Question about Kotlin from an ex-Java developer

Today I tried using Java (specifically EE or Jakarta or whatever it’s called these days) after a few years of developing in another language.

I was just trying to do what I thought was a simple web API project but I had some issues with the versions of different maven libraries not being compatible. I was remembering how much configuration can be a nightmare in the Java world, and now I am questioning about using Java for this project… I know I can get it running and it’ll be good to go once it’s all set up but… I just don’t feel like dealing with what I consider to be excessive.

But Kotlin might be what I’m looking for assuming it has less config issues? Is there less noodling around in xml files and making sure maven dependencies work together? I’m talking about for creating restful web services and such.

Thanks