I wrote this myself, in my own words, because I wanted it to actually mean something. So if you have a few minutes, I’d appreciate you taking your time with it.

Context

I’ve spent a good chunk of my career in fullstack. React, on the frontend, Node and Java on the backend, the occasional devops rabbit hole. It’s rewarding work, and I’m genuinely grateful for it. I don’t take lightly the position I’m in. Not everyone gets the opportunity to build things for a living, and I thank God for that every day.

But gratitude doesn’t mean staying still. Over time, I started noticing a gap, not in my output, but in my understanding. I was spending more energy stitching frameworks together than actually knowing how things work underneath. Fullstack development is, by nature, an exercise in abstraction.

Part of what made that harder to sit with is the CS degree I never got. I came up a different way, and there are entire subjects like computer architecture, operating systems, compilers, that I never formally studied. I used to brush that off. Lately, I can’t. The fundamentals matter, and I’ve been learning that the hard way.

But here’s the thing, I can either keep dwelling on what I didn’t do, or I can start. And if not now, then when? That question is what pushed me to look for a new direction one that would force me to go deeper, not just ship faster. That’s when I found Rust.

What Drew Me to Rust

Honestly? It all started with YouTube.

I stumbled across ThePrimeagen when he was always talking about Rust, and Jon Gjengset, Bogdan (Let’s Get Rusty), and Orhun Parmaksız who talks about Rust with a level of depth and enthusiasm. They were genuinely engaged with the craft of writing good software, and Rust kept coming up as the tool for that.

Then there’s Coding Jesus, a different kind of influence, but an important one. Even though, his focus is on C++ but what I got from him is more about the mindset of constantly pushing yourself to get better and not being comfortable with “good enough”. That stuck with me. It made me ask whether I was actually growing or just getting faster at the same things.

That combination. Seeing people I respected excited about Rust, and being pushed to take my craft more seriously, is what made me actually try it.

What This Looks Like Going Forward

I’m not flipping a switch overnight. This is a gradual, deliberate shift building projects in Rust alongside existing work, and taking on problems that push me toward systems-level thinking.

The goal isn’t to become a different kind of developer. It’s to become a better one.

If you’re on a similar path, or if you’ve made the jump already. I’d genuinely love to hear about it.