Kotlin Developer – Responsibilities, Skills, Scope And More

62.9% of developers who are developing with Kotlin have expressed interest in continuing to develop with it

Source: stackoverflow.com

Kotlin’s increasing popularity for Android app development made people think it will soon replace Java for Android development. Kotlin, a modern-day, pragmatic, and cross-platform language are well-accepted and well-loved by the android developers community.

Since Google announced that the Kotlin programming language is now its preferred language for Android, many developers have moved to Kotlin for developing android applications. As a result, new job titles of Kotlin developers and Kotlin Android developers have emerged. This post tries to explain the roles and responsibilities of Kotlin developers along with salary, scope, required skills, and interview questions.

Let’s take a look at who exactly is a Kotlin developer and how the demand for Kotlin developers is surging in popularity.

What Is Kotlin?

Kotlin is a cross-platform, modern, concise, and general-purpose programming language designed to fully interoperate with Java. It is focused on safety, interoperability, great tooling support, and clarity.

It is developed and maintained by JetBrains, a leading software development company making great IDEs for popular programming languages.

Why Kotlin For Android Development?

Google’s official support for Kotlin made this question more obvious. Android development has become Kotlin-first since Google I/O in 2019. This is because Kotlin is considered better than Java in many cases. It is expressive, type-safe, and null-safe. While it is not true that Kotlin is a replacement for Java but it works with the Java language flawlessly, making it easy for the developers to leverage Kotlin libraries and Java at the same time. Since it is 100% interoperable with Java, developers can use this as little or as much of Kotlin language as they want.

Good Read: Kotlin 1.4.20 Released With Interesting And Advanced Features

Key Advantages Of Kotlin:

• Secure and concise code
• Interoperability with Java
• Easy debugging
• Modern, faster, and safe
• Compiler efficient
• Easier to maintain
• Boosts developer productivity
• Supports multi-platform development
• Less and clear code

Kotlin is used by over 60% of professional Android developers to improve productivity, developer satisfaction, and performance.

Source: developer.android.com

Who Is A Kotlin Developer?

Kotlin Developer, popularly known as Kotlin Android developer is a professional having android development skills using Kotlin language. Usually, they are Android developers having the ability to build android applications with Kotlin.

Kotlin Android Developers Roles And Responsibilities:

The roles and responsibilities of Kotlin developers are similar to the roles and responsibilities of Android developers except having good knowledge of Kotlin.

Note: Kotlin Android Developers must have a solid knowledge of Java as Kotlin is 100% interoperable with Java and as a developer, you would require knowledge of Java at some level to develop android applications.

• Designing and developing modern, secure, and feature-rich android applications using Kotlin from scratch
• Understand requirements and translate designs and wireframes into code
• Identify and fix bugs to improve performance
• Coordinating with the design and test teams to create apps with high performance
• Work with APIs and data sources as per the requirements
• Help maintain code quality, reusability, and continuous code evaluation
• Discover and implement new technologies to improve the developer experience
• Unit-testing of code to ensure bug-free, reliable, and best user experience
• Collaborate with the team members to plan, develop, and ship new features
• Implement security measures in line with overall security objectives
• Plan, develop, build, and release end-to-end Android mobile app using Kotlin

The primary focus of android Kotlin developers is to create android apps with robust backend integration. They are responsible for creating and maintaining android apps right from requirements to release and continue product development.

What Skills Do You Need To Become A Kotlin Android Developer: What You Will Need To Become Kotlin Developer?

Here is the list of required skills to become an Android Kotlin developer:

• Relevant experience in Android app development
• Proficiency in Java and Kotlin (must) languages to write clear, readable, and maintainable code
• Experience in Android SDK and Android Studio
• Hands-on experience in mobile app architecture, flow, design, implementation, and release
• Must be familiar with agile development concepts and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience in building end-to-end android mobile apps from design, development, and deployments to app stores
• Sound understanding of app lifecycle, architecture principles, and design fundamentals
• Problem-solving mindset, analytical abilities, strong technical and communication skills
• Excellent debugging skills and knowledge of quality check processes
• Familiar with RESTful APIs and XML to connect the app with backend services
• Knowledge of the latest mobile app trends, architectures, and emerging technologies
• Knowledge of state management to simplify user interaction
• Familiar with Agile and DevOps methodologies
• Understanding of version control systems and tools, e.g., GitHub
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills – verbal and written
• Great time-management skills and capable to work independently
• Critical thinker, analyzer, and curious professional to build great Android products

The above list includes non-technical, technical, and general skills that are a must-have to start your android developer career.

So, now you know what skills you should have and what responsibilities you have, let’s move to the salary part.

Kotlin Developer Salary: How Much Does A Kotlin Android Developer Make?

We all know that the more years of experience, the higher you will get. The salary of Kotlin developers depends on many factors such as expertise level, country, and skills.

According to PayScale, the average salary of a software developer with Kotlin programming language skills is ₹720,000 yearly.

According to Talent.com, entry-level Kotlin developer positions start at ₹380,000 per year. The average Kotlin Developer salary in India is ₹900,000 per year based on 180 salaries reported.

According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual pay for a Kotlin Developer in the United States is $127,541 year.

The majority of Kotlin developer salaries currently range between $113,000 to $147,000 with top earners making $158,000 annually across the US.

Source: ziprecruiter.com

The average Kotlin Android developer salary in the United Kingdom is £60,464 per year. For an entry-level professional, it can be around £40,000 per year while experienced workers can earn up to £85,000 per year.

Source: uk.talent.com

Kotlin has become one of the top programming languages with the fastest-growing communities across the world. Android developers can easily switch to Kotlin with a little learning curve. Here are some of the best resources to learn Kotlin.

Best Resources To Learn Kotlin:

• The Kotlin Website

This official website is a great start to learn the Kotlin language with its detailed and comprehensive documentation along with step-by-step tutorials.

• Keddit

Keddit is an 11-part series by Juan Ignacio Saravia to explain Kotlin and its features while developing an Android app.

• Video Tutorial By Peter Sommerhoff

This step-by-step tutorial is great for beginners. Peter Sommerhoff created an excellent free Kotlin course covering a wide range of topics.

• Antonio Leiva’s Blog

Antonio Leiva is an official Kotlin certified trainer by JetBrains and his books are recommended by both Google and JetBrains to learn Kotlin.

• Awesome Kotlin

This contains a curated list of awesome links, videos, libraries, documents, and frameworks. It is well-organized and useful to Kotlin developers.

Also, Google I/O and developers talk on Kotlin cover advanced topics to keep developers updated. A number of companies are hiring Kotlin developers. Let’s have a look at interview questions that are asked in the Kotlin developer interview.

Kotlin Interview Questions:

• What is Kotlin?
• Why should you use Kotlin?
• Who is the developer of Kotlin?
• Why should you switch to Kotlin from Java?
• Most important benefits of Kotlin
• What is the difference between variable declaration with var and val?
• What is the use of extension functions?
• Explain ‘null safety’ in Kotlin.
• How Kotlin is interoperable with Java?
• How many constructors are available in Kotlin?
• What is Elvis operator in Kotlin?
• Is there any Ternary operator in Kotlin like Java?
• How to declare a variable in Kotlin
• Can you tell us what kind of programming types does Kotlin support?
• How to convert a Kotlin source file to a Java source file?
• Can we use primitive types in Kotlin? If yes, how?
• What are some features that exist in Kotlin but not in Java?
• What is data class in Kotlin?
• What is String Interpolation in Kotlin?
• What is the default behavior of Kotlin classes?
• When to use the lateinit keyword in Kotlin?
• Can we migrate java code to Kotlin?
• What is there to handle null exceptions in Kotlin?
• How to create Singleton classes?
• What are some disadvantages of Kotlin?

After going through this complete Kotlin developer guide, you might ask what the future is for Kotlin developers. Let’s discuss.

What Is The Scope For Kotlin Developers? Is Kotlin The Future Of Android App Development?

Kotlin is open-source, modern, and fully compatible with Java. Google becomes Kotlin-oriented for android app development and that has made all the difference in the growth of Kotlin. After Google has declared Kotlin a preferred language, the growth of this language has skyrocketed. In addition to that, it has a strong community that consistently making efforts to make it one of the top programming languages.

Good Read: Top Examples Of Popular Apps Built With Kotlin

Google, Trello, FourSquare, Netflix, Pinterest are some of the well-known companies using Kotlin. Kotlin certainly has a bright future and it is being said the future of Android programming. If you become a Kotlin developer, you will boost your career along with work satisfaction and monetary reward.

Frequently Asked Questions Related Kotlin:

• Should I learn Kotlin or Java for android development?

Many companies prefer the Kotlin language but knowledge of Java language helps you broaden your horizon for android development.

• Can I use Kotlin for web development?

You can use Kotlin in place of JavaScript as a web language in front-end development.

• Who developed Kotlin?

JetBrains developed Kotlin and then open-sourced it.

• Is Kotlin good for game development?

Yes, Kotlin is good for game development with the libGDX framework and good IDE support.

• Can I learn Kotlin without knowing Java?

Knowledge of Java is not a must to learn Kotlin but fundamentals of OOP and Java will help you learn it faster.

• Does Kotlin run on JVM?

Yes, Kotlin targets JVM, Android, JavaScript, and Native. It does run on JVM.