I’m about to interview for a Rust developer position in a few days. I’ve been learning Rust for around 3 months and, honestly, I’m feeling a bit low on confidence.
I keep hearing that companies usually hire only senior Rust developers, which makes me doubt myself even more.
I’d love to hear from the community: has anyone started their Rust career as a junior? How did you approach interviews or get that first Rust job? Any advice would be hugely appreciated!
P.S. Slightly nervous that the CEO I’m interviewing with might recognize me from the Rust community
In the end, nothing really different from a “junior” (I don’t like these categories).
The difference is that a “senior” has simply accumulated a lot of mistakes over the course of their career. A “junior” starts with a blank tally stick.
Not many CEOs have a strong development experience in Rust, so Rust knowledge shouldn't be your worry. Be more concerned about your general development skills and soft skills most CEOs are worried about.
the one interviewing me has a strong rust experience as i heard from the HR.
but it won't differ for me, because this is a chance so i prove myself. even that i feel it came early in my rust journey. thank you Mockba.
How did the Interview go ?
I am on the same learning curve but I am unable to find openings related to Rust in India any advice related to Job search would be appreciated.
I think that is the most important thing said here.
It is often said that "One should judge a man by the questions he asks more than the answers he gives".
To that end do some homework. Find out what services they offer or products they make. Do you want to do that? Then you can ask questions about it. Ask about what languages and other tools they use. Ask about their architecture and what problems they are facing.
I have had some wonderful interviews where the project manager and I spend a good long time with our heads actually stuck in the code or their documentation or technical manuals discussing things.
All this curiosity demonstrates enthusiasm and interest on your part and shows to them what kind of level you are at. And allows you to evaluate them. It also eats time that they might otherwise spend asking you questions you can't answer
At the end of the day though I wonder why there is so much emphasis on what particular language experience you have now a days. Back in the day that was just a detail that one was expected to pick up on the job. Pretty much every job or contract I took on used different languages, operating systems etc. More important was your overall competence and experience in software engineering.
With that in mind I recently heard from a large company, sorry I forget who, that was quite successful in getting its large number of Javascript, Python and other developers switched over to Rust. Even if their productivity took a hit for three months or so while doing so.
