Michael Chepurnyak’s Post

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Founder, CEO at Ein-des-Ein.com

Kotlin is more than just Android Berlin-based developer Jean-Michel Fayard recently shared his opinion on Medium about a growing problem: since Kotlin was included in Android Studio, IT recruiters and newbie developers associate the language solely with the mobile platform. While Kotlin indeed plays a significant role in Android development, it is equally adept for other tasks that leverage Java and the JVM. I will be honest with you, this misconception has been observed while collaborating with some EDE clients too, thus, this subject totally  requires a deeper exploration. Kotlin's presence continues to expand within the Android ecosystem, accelerating development. Drawing a comparison with the iOS realm, where Swift has supplanted Objective-C, reveals how Apple and Google advocate for their respective languages. At Google I/O 2019, Kotlin was highlighted as a primary focus for Android development. However, Kotlin's purpose extends beyond Android; it aims to streamline Java and JVM usage across diverse domains. Despite its popularity in Android development, many developers utilize Kotlin for a range of applications. While Android represents a substantial platform, the broader JVM ecosystem offers even more opportunities. The success of Kotlin in mobile development underscores how well the product has met industry needs, following its endorsement by Android leaders like Jake Wharton in 2015. Additionally, Kotlin boasts native frameworks tailored for backend development, such as ktor and http4k. Since 2017, Spring has made significant strides in integrating Kotlin into its products. Leveraging decades of Java expertise, Kotlin excels in traditional Java domains by offering features like coroutines, eliminating the trade-off between clean code and non-blocking operations. In conclusion, there exists a disparity between how Kotlin developers are perceived by recruiters and how they perceive themselves. The versatility of Kotlin extends far beyond what job postings suggest, with approximately half of Kotlin programmers not exclusively focusing on Android development. This mismatch often leads to frustrations among developers who receive job offers primarily in mobile development, despite their diverse skill sets. Transitioning to Kotlin from another language brings a unique perspective and experience, underscoring the language's adaptability and broad applicability. If you have switched to Kotlin after working extensively with another language, I invite you to share your insights in the comments section!

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