Kodee’s Kotlin Roundup: Golden Kodee Finalists, Kotlin 2.4.0-Beta2, and New Learning Resources

Hi everyone! April brought exciting community news with the announcement of the Golden Kodee finalists, along with Kotlin and tooling releases, multiplatform progress, and fresh backend resources. I also came across the new Kotlin Professional Certificate on LinkedIn Learning, which is a great way to build your skills. And if you want something more playful, I found a fun way to practice coroutines. Here are the stories that stood out to me most.

Kodee-Approved Spotlight

KotlinConf 2026 is almost here

KotlinConf 2026 is just around the corner, and the excitement is definitely building. On May 20–22, more than 2,000 Kotlin developers from around the world will gather in Munich to share ideas, learn from each other, and connect. If you cannot make it in person, you can still join online – the conference will be livestreamed on the Kotlin YouTube channel. I’ll be there in Munich, but I definitely recommend tuning in to catch the key announcements and talks as they happen.

Join KotlinConf

Golden Kodee finalists

The Golden Kodee finalists have been announced! The top three nominees in each category will be invited to KotlinConf in Munich, where one winner in each category will receive a Golden Kodee award. It is a great way to celebrate people who share knowledge, organize events, inspire others, and help grow the Kotlin community.

Meet the finalists

Kotlin release updates

April brought two Kotlin release updates. Kotlin 2.4.0-Beta2 offers an early look at what’s coming next across the language, the standard library, the JVM, Kotlin/Native, and the compiler. Kotlin 2.3.21 focuses on performance improvements and bug fixes for the 2.3 release.

See what’s new in Kotlin 2.4.0-Beta2

IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1

IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1 brings improvements that many Kotlin developers will notice in their daily work. From general performance enhancements to better language and framework support, this release is a strong ecosystem update and an important part of the Kotlin developer experience.

Explore the release

Helping Decision-Makers Say Yes to Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP)

Adopting Kotlin Multiplatform is easier when the business value is clear. I found this guest post from Touchlab useful because it explains how KMP can improve delivery speed, reduce risk, and support long-term product strategy.

Read the post

KotlinConf’26 Speakers: In Conversation With Lena Reinhard

Ahead of KotlinConf’26, I found this interview with Lena Reinhard interesting because it explores what it means to build a career in tech today, especially when old promises no longer feel certain. It covers leadership, uncertainty, the productivity debate in the age of AI, and the human side of our industry.

Read the interview

Kotlin Professional Certificate by JetBrains on LinkedIn Learning

Looking to build your Kotlin skills? The Kotlin Professional Certificate by JetBrains is now available on LinkedIn Learning. In less than 12 hours, you can go through four courses, pass the final exam, and earn a certificate you can share on your LinkedIn profile.

Start learning

Koog updates for the JVM ecosystem

Koog had a busy month, and I found these two updates useful for JVM developers. First, Koog now offers an idiomatic Java API, making it easier for Java teams to build agent workflows. Second, Koog integrates with Spring AI, helping Kotlin and Spring-based projects use Koog in a familiar setup.

Explore Koog’s Java API

Kotlin + WebAssembly: `wasi:http` sample

I like this sample because it shows how to run a minimal HTTP server with Kotlin and WebAssembly using `wasi:http`. It highlights practical progress in Kotlin’s WebAssembly story and future backend possibilities.

See the sample

Amper 0.10.0

Amper keeps evolving quickly, and this update brings several useful improvements. Version 0.10.0 introduces automatic JDK provisioning, a Maven-to-Amper converter, support for custom Kotlin compiler plugins, and an improved IDE experience.

See what’s new in Amper 0.10.0

Spring Data JPA with Kotlin

I found this practical post worthwhile because it shows how Spring Data JPA works with Kotlin across entities, repositories, custom queries, and DTOs. It is useful for teams already using Spring.

Read the post

Spring guide: Uploading Files

This guide is helpful if you want to compare Kotlin and Java side by side. It makes it easier to see how Kotlin fits into existing backend workflows.

View the guide

Coroutines Guesser Game

Created by kt.academy, Coroutines Races Guesser Game offers an interactive approach to learning coroutine behavior by predicting what happens and when. It is a fun way to test your intuition.

Play the game

Where you can learn more

• Workshops – KotlinConf 2026, May 20–22, Munich
• Introducing the Skill Manager and Skill Repository
• Give AI Something Worth Amplifying: Three Priorities for Technical Leaders
• Using ACP + Deep Agents to Demystify Modern Software Engineering
• Prototype LLM calls on the JVM using Kotlin Notebook and LangChain4j in IntelliJ IDEA
• Next-Level Observability with OpenTelemetry
• Exposed now supports array types out of the box for PostgreSQL
• Using Spring Data JDBC With Kotlin
• Ktor 3.4.3 has been released
• Dokka 2.2.0 is out

YouTube highlights

• How KMP Helped a 378-Year-Old Company
• How Uber Uses AI to Move from Java to Kotlin
• Exposed 1.0 and Beyond | Talking Kotlin
• Best KMP libraries with Klibs.io