My Journey With Rust — #1

End Before the Start

If you're reading this, you're probably one of two people: a newbie wondering if Rust is worth learning, or a Rust veteran who just wants to hear someone glaze their favorite language. Either way, welcome.

How I Got Here

Last year I started my CSE degree. I'd touched Python in high school — nothing serious, just basic file read/write. Going into college, I told myself I'd take it slow. Learn what's taught in class, nothing extra. First semester: 9.1 SGPA. It worked, so I kept doing the same thing into second semester.

That's when it started catching up with me.

I might not have been working hard, but everyone around me was. People grinding LeetCode. Others already fluent in Linux. Some casually proficient in ten languages. Comparison is the thief of joy, but I couldn't stop myself from doing it — and I think a lot of new developers will relate to that feeling.

I finished my first year, but by then I'd lost some friendships, watched a relationship fall apart, and my academic performance had gone from solid to mediocre. I'm a competitive person — I don't want to be, but I am — and at that point, I felt like I was failing at everything.

Every other YouTube ad was telling me AI was about to take my job. I was genuinely low. Part of me wondered if I should've picked mechanical engineering when I had the chance. Then my three-month summer break started. Friends went off to internships. I stayed home.

The Turning Point

At some point, I realized the only direction left was up.

So I started researching — what's actually a good path in software engineering right now? How do I make sure AI doesn't take my job? (I asked an AI that question, by the way. Asking my enemy for help.) A few answers came back, one of them being: embedded systems → Rust.

I'd heard the name before but had no real idea what it was.

I went to YouTube and found Let's Get Rusty. His enthusiasm was a bit much at times, but he's genuinely the person who helped Rust click for me. More security — I like that. More speed — I like that too. More difficulty... yeah, I like that as well.

Rust felt like a language built for someone with a bit of a superiority complex. Perfect for me. I downloaded it, "rusted up" my laptop, and got moving.

Learning It My Way

I tried a few YouTube courses first, but stopped pretty quickly. I don't know if you've felt this, but a lot of "how to" videos end up feeling opinionated — not because the creators are wrong, but because I didn't want to think the way they think, use the tools they use, or learn only the functions they consider necessary.

Around the same time, I switched from Windows to Fedora, mostly to keep my laptop focused purely on learning and coding — no distractions. Then I picked up The Rust Programming Book. I was in open water now — free to go anywhere, but also free to get lost.

Full disclosure: I've worked with async, but I still haven't fully finished the traits and behavior sections. Reading documentation only gets you so far — the best way to learn to draw is to draw, and the best way to learn to code is to code.

About That Infamous Borrow Checker

A lot of you were probably waiting for me to get to the borrow checker and start smashing my head on the table. Honestly? I haven't run into that many issues with it. The rules are simple enough that it's made coding easier, not harder.

My actual process looks like this: rough out the bare structure of the code, find errors, clean them up, find more errors, clean those too — repeat a few million times until it finally compiles. It's like hammering metal over and over until you've forged something that actually holds an edge.

Where I'm At Now

I'll probably get into the specifics of my Rust experience in future parts of this series. But compared to the person I was a few months ago, I feel like a completely different one.

I'm not scared of AI taking my job anymore — honestly, I don't think today's AI is close to doing that. I'm constantly learning. Before, I didn't even know what direction my career should take. Now I've got 5–6 solid projects under my belt.

Some people might ask what Rust really has to do with any of this. But I think it had a lot to do with it. I feel better as a person. I feel like I've found a community in Rustaceans, and I'm genuinely enjoying my time in it. A little unhinged sometimes, but surprisingly supportive — and I plan on sticking around.

I didn't even get to say 10% of what I wanted to say here. More next time.