From Platform Engineering to Java Virtual Threads

Welcome back to the Belgian Developer Experience Network!

After two successful events in November and February, where we rather focused on AI and platform engineering, we’re turning our attention to hands-on developer topics.

Save the date: 12th of June at AE in Leuven. The agenda is still taking shape, and we’ll share the full program in the coming weeks.

Get ready for insightful talks from experienced professionals, lively discussions, and the opportunity to connect with fellow developers passionate about building software.

Whether you're a seasoned software developer, a platform engineer or just starting to explore this exciting field, join us for an evening of learning, sharing, and growing together.

Schedule:
- 17:30 - 18:00 - Doors open
- 18:00 - 18:15 - Intro
- 18:15 - 19:00 - DevSecOps: A Love Triangle

• Speaker:
  Burr Sutter (Java Champion, Director, Developer Experience at Red Hat)
• Description:
  In this session, we will have some fun exploring love triangles as a common narrative device in theater, literature, and film but applying it to the much more interesting world of enterprise IT, where all the action is really happening now that we are digitally transformed. We will be live demonstrating and hacking with some very fun capabilities covering Internal Developer Platforms leveraging Backstage, Kubernetes and CNCF ecosystem and perhaps see if there is a nirvana where Dev, Sec and Ops can live happily ever after.

- 19:00 - 19:15 - Break
- 19:15 - 19:45 - From Reactive to Virtual: Simplifying Our Codebase with Java's Virtual Threads

• Speaker:
  Alex Wauters (CTO @ Customaite.ai)
• Description:
  In this talk, I'll share our journey migrating from Quarkus Mutiny's reactive programming model to Java's Virtual Threads at Customaite.ai. I'll demonstrate how this transition led to cleaner, more maintainable code while maintaining high performance. I'll also cover the custom patterns we developed to address gaps in Java's standard library, particularly when working with structured concurrency (currently in preview mode).

- 19:45 - 22:00: Network Event & Food
After the talks you will be able to share your valuable insights and ideas with everyone, while sharing some food and drinks.

Additional note: This meetup includes food and an activity. Please keep your RSVP status up to date so we do not waste any of our food. In case you're doubting the feasibility to join in person, you can always join remote.