x2x Community Meetup: Microservices rules by Chris Richardson & Vaughn Vernon
Details
Disclaimer: This is our Global x2x Community Event PoC (Proof of Concept). Don't worry we will do this 3-4x times in 2026. The event will be live streamed on the Berlin conference channel (https://www.youtube.com/microxchg) and pot. SF Java (https://www.youtube.com/sfjava).
(BER) BERLIN 🛫🛬 (SFO) SAN FRANCISCO (Public viewing with 🥐)
On this event the BERLIN GROUPS (JUG BB, Spring Berlin, Microservices Berlin) and BAY AREA GROUPS (San Franciso Java and East Bay) Java user groups are hosting a collaborative event.
We are highly pleased to have two well-known international speakers as our guests from overseas. Besides the talks we want to enrich the meetup with a moderated panel discussion afterward. If you – as a visitor – want to ask any broader question to our guests feel free to bring them to the event and we will collect them for the panel rounds.
BER ✈️ JOIN US HERE
- JUG BB (https://www.meetup.com/jug-bb/)
- Spring Berlin (https://www.meetup.com/spring-user-group-berlin/)
- Microservices Berlin (https://www.meetup.com/microservices-meetup-berlin/)
SFO ✈️ JOIN US HERE
- San Francisco JUG (https://www.meetup.com/sfjava/)
- East Bay JUG (https://www.meetup.com/eastbayjug/)
SCHEDULE – BER ✈️
- 06:30 PM Doors Open incl. Networking and Finger Food
- 07:00 PM Intro + Talks
- 08:30 PM Sneak Peaks
- 09:00 PM Q&A Panel with Audience Questions
- 09:30 PM Doors Close
- 10:00 PM Drinks Gathering at Bar Next Door
SCHEDULE – SFO ✈️
- 09:30 AM Doors Open incl. Networking and Breakfast
- 10:00 AM Intro
- 10:00 AM Talks
- 10:30 AM Sneak Peaks
- 12:00 AM Q&A Panel with Audience Questions
- 12:00 AM Doors Close
- 12:30 PM Shared Lunch next to Venue with Host
SESSIONS
Microservices rules: What good looks like (60 min) by Chris Richardson
The microservice architecture has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Its key benefits include significantly improving the developer experience and accelerating software delivery. Sadly, however, microservices have often been widely misunderstood and used inappropriately. As a result, many organizations have struggled to benefit from their adoption. I’ve had numerous conversations where developers have complained that their new microservices-based applications are difficult to change. They have very quickly created an unmaintainable legacy application. To prevent this from happening, I’ve defined 11 development and architecture rules (a.k.a. best practices).
Lightning Talk (~20 min) by Vaughn Vernon
Code: So, You Are Going to Crash!
SNEAK PEAKS
- DukeOne SF (15 min)
- Sweep Startup Insights by William Zeng (7 min)
PANEL
Panel Discussion with Audience Questions (45 min)
on the State and Future of AI, Microservices, DDD, Flow, Spring and Java
Global Thought Leaders
- Chris Richardson
- Vaughn Vernon
Local Industry Leaders
- Timmo Freudl-Gierke (Head of Engineering at Oliver Wyman)
- Adrian Kodja (Functional CTO at softgarden)
Community Representatives
- Pasha Finkelshteyn (from Spring Berlin – besides Maciej Walkowiak, Benjamin Nothdurft)
- Oliver Fischer (from JUG BB – besides Jörg Müller, Jan Schmitz, Sandra Ahlgrimm)
Moderators
- Sandra Ahlgrimm (Java and AI at Microsoft)
- Benjamin Nothdurft (Awarded Keynote Speaker)
PEOPLE - SPEAKERS, PANELISTS & MODERATORS
Chris Richardson
Chris Richardson is a developer and architect. He is the author of POJOs in Action and the founder of the original CloudFoundry.com, an early Java PaaS for Amazon EC2. Today, he is a recognized thought leader in microservices and speaks regularly at international conferences. Chris is the creator of Microservices.io, a pattern language for microservices, and is the author of the book Microservices Patterns. He provides microservices consulting and training to organizations that are adopting the microservice architecture and is working on his Eventuate, an open-source microservices collaboration platform.
Sources
https://chrisrichardson.net
https://microservices.io
https://eventuate.io
Social Media
https://linkedin.com/in/pojos/
Vaughn Vernon
Vaughn Vernon is a software ecologist, architect, modeler, and optimizer of teams and individuals. Vaughn works with CTOs and other executive technologists, teams, and individual engineers, as a leading expert in Domain-Driven Design, Event-Driven, and Reactive Architecture, championing simplicity in the face of complexity. He helps teams and organizations optimize to realize business-driven and reactive systems as they transform from sprawling legacy systems. Vaughn is the author of four best-selling books, and is the curator and editor of his Addison-Wesley Vaughn Vernon Signature Series.
Sources
https://kalele.io
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vaughnvernon/
Pasha Finkelshteyn
Years of experience in software engineering and the team's leading roles combined with his passion for Java made Pasha know all the hidden details in this IT niche. As a Developer Advocate for Bellsoft, he educates the public on the latest software tools built by BellSoft and helps to create and test instruments for developers. He writes in Kotlin, speaks at conferences, composes new articles, or maintains his pet projects.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/asm0dey/
Timmo Freudl-Gierke
Seasoned technology leader with over 20 years' experience as a Software Engineer, Architect, and Head of Technology, driving large-scale enterprise transformations across Finance, Utilities, Meteorology, and Supply Chain; I design and deliver robust, user-centric IT landscapes and strategic roadmaps driven by and measured against clear business goals. I conduct rigorous technical due diligences and assessments, define IT and API strategies and lead agile, end to end programmes grounded in Domain Driven Design.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmo8/
Oliver Fischer
Oliver Fischer works as a freelance IT software developer and architect in Berlin and is a committer at the Apache Software Foundation. He regularly publishes articles, primarily on Java-related topics, for various magazines and online publications. His main interests lie in innovative systems and ideas, preferably in Java, but also with a growing interest in DevOps-related topics. Oliver also leads the Java User Group Berlin-Brandenburg and is involved in organizing various conferences.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliverfischer/
Sandra Ahlgrimm
Sandra Ahlgrimm is a Senior Cloud Advocate at Microsoft, specializing in supporting Java Developers. With over a decade of experience as a Java developer, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her role. Sandra is passionate about containers and has recently learned to love AI. As a leader in the tech community, Sandra actively contributes to the Berlin Java User Group (JUG) and the Berlin Docker MeetUp. Her expertise extends beyond coding; she focuses on LangChain4j integrations and serves as the primary point of contact for developer feedback related to Java in Visual Studio Code (VS Code) and the Azure toolkit integration in IntelliJ. Additionally, her interest in performance and event-driven architectures led to her involvement with native images. Therefore, Sandra represents Microsoft on the GraalVM Program Advisory Board. Sandra’s commitment to empowering fellow developers and fostering collaboration makes her an invaluable asset to the software development ecosystem.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandraahlgrimm/
Benjamin Nothdurft
Benjamin Nothdurft is an internationally recognized Java and cloud technology expert and strategic CxO Advisor. He brings extensive hands-on experience in the Java ecosystem, microservices architecture, and DevOps practices, helping organizations embrace modern cloud-native solutions. An Oracle ACE Pro and Groundbreaker Ambassador, Benjamin has delivered talks at over 100 conferences worldwide and often lectures at universities on software engineering topics. As a passionate community builder, he has founded or led more than six user groups and organized 100+ tech events across Germany. Get in touch: https://www.linktr.ee/contact.dataduke.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dataduke/
Adrian Kodja
Adrian Kodja is a technology leader with experience guiding engineering teams, shaping technical direction, and improving software delivery in fast-moving organizations. He has led teams through architectural transitions, scaled engineering capabilities, and introduced modern development practices that enhance productivity and system clarity. In both his tech lead and fractional leadership roles, Adrian focuses on balancing strategic vision with hands-on execution. He brings a practical perspective on how emerging technologies, architecture patterns, and team dynamics influence the way modern software is built.
Social Media
https://linkedin.com/in/adriankodja
William Zeng
William is CEO and co-founder of Sweep, the #1 rated AI plugin for JetBrains IDEs. Sweep serves customers including Ramp, Amplitude, and YCombinator. He previously was the fastest-promoting senior ML engineer at Roblox, reaching the position in 1.5 years. He and his cofounder built one of the first open-source AI coding agents in May 2023 reaching over 7K stars on GitHub. William is passionate about building a great AI experience for developers using JetBrains IDEs.
Social Media
https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-zeng
