diff --git a/compute/sendgrid/README.md b/compute/sendgrid/README.md
index 7a9c16aa53c..ed66c5bf7c5 100644
--- a/compute/sendgrid/README.md
+++ b/compute/sendgrid/README.md
@@ -20,17 +20,13 @@ To run the sample, you will need to do the following:
 1. Create a compute instance on the Google Cloud Platform Developer's Console
 1. SSH into the instance you created
 1. Update packages and install required packages
-    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install git-core openjdk-8-jdk maven
+    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install git-core openjdk-7-jdk maven
 1. Clone the repo
     git clone https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/java-docs-samples.git
 1. Configure your SendGrid settings in the java class (SENDGRID_API_KEY, SENDGRID_SENDER, TO_EMAIL)
     java-docs-samples/compute/sendgrid/src/main/java/com/example/compute/sendgrid/SendEmailServlet.java
 1. Navigate back to ./sendgrid and use maven to package the class as a jar
     mvn clean package
-1. Switch to the target directory with the jar file and enable execution on that file
-    chmod +x compute-sendgrid-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar
-1. Make sure that openjdk 8 is the selected java version
-    sudo update-alternatives --config java
-1. Execute the jar file and send an email (make sure you are in the target folder)
+1. Navigate to the target/ dir and execute the jar file and send an email (make sure you are in the target folder)
     java -jar compute-sendgrid-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar
 
diff --git a/compute/sendgrid/pom.xml b/compute/sendgrid/pom.xml
index 7c36e821d0a..4cfba30adbc 100644
--- a/compute/sendgrid/pom.xml
+++ b/compute/sendgrid/pom.xml
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
         <version>3.3</version>
         <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
         <configuration>
-          <source>1.8</source>
-          <target>1.8</target>
+          <source>1.7</source>
+          <target>1.7</target>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>