passionate open-source contributor who maintains a suite of dinosaur-themed open source libraries for Java and Kotlin.Speaker 2: Tom Appleyard, Software Developer/Solutions Architect
Title: How far can we go with procedural generation?Abstract: The talk will start with an overview of techniques and their applications in video games from the 80s to present. I’ll cover a variety of approaches, from generating assets (Oblivion) to scenarios (Left 4 Dead, roguelikes/FTL, Diablo) to the world itself (Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft and No Man’s Sky) if not almost the entire game (.kkrieger). Modern systems like Unreal’s Procedural Content Generation Framework and real-time use of Generative AI will also be covered. This focus for this section is technical capability: what can we do, what does it require and what are the results?
The wider framing asks of the limits. Despite a rocky start, No Man’s Sky has come into its own and proved scale is possible, Dwarf Fortress proved engaging storylines can be procedurally generated and .kkrieger proved you can bootstrap the entire bloody thing from peanuts.
Despite impressive technical accomplishments, marrying these together to create something that doesn’t require some level of human finesse proves elusive. I’ll conclude the talk by examining why this is, what we’re missing and whether it’s a gap that can ever be bridged.
About Tom Appleyard
Tom Appleyard is a Creative Technologist specialising in novel technologies and technical communication. He's spent much of his career translating tech for businesspeople and engineers alike into intuitions they can think with, tangible skills they can build with and how to present & communicate it all themselves.What to Expect
Come along for an evening of:- Two engaging technical talks
- Practical insights and thought-provoking ideas
- Questions and discussion with our speakers
- Networking with fellow Java developers and technology professionals
- Food and drinks
- Rooftop drinks and networking after the talks
Whether you're interested in Java, backend engineering, mobile architecture, procedural generation, AI, game development or simply want to connect with the wider technology community, there'll be something to take away from the evening.
Event Schedule
17:30: Event opens - food, drinks & networking
18:30 - Welcome and introduction to Capital One
18:35 - Talk 1: Sean O'Toole - Finite States, Infinite Possibilities: Capital One's Server-Driven UI
18:55 - Break
19:05 - Talk 2: Tom Appleyard - How far can we go with procedural generation?
19:25 - Closing remarks & invitation to rooftop
19:30 - Rooftop drinks & networking
21:00 - Event closesImportant: Please Bring ID
Please make sure you bring valid ID with you to the event. Security at this venue will not allow access without ID, so please ensure you have it with you when you arrive.We’re looking forward to welcoming you to Capital One for another great evening with the London Java Community!
Huge thanks to our friends at Capital One for sponsoring this event and supporting our Community.
This event is organised by RecWorks on behalf of the London Java Community.
The London Java Community is sponsored by Hazelcast, Neo4j, Redis, and Discover
You can see our latest jobs here
You can see our privacy policy here
Continue the conversation at our Slack Group: https://londonjavacommunity.slack.com
Sign up here if you're not a member: https://bcrw.typeform.com/to/IIyQxd1 attendee
LJC Winter Unconference 2026
IBM Innovation Studio Floor 5, 20 York Road London SE1 7ND United Kingdom, London, GBPlease register on Eventbrite to join this event.
The LJC is delighted to announce our 21st Unconference!
Join us for 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. Catering is of course included, with a steady stream of coffee as well as breakfast on arrival, lunch and even afternoon tea.
What is an Unconference?
An unconference is a loosely structured, participant-driven meeting. You decide what you want to talk and hear about and which topics you want to discuss. It starts with an empty schedule - no topics are mandated and no separations are made between speakers and the audience. All participants work out a schedule by suggesting, planning, holding, and evaluating sessions, collaboratively. Above all else, it's great fun, whether you want to learn or share it's a supportive and safe space to do it in.This is an in-person event, kindly hosted by IBM.
Thank you to our sponsors Hazelcast, Redis, Capital One, and Recworks.1 attendee
Past events
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