Functional Fundamentals & Asynchronous Job Processing

RotterdamJUG is back with two great talks: Ties van de Ven will show how to use functional thinking to improve your problem-solving and avoid bugs, while Ko Turk demonstrates how to offload long-running tasks to the background with JobRunr. As an extra bonus, Ko will be giving away 🎟️ Voxxed Days Amsterdam tickets. That conference takes place on April 1–2, 2026, so don’t miss your chance to win a seat!

Our host this time is RISA IT 🏢

Since 2006, RISA has helped partners build complex software using Java, C#, OutSystems, and robust infrastructure. They cover the full development lifecycle, with a strong focus on automated testing, and they’re headquartered in the former International Court of Justice building.

🗓️ Schedule 🗓️

• 17:30 – Doors open, food & drinks available 🍕🥤
• 18:30 – Empowering Your Development with FP (by Ties van de Ven) ✨
• 19:30 – Asynchronous Job Processing in Java with JobRunr (by Ko Turk) ⚙️
• 20:30 – Networking & drinks 🧑‍🤝‍🧑🍻
• 21:00 – Time to head home

Empowering Your Development with FP: Understanding and Practice

There’s always a new framework or tool to learn, but sometimes it’s good to take a step back and think about the underlying problems they’re trying to solve. In this talk, Ties will cover four essentials of software engineering—problem-solving, managing state, handling errors, and managing side effects—using Java, without drowning you in functional programming jargon. Expect relatable examples and a fresh perspective on concepts you may not have considered before so you can strengthen your abstract thinking and level up your code without ever having to learn what a monad is.

About Ties
Ties van de Ven is a senior software engineer at Alliander. After years of bug fixing, he became fascinated with preventing bugs entirely, which led him deeper into software fundamentals and treating software engineering as a craft. He enjoys sharing knowledge through presentations, mentoring, and workshops, focusing on clear concepts rather than arcane terminology. As an advocate for functional programming, he strives to make these ideas accessible to everyone.

Asynchronous Job Processing in Java with JobRunr

JobRunr is a Java library that makes it easy to run long‑running tasks asynchronously, boosting your application’s performance. Ko will show how to integrate JobRunr into your project, live‑coding examples of queuing, scheduling, and recurring background jobs. He’ll also demonstrate JobRunr’s dashboard so you can monitor your jobs in real time - whether they ran in the past or are scheduled for the future.

About Ko
Ko Turk is a software architect and Java engineer with over 15 years of experience. He builds communities as a Voxxed Days Amsterdam organizer, leads CodeLabJUG, and sits on the program committees for J‑Fall and Devoxx BE. At work, he focuses on green software and architecture for CodeLab and Rabobank. As a frequent conference speaker, he shares insights on all things Java (and a bit of TypeScript). Oh, and he’s bringing those Voxxed Days tickets 🎟️ to give away, so stick around!

📍 Location
RISA – 4th floor
Maanweg 174
2516 AB Den Haag

The entrance will be open; when you enter, take the lifts on the left up to the fourth floor.

🚆 Public Transport
The office is a short walk from Voorburg train station, and there are bus stops right outside.

🚗 Parking
Free parking is available in garage P3 on the Regulusweg side. The barrier will be open; after parking, you’ll need to walk around the building to reach the main entrance.

Final Note
🎤 Dreaming of becoming a speaker? We’re always on the lookout for (local) talent! Would you like to host one of our meetups? Drop us a message or speak to the organizers at the event!