completing pathways levels 3 and 4

See my main Presentation Mastery Pathways page for some context.

 

Level 3

The required project in my path is a 5-7 minute persuasive speech. I did mine about Pathways! There was good content on how to approach a persuasive speech.

Level 3 is where you get to start electives. See my pathways comparison for a list of the choices and what they entail. I chose “Using Descriptive Language” and “Active Listening”. The former is just a 5-7 minute speech that is similar to what we did in the old CC. The later is being table topics master.

I picked these two because my goal was to get through the first four levels before Pathways launched in New York so I would have access to all the projects for reference. So I wanted to pick projects where I already knew what to do. On my second path, I plan to pick electives that are new such as using presentation software or making connections through networking.

Level 4

In my path, the required level 4 project is a 5-7 minute speech on managing a difficult audience. I really like this project. Before I presented at a public conference, I gave a club speech called “The Case of the Interrupting Audience.” I gave club member specific annoying/distracting things to do. This Pathways project is similar. Audience members get assigned roles and you have to practice handling them. Excellent addition to Toastmasters! I lost my train of thought twice during the interruptions.

There is one elective in this level. I chose holding a Question and Answer session since I was doing that anyway for Pathways.  There are a lot of fun looking electives in this level like blog posting, running an online meeting and creating a podcast. There are some less technical ones like public relations and project management as well.

how to install open jdk 11

Since I’m speaking at QCon about Java 11, I figure I should install it instead of just having read about it :).

Wait? Will this mess up my existing Java install?

No. Open JDK provides tar files. This means you can have as many versions installed as you want.

How to install

  1. Go to http://jdk.java.net/11/
  2. Download the Open JDK tar.gz file (It’s about 300 MB)
  3. Unzip
  4. Move to the directory you typically keep JDKs to make it easy to find. For example, on Mac:
    sudo mv jdk-11.jdk /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
    cd /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines
  5. Optionally, add aliases. I like to create javacVersionNumber and javaVersionNumber so I can quickly compare multiple versions. For example, on Mac, I opened .bash_profile and added aliases for java 11 to the ones I already had.
    alias javac11=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/javac
    alias java11=/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk-11.jdk/Contents/Home/bin/java 

javaone vs oracle code one

Oracle announced that they are turning JavaOne into Oracle Code One.  There was a lot of Twitter chatter that week. I want to add my two cents.

Tracks

First off all, JavaOne had two non-Java tracks last year:

  • Emerging Languages
  • Oracle Code: Containers, Microservices, DevOps, Databases, APIs and MOre

That means that 2/7 or approximately a quarter of the conference was already not about Java. I realize that’s not exact. Some of the topics in that quarter were about JVM languages. But it does show that JavaOne reflected the reality of polyglot developers and didn’t focus on “just” Java. (I think I remember there being some JavaScript stuff too, but maybe I’m remembering wrong.)

Two conferences

It’ll be interesting to see what if anything moves Oracle OpenWorld to Oracle code. Some of the Oracle technology specific sessions are about coding so maybe it is time for them to move.

Piloted at city events

Oracle ran Oracle Code in different cities. I went to (and spoke) at the New York City one. There was a good amount of Java there. There were also a good number of talks Java developers would find relevant even if they weren’t specific to Java. If that ratio of talks at Oracle Code One matches Oracle Code, I’ll be one happy developer.

Naming

  • DevNexus is a “Java focused” conference; they call themselves the second biggest Java conference in the US (or world; I forget.) They have non Java sessions – DevOps, JavaScript, etc. But no .NET at this time so they do cover what a JVM stack developer wants to know. Note they don’t Java in the name either and nobody is crying.
  • CodeRanch is a forum that used to be named JavaRanch. It’s still mostly JVM language focused, but the name also reflects that it is more than “just Java.”

Advice for Oracle

Remember the community. Jakarta EE might not belong to you, but it is an important part of the community. Make sure there are still talks on it.

Sentimentality

Change is hard. Personally, I really wanted to speak at JavaOne. So glad I got to last year before the opportunity was gone. That said, Oracle Code NYC was a good event so I expect Oracle Code One to be as well. And I want to speak there too. So now I have a new goal :).

Conclusion

The world isn’t ending. This isn’t the death of Java or the conference.  What makes “JavaOne” the flagship conference isn’t the name. It’s the people/venue/event/scale. So if you are a Java community leader/speaker, go again. Don’t make “the death of JavaOne” a self fulling prophecy.

And now off to submit my application…