Chris Hermansen: Don't be Afraid to Create

Chris Hermansen: Don't be Afraid to Create

From Duke's Corner by Jim Grisanzio

December 16, 2025 · 59 min

About this episode

Jim Grisanzio talks with Chris Hermansen about his journey in Java development and the importance of creativity in technology.

Chris Hermansen: Don't be Afraid to Create Summary Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Chris Hermansen, a Java developer, consultant, and data analyst from Canada. Chris discovered Java in the 1990s and was drawn to its free accessibility and object-oriented design. He particularly appreciated Java's straightforward single inheritance model over C++'s complexity. But Chris's path to technology came through mathematics rather than computer science. He identifies streams as Java's most transformative feature for data analysis work and praises how it improved code readability and maintainability. On consulting, Chris cautions against Silicon Valley mantras like "fail often" when applied outside prototyping contexts, and he observes cultural differences in how engineers approach problem-solving with some preferring abstract discussion while others focusing on concrete data. Chris emphasizes that technology work remains fundamentally human and stresses the importance of listening, maintaining humanity in professional life, and avoiding corporate stereotypes. For students, he notes the differences between learning with modern IDEs versus the command line tools of his…

People in this episode

Host: Jim Grisanzio

Guest: Chris Hermansen

Topics covered

  • Java development
  • data analysis
  • consulting
  • technology education
  • creativity in technology

Keywords

  • Java
  • data analysis
  • consulting
  • technology
  • creativity
  • programming education
  • IDE
  • command line

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Java Developer Relations

Places: Canada

More episodes of Duke's Corner

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Duke's Corner podcast page.