As a Java developer, we are used to thinking about relational databases and occasionally about document stores. But when working with domain models where relationships are first-class citizens and data is highly connected, graph databases are very valuable to consider. In this talk, we will explore how graph databases can help you model complex domains with highly connected entities more naturally. Examples of such domain models are criminal investigations, recommendation models, family trees, or HR models. Neo4j is a graph database that integrates well in Spring boot applications. Based on my experiences with Neo4j in multiple projects, I’ll walk you through how to model a domain as a graph and introduce you to Neo4j and its query language Cypher. Also, I’ll introduce you to some common pitfalls to avoid when adopting graph databases and what consequences those pitfalls can have. Finally, I’ll show how a re-modelling of a graph saved us from stepping away from Neo4j and helped us understand our domain and its challenges even more. You will walk away with clear knowledge on how and when to start a project with graph databases.

An IT department or team can be inspiring to see at work; passionate engineers working on new ideas, innovating new technologies, and never stopping talking about it. However, this is not the case for each team or department in our industry. It is difficult to create and maintain such an inspiring environment to work in. As a consultant, I work in teams where this is not always the case, yet. This slows down potential projects and innovations. More importantly, people are not enjoying their work as much as they could. In those teams, I always try to turn this around. Make it fun, inspiring, and interesting to work every day. In this talk, I’ll share with you what and how I started motivating teams to share their knowledge, their learnings, and their experiences. I will elaborate on the importance of identifying and mitigating the painful parts of the processes. And what I introduced to make teams proud of their work and accomplishments. You will walk away with inspiration to improve fun and passion in your teams. It will be fun!