← Speakers

James Ward

Kotlin Product Manager, Google

James Ward is a nerd / software developer who shares what he learns with others through presentations, blogs, demos, and code. After over two decades of professional programming, he is now a self-proclaimed Typed Pure Functional Programming zealot but often compromises on his ideals to just get stuff done. After spending too many sleepless nights in data centers repairing RAID arrays, he now prefers higher-level cloud abstractions with appropriate escape hatches. James is a huge Open Source proponent, hoping to never get burned by lock-in again.

Things I’m Proud Of:

  • Recognized as an official Java Champion in 2021
  • Co-authored First Steps in Flex with Bruce Eckel
  • Led Salesforce’s Open Source Program Office
  • Presented at numerous developer conferences around the world
  • Helped launch The Reactive Manifesto
  • Created the first Java hosting service in 1997
Talk: A Tour of the Modern Java Platform