It's not just Google: banks are chasing Kotlin developers too

If you can code proficiently in Kotlin then this week has brought you some very good news. - At its 2019 i/o conference, Google said it's going to make Kotlin the preferred language for Android app developers. This can only mean that demand for Kotlin developers is about to rise, a lot.

For neophyte-technologists only just getting to grips with Python or Java, Kotlin is a statically-typed programming language from JetBrains, a software vendor with offices in Eastern Europe and Boston. Kotlin's strength lies in the fact that it's entirely interoperable with Java, whilst also being more concise and more safe. Google's initial espousal of Kotlin in 2017 came as a surprise; its decision two years later to relegate Java to second place seems even more startling.

Investment banks aren't known for being at the front of the curve when it comes to software development. If you spend your career creating Java code in a bank, you might therefore be at risk of falling behind in the Kotlin revolution. 

Kotlin is however, inveigling its way into some areas of the banking world. For example, Citi has Kotlin developers working on a regulatory reporting system and is also looking for Kotlin developers for its equity derivatives platform. JPMorgan is looking for Kotlin programmers to work on its React front-end development library, and Credit Suisse is using Kotlin to help develop its 'Giraffe Risk Platform,' which sits in an equities risk area known as, 'The Zoo.' And Goldman Sachs is looking for Kotlin developers to work on the apps for its Marcus business...

A front-office developer at one U.S. bank (who wishes to remain entirely anonymous) says Kotlin is unquestionably becoming a bigger deal. "We develop in Scala and in Kotlin," he says. "Kotlin is growing and taking market share from Java and actually from Scala as well."

Because Kotlin interacts fully with Java it can be used with anything, says the dev. "It's viewed as a better language than Java. It's like a strongly typed Python in the Java ecosystem," he adds.

This might be why one Goldman vice president, who currently codes in Java and Javascript, says he's learning Kotlin in his spare time.

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