Top 5 Developer Conference YouTube Channels for Java Developers

I've learned more from watching conference talks on YouTube than from most online courses. There's something about watching a framework maintainer explain why they made certain design decisions, or hearing a Netflix engineer describe how they handle 200 million users, that just doesn't translate to written tutorials.

The problem? There are hundreds of conference channels out there, and most of them aren't worth your time if you're focused on Java and the JVM ecosystem. I've curated the five channels I keep coming back to—the ones where I actually finish the videos and walk away having learned something.

1. Devoxx (@DevoxxForever)

👥 Subscribers: 169K | 📺 Videos: 4,302 | 👀 Total Views: 20.1M

Channel URL: https://www.youtube.com/@DevoxxForever

🎯 Why I recommend it: If you want one conference channel for Java, make it this one.

Devoxx Belgium is basically the JavaOne successor that we all needed. You'll find talks from Brian Goetz explaining Project Valhalla, Venkat Subramaniam doing live coding sessions, and deep dives into JVM internals from the engineers who actually work on HotSpot. The production quality is solid, and they're fast about uploading—usually within weeks of the conference.

One thing I appreciate: not only they have short informative sessions to get an idea about the new features, but they also have longer deep-dive sessions where engineers talk about specific problems they've solved. That's where the real learning happens.

2. Spring I/O (@SpringIOConference)

👥 Subscribers: 47.4K | 📺 Videos: 393 | 👀 Total Views: 2.9M

Channel URL: https://www.youtube.com/@SpringIOConference

🎯 Why I recommend it: Straight from the Spring team—no middleman.

If you're building anything with Spring Boot (and let's be honest, most of us are), this channel is essential. These conferences bring in the actual Spring maintainers like Josh Long, Jürgen Höller, the Spring Security team, and they don't just demo features. They explain the why behind design decisions.

I particularly like their Spring Security talks. The official docs are good, but watching someone walk through OAuth2 flows while explaining what can go wrong? That's saved me hours of debugging.

3. GOTO Conferences (@GOTO-)

👥 Subscribers: 1.06M | 📺 Videos: 3,409 | 👀 Total Views: 73.1M

Channel URL: https://www.youtube.com/@GOTO-

🎯 Why I recommend it: Architecture and design talks that make you rethink how you build systems.

GOTO isn't Java-specific, but that's actually a strength. You'll find Martin Fowler discussing refactoring, Sam Newman on microservices, and architects from companies like Spotify and Netflix explaining their systems. The Java content is excellent when it appears, but even the language-agnostic talks on architecture and distributed systems are directly applicable.

Fair warning: some talks are more "inspirational keynote" than "technical deep dive." I tend to skip those. Filter by speaker or topic rather than watching everything.

4. InfoQ (@InfoQ)

👥 Subscribers: 233K | 📺 Videos: 1,781 | 👀 Total Views: 28.0M

Channel URL: https://www.youtube.com/@InfoQ

🎯 Why I recommend it: QCon talks plus interviews with people shaping the industry.

InfoQ curates content from QCon conferences worldwide, and they've got a good nose for what's actually important versus what's just hype. Their Java coverage includes interviews with OpenJDK contributors, JCP discussions, and practical talks on topics like observability and performance tuning.

What sets InfoQ apart is their podcast-style interviews. Sometimes you learn more from a 20-minute conversation with a framework author than from an hour-long conference talk. Their recent series on AI in software development has been surprisingly practical—not just "look at this cool demo" but "here's what actually works in production."

5. AWS Events (@AWSEventsChannel)

👥 Subscribers: 167K | 📺 Videos: 12,604 | 👀 Total Views: 68.9M

Channel URL: https://www.youtube.com/@AWSEventsChannel

🎯 Why I recommend it: If you're deploying Java to AWS, this is required viewing.

Look, I know—it's a vendor channel. But re:Invent sessions on Lambda cold starts with Java, Corretto performance tuning, and EKS deployment patterns are genuinely useful. They bring in customers who run serious Java workloads and have them explain what worked (and what didn't).

The trick with AWS Events is knowing what to skip. Ignore the product announcements and marketing sessions. Search specifically for "Java," "Spring Boot," or "JVM" and you'll find the sessions worth watching. Their talks on reducing Lambda cold start times for Java changed how I architect serverless applications.

---

The Bottom Line

You don't need to watch everything. Pick one or two channels, find speakers whose style works for you, and make conference talks part of your regular learning routine. I usually watch one during lunch a few times a week—it adds up.

For more conference channels covering other languages and technologies, check out Developer Conference Channels on YTubeInfluencers.

---

🔗 Blog 🔗 LinkedIn 🔗 Medium 🔗 Github