Kotlin null pointer when checking for null state

I have a codeblock with a simple null check that causes an exception

kotlin.UninitializedPropertyAccessException: lateinit property currentJob has not been initialized at com.plcoding.posterpalfeature.ui.MainViewModel.getCurrentJob(MainViewModel.kt:40) at com.plcoding.posterpalfeature.ui.MainViewModel.getJobsListFromApi(MainViewModel.kt:284)

I've tried this -->

 with(currentJob){
            if (this == null) {
                currentJob = jobsDataList.get(0) //maybe replace with accepted jobs depending on how details is implemented
            }
            else {
                //update the current job using job id to get fresh object
                currentJob = jobsDataList.filter {
                    it.job.job_id == currentJob.job.job_id
                }.get(0)
            }//should only ever be single object
        }

this

if (currentJob == null) {
                currentJob = jobsDataList.get(0) //maybe replace with accepted jobs depending on how details is implemented
            }
            else {
                //update the current job using job id to get fresh object
                currentJob = jobsDataList.filter {
                    it.job.job_id == currentJob.job.job_id
                }.get(0)
            }

and a when statement and they all throw the same exception

here is my variable

lateinit var currentJob: JobPW

Any ideas? This is really weird. I'm thinking of raising a bug report but I'm not sure where to do it.

You need set value for lateinit var variable before use it.

To check variable is inited or not, you can check it with:

this::currentJob.isInitialized