Introducing Kirk Pepperdine

Kirk Pepperdine has been performance tuning Java applications as an independent consultant for about 20 years. He was named a Java Champion in 2006, has been a JavaOne Rockstar numerous times, and can be found at Java User Groups (JUGs) and conferences worldwide. The author of the original Java performance tuning workshop, Kirk continues to be an ardent supporter of the Java community as the cofounder of JCrete, a Java unconference, and helps to establish other unconferences across the globe. Find Kirk on Twitter: @javaperftuning.

Geertjan Wielenga: Being a developer advocate is all about promoting tech; would you agree?

Kirk Pepperdine: I think we're all about promoting ourselves, but you can't really do that directly. So, you have to promote tech. As a side effect, you get promotion.

What I think happens is that people go to promote a certain tech, for one reason or another, and then they end up being the person that people go to when they have a question. Then they tell their friends about it and it goes from there. If you're helpful, then I think people tend to seek you out and if you're not, then you're less successful advocating the tech that you're trying to advocate!

Geertjan Wielenga: What kind of personality traits make one suited to this role?