John thompson apache maven: beginner to guru course

Hi. I’m John.

I’ve been in the IT industry for over 25 years. Today, I specialize mainly in Java, the most successful and widely known programming language in use today. I also specialize in the Spring Framework, which is the most popular open source application framework for building enterprise class applications on the Java platform.

Every day I get contacted by recruiters looking for people with Java skills. Sometimes 5 to 6 times day. These are often very good paying jobs, yet there is still a shortage of good people in software development. Positions paying $60 per hour are going unfilled because there are not enough people writing Java. These are positions I turn away, because the pay is well below my market rate.

Malcolm Gladwell claims it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. That’s 5 years, 40 hours a week. I’ve certainly put in the time and I’ve had the opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds in the industry.  I can definitely claim to be an expert.

Through this site, I hope to leverage my years of experience to accelerate your learning of the Spring Framework. I’m not going to lie to you, its a big framework. The environment for enterprise Java is even bigger. If you’re new to Java, you have a lot to learn. I hope through the content on this web site I can accelerate your education of the Java and Spring landscape.

More Fun Facts

• Senior Developer at Velo Payments – building the next generation payments platform (in Spring of course!)
• Worked as a Spring Source consultant for Pivotal for about 2 years.
• Used the Spring Framework to help build Visa Checkout.
• Occasionally moonlights as an Oracle DBA. (Not an expert, but I do know enough to be dangerous!)
• Once traded coding work for a pair of ocean kayaks from Boat US.
• Wrote a mobile app in Grails to track Pub-Golf Scores – just for fun

• A well ‘seasoned’ professional. Over 25 years of experience in Information Technology.
• Developer of Java and Spring technology for over 15 years.
• Speaker at the 2013 Spring One G2X conference.
• Occasionally presents at the Tampa JUG or Suncoast JUG
• Master of Arts in Technical Communication
• Master of Education in Adult Education

• Anything Apple – OSX, iOS, iPhone, iPad, MBP, etc. Yes, I’m an Apple fan boy.
• IntelliJ is my only IDE
• Triathlons
• Craft Beer and Napa Cabs!
• Owner of the website Triathloncraft.com
• My Vizslas Woody and Brady (RIP Jake, Sept 2020) 
• Leader of Biking for Brews in St Pete

• Any version of Windows before or after XP.
• Dog farts…
• Eclipse & STS – yuk!
• Liver and Onions.
• Little Cars (Nothing beats a Chevy Truck!)
• Chicago Traffic
• Dallas Cowboys