Java Forum Nord 2024 - Our Impressions

Dear readers, this year, we again supported the Java Forum Nord as a silver sponsor and contributed to the successful holding of the conference. A collaboration that could almost be described as a tradition was a great success again this year, and we were able to experience an excellently organized event. On Tuesday, September 10, 2024, Tatjana and I were on-site visitors at the HCC (Hannover Congress Centrum) in Hannover. We gained many impressions and had interesting conversations with other visitors. The focus of the event was on specialist lectures on the topics of software development and Java. Occasionally, there were also lectures and talks on other topics, such as Kay Liewald's lecture on Scrum. In the following, I would like to give you a little insight into our day at the HCC and share some interesting insights.

Our impressions

On Tuesday morning, Tatjana and I set off for Hannover at seven o'clock. We packed our roll-up and the new flyers in the boot of the car and, each with a sandwitch in hand, we set off for Hannover. After our arrival at the HCC, we picked up our tickets and got a first overview of the conference. We handed out our flyers and set up the roll-up in the Niedersachsenhalle B. After that, we took a short break and, over a delicious coffee, made the final plan for the day to get the most out of it.

The event kicked off at 10 a.m. with a keynote speech titled “Eight Ways to Start an Open Source Project” by Sophia Schulze Schleithoff from the Open Knowledge Foundation and the Prototype Fund. Since we at Cloudogu are also closely involved with open source, this was a fitting introduction. The speech highlighted various ways to approach an open source project and the requirements needed to do so. One potentially important point was the search for sponsors and supporters, for example through organizations such as the Prototype Fund, which has already supported 387 projects with a total of 16.6 million euros since 2016. The Prototype Fund supports so-called “public interest technologies” with a focus on civic tech, data literacy, data security and software infrastructure. So if you are interested in your own open source project and lack the financial resources you need, funding like that provided by the Prototype Fund is an excellent way to take your project to the next level. Other insights from the keynote are that there are many ways to realize your own projects, although active community management is essential for the success of an open source project, especially in the early stages. Currently, there are no calls for proposals for funding from the Prototype Fund, but this could change quickly. Therefore, we recommend that all creative, innovation-driven problem solvers keep their eyes and ears open for possible funding opportunities for their projects, in order to achieve a real impact on our society.

After the keynote, Tatjana and I split up to attend different talks and share the new information with each other. During the talks, we took the opportunity to expand our knowledge and network with other visitors. During the breaks, we also represented Cloudogu as an employer and had exciting conversations that led to valuable new contacts.

Thanks to the organizers

Finally, we would like to express our sincere thanks to all the organizers of the Java Forum Nord. The event was well thought out in every phase and the conditions were excellent. We particularly liked the interesting talks and the vegetarian lunch. We highly recommend a visit to the Java Forum Nord to all developers and IT enthusiasts and hope that this great event will take place again in Hannover next year. To stay up to date on Cloudogu events in the future, we invite you to follow us on our social media channels.

Impressions