Java 26 in the Trenches: New Features and the Art of Staying Current

Java’s relentless six-month release cycle can feel overwhelming. With Java 26 now available, this session cuts through the dry release notes and takes you straight into the trenches. Instead of a standard lecture, we will explore the most impactful new language features and performance upgrades through a highly interactive, "Will it Compile?" style quiz and live code demos. Get ready to test your intuition, spot the edge cases, and see how the latest Java syntax actually behaves under pressure.

Beyond the code, we will tackle the strategy of staying current. Drawing on two decades of experience scaling massive enterprise systems, this talk provides a pragmatic framework for evaluating new Java releases. We will discuss the messy realities of upgrading legacy systems, the architectural trade-offs of adopting preview features, and how to keep your team's skills sharp without succumbing to feature fatigue.
What You Will Learn:

• The Best of Java 26: A practical, code-first breakdown of the most important new capabilities.
• Interactive Code Challenges: Test your knowledge with live quizzes that expose the gotchas and hidden mechanics of the new features.
• The Enterprise Evaluation Framework: How to assess the risk, reward, and migration cost of adopting new updates in large-scale production environments.
• Surviving the Cadence: Actionable strategies for continuous learning in a world where the language updates twice a year.

About the Speaker
Nitin Avula
Nitin Avula is a Senior Principal Staff Engineer at the Social Security Administration (SSA) with over 20 years of experience building enterprise software at scale. A seasoned technical leader deeply rooted in the Java and Spring Boot ecosystems, Nitin specializes in navigating the tension between adopting cutting-edge features and maintaining legacy system stability. Today, he's taking us into the trenches to explore the messy realities, architectural trade-offs, and interactive code challenges of adopting Java 26 in the real world.

About the Sponsor
Certara (https://www.certara.com)
Certara accelerates medicines to patients, using biosimulation (modeling and simulation) and technology-enabled services to transform drug discovery and development. Our integrated and proprietary end-to-end platform with generative AI technology, biosimulation, regulatory science, and market access solutions combined with our global 1,400+ strong team of scientists and experts enable informed decision-making, higher R&D productivity, and improved patient outcomes.