How do you develop a highly scalable and secure platform for over 180,000 elementary school children with a small team – and under the strictest data protection requirements? The answer: with modern Java technology, a strong open source ecosystem, and a community that sticks together.

In this case study, Stefan Böhringer (University of Regensburg) and Richard Fichtner (XDEV Software GmbH) provide insights into the BYLES project, Germany's largest digital reading screening program. They show how Quarkus, Jakarta EE, and Keycloak were used to create a robust, maintainable solution – without any reactive overhead, but with pragmatic, understandable Java code.

What you will take away from the talk:

How to set up projects with modern Java securely and scalably – even with a small team.

How Java projects can grow through strong communities (JUGs!) and buddy approaches.

Why standards often scale better than “hype.”

How pragmatic technology decisions solve real problems.

A talk for everyone who has to master real projects – not just on a greenfield site, but in real life.