KEEP-42 help kotlin backend devs and kotlin backend companies to find each other

gistfile1.txt

Not a real keep, just writing down the discussions I had at kotlinconf for easier sharing)

## what?
I propose to list on the kotlin website or somewhere visible a list of companies using a non trivial amount of Kotlin on the backend with their geographic location, a TLDR of what they do and a link to their careers webpage

## why?
Kotlin on the backend has a big recruiting issue
It's mostly not a chicken and egg problem. We have seen at kotlinconf with 50% of the people being server side and those people must work somewhere, so the companies also exist. 

Instead  it's a visibility issue. Backend devs and Kotlin devs company have a hard time finding each other.

## why does this matter?

- for devs like me, it makes it harder to have a career as a Kotlin specialist. Instead I market myself as a senior backend developer whose favorite language happens to be Kotlin
- I work at a huge established company (french bank) and those people are risk averse. On Android they use Kotlin because it's perceived as a safe choice, because it's blessed by a central authority, namely Google. On the server side, Java is the safe choice
- they are aware about Kotlin, the deciding factor from their point of view is recruiting. They know that if they need to recruit 42 java devs this semester, it's not an issue. But finding 42 Kotlin backend developers? Good luck with that
- it's the same issue really, it's not even simple to find existing people like me because we don't advertise ourselves primarily as Kotlin backend developers

## why the visibility issue? 

To understand why this is happening, you need to understand that something like LinkedIn is basically like Google, what matters is SEO

Your profile needs to be optimized with the right keywords so that the mind of people you want to attract actually finds you

Android/Kotlin has beautiful SEO keywords :
=> Android Kotlin (KMP) devs

On the server side on the other hand  the SEO keywords are a mess
- "Kotlin dev" is not specific enough, it will bring you tons of android job offers
- "Kotlin backend dev" is too narrow as a nice right now
- "spring dev" is better but it's still mostly Java and you might want to ktor
- "senior backend developer" or something similar is better for job hunting, but that's exactly what also creates the visibility issue


## what about the kotlin server side case studies? 

Those are great  and necessary, but they serve a different purpose than easing the pain of job hunting / developer sourcing

## why would companies be likely to accept to be listed? 

Because it's basically free money, that's why! 
One of the hardest problem of any company doing tech is to attract the right people
Companies pay recruiting agencies typically 20% of the first annual salary to suggest them good developer candidates
If a company looking for a kotlin backend devs at 60.000€ a year ends up hiring a dev via the list I describe, it saves the company 12.000€
If it doesn't work, it costs them nothing 


## how? 

I don't suggest a list of job openings,  if you create a job board, you compete with LinkedIn and it's not a good idea

It doesn't matter if they don't have an opening right now. At kotlinconf I got in touch with the Gradle people. They don't have an opening right now, but when they will, we will already know each other

I simply need a list of Kotlin backend companies so that I know who I can target, find their careers webpage and someone to contact them. Step 1 of the job hunting, only that but right now that's non trivial 

I talked about backend companies but really this applies to any kotlin roles outside of android that are too niche for the mainstream recruiting platforms to work well 

The effort could be jetbrains or community lead, it doesn't matter to me as long as it's visible, because, well, we are trying to solve a visibility issue