What essential skills/knowledge would you say are/is required to work as a Rust dev?

I did couple of small/mediumish personal projects in Rust using axum with sea-orm and later tauri with leptos. That’s on top of many years of experience working as a Java/Javascript dev and occasionally touching things like Python or Flutter. Most of things like databases and web stuff is transferable but what strictly Rust concepts are required to work as a Rust dev? In what fields it’s used the most?

  • hallettj@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Hey, you’re on a similar path to me. I’ve been on a Rust job for the past year.

    Being a general-purpose programming language Rust can be used in a lot of contexts. The work I’m doing is all API server stuff, which I’m sure you already have a solid background in. There are some niches where Rust stands out that might be worth studying depending on your interest, but none of these are essential to Rust work generally.

    • Crypto startups seem to be enthusiastic adopters of Rust. It’s not an area I want to get into personally, but this is likely the fastest path to a Rust job.
    • Rust is probably the best language for compiling to WASM for running in browsers, in lightweight server-less functions, and as plugins. That could dovetail with your frontend experience. Although it’s a bit of an uphill battle to argue for WASM over Javascript in these cases.
    • Rust makes an appealing choice for embedded programming as a safer alternative to C. This kind of work involves learning to program with nostd, and learning about controlling hardware.
    • In non-embedded systems low-level pieces like device drivers are another good candidate for Rust.