airhacks.fm podcast with adam bien Not Your Java Package Handler
Jun 21, 2025
In this conversation, Billy Korando, a member of Oracle's Java team, delves into his tech journey, from gaming nostalgia with the Apple IIe to his pivotal year as a FedEx package handler. He discusses the evolution of Java and the misconceptions around microservices, emphasizing the necessity of robust coding practices. Billy highlights the importance of automated testing with JUnit 5 and shares insights on Java performance optimization with tools like Java Flight Recorder. His experiences at the Kansas City Developers Conference and reviving JavaOne reveal his passion for community engagement.
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Boredom Led to College Focus
- Billy Korando took a year off after high school to work as a FedEx package handler.
- The boredom motivated him to return to college and focus on programming seriously.
Manual Production Patching Horror
- Early in his career, Billy worked with Apache Struts and rolled his own Java frameworks.
- He remembered building locally and manually patching production class files, calling it "devil, devil."
Monoliths Before Microservices
- Microservices add network latency and complexity if the underlying monolith wasn't well designed.
- Organizations failing to build good monoliths won't succeed with microservices either.