148. Lambda and Java with Mark Sailes
From AWS Bites by AWS Bites
September 4, 2025 · 47 min · Season 1 · Episode 149
About this episode
In this episode, Mark Sailes discusses the viability of using Java with AWS Lambda and shares insights on performance tuning and framework comparisons.
What if “Java is too old for serverless” is the myth holding your team back in 2025? We put it to the test with Mark Sailes (ex-AWS, Java-on-Lambda expert). In this AWS Bites episode we get specific: when Java is the right call for Lambda and when it isn’t, how to hit real latency targets, and the exact levers that matter in production—SnapStart, provisioned concurrency, smart JVM/GC settings, and whether GraalVM is worth it. We compare vanilla Java, Micronaut, Quarkus, and Spring Boot for startup and memory, share realistic p95/p99 expectations, and outline fast feedback loops with Testcontainers and LocalStack.If Java on Lambda sounds risky, this might change your mind. Stick around for Mark’s tuning checklist and our verdict on when to bet on Java vs pick another runtime. Big shoutout to fourTheorem for powering yet another episode of AWS Bites. At fourTheorem, we believe the cloud should be simple, scalable, and cost-effective, and we help teams do just that. Whether you’re diving into containers, stepping into event-driven architecture, or scaling a global SaaS platform on AWS, or trying to keep cloud spend under control our team has your back. Visit…
People in this episode
Guest: Mark Sailes
Topics covered
- Java on Lambda
- serverless architecture
- performance tuning
- cloud computing
- application frameworks
Keywords
- Java
- Lambda
- serverless
- performance
- cloud
- Micronaut
- Quarkus
- Spring Boot
- GraalVM
Sponsors
fourTheorem
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: AWS
Products: Java, Lambda, Micronaut, Quarkus, Spring Boot, GraalVM
Places: 2025
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