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The author complains there are few developers available to maintain Rust code. I see very few job postings, and almost all of them are either cryptocurrencies

The author complains there are few developers available to maintain Rust code. I see very few job postings, and almost all of them are either cryptocurrencies (I don't want to waste my life on this), or "3 years professional Rust development in production" (disqualifies self-learners). Given that nowadays most applications are not replied, it makes little sense to spend time even browsing the postings.

EasyMark 2y ago
I see postings occasionally for FAANG and Microsoft jobs, and very randomly and rarely from small shops.
rapsey 2y ago
There really is a strange dichotomy. Plenty of Rust developers have trouble finding jobs and apparently companies have trouble finding Rust developers.
- pytness 2y ago
  For being a relatively new language, there are almost no "entry level" positions. Just take a look at https://rustjobs.dev/ https://rustjobs.dev/. Most of them are well paid remote jobs, but they are asking for +3 years of "professional experience" with rust, "with a proven track record of building and deploying production-quality code", and more. Hell, iirc, i saw one asking for proof of contributions to the rust repo (eg, being a core maintainer). edit: to be fair, i saw one position a while ago asking to be willing to learn rust
  - FridgeSeal 2y ago
    > For being a relatively new language, there are almost no "entry level" positions. Isn’t this a fairly well-known phenomenon though? - new language makes waves. The people who picked it up early do some impressive stuff. - early early adopter companies either snap them, or internally make the choice to learn it too. In turn, they do some stuff with it. - gets a reputation for being the hot new thing. Other companies “want in on it”- they want to be able to do the fancy cool things the other places did, but they don’t have the patience, time or culture to grow it themselves so they aim to hire out seniors and everyone with lots of prior experience. <——- many orgs are here. - proliferates enough that it’s well and truly mainstream. Also known as the “hire 1000 Java devs and throw bodies at stuff” stage of hiring and availability. Python, Node, Java, PHP, etc are here.
  - IshKebab 2y ago
    Yeah though bear in mind most job requirements are really job desirables. No skilled jobs say "0 years experience, no track record required". Asking for proof of contribution to the Rust repo is insane though.
- yawpitch 2y ago
  This sounds like a matchmaking problem that could probably be solved by a competent Python developer, if we can find one.
- Seattle3503 2y ago
  As someone who has been searching for a Rust job lately, few rust roles are only Rust. Many are Rust + another niche domain. - Must have 5 years of Rust and 8 years of embedded experince or - Must have 5 years of Rust snd 10 years of writing SQL engines. or - Must have 2 years Rust experience and 5 years with Linux kernel development. etc... If you are looking to hire someone with specific domain experience, it makes more sense to compromise on the Rust language side of things. A developer can learn Rust on the job, but it is harder to learn to write a production SQL engine on the job. But that means you aren't hiring Rust devs. Developers who just specialize in Rust are behind their peers who are domain experts when it comes to looking for a job. IMO that means Rust will "win" not when a bunch of undifferentiated developers learn Rust, but when the domain experts learn Rust. e.g. Kernel maintainers.
- netdevnet 2y ago
  Salary and job conditions. Companies want low salary and worse conditions. Candidates want the opposite. An equilibrium is not necessarily reached
nicoburns 2y ago
> 3 years professional Rust development in production" (disqualifies self-learners). It doesn't necessarily. Very few jobs postings that require "N years of experience in language A" actually require that. Most will accept N years of total experience and some smaller amount of experience (not necessarily professional) in language A.
- _proofs 2y ago
  this is the ideal but does not appear to really be the practice -- regardless of whether you're applying direct or not.
- rty32 2y ago
  Chances are that recruiters just ignore your resume without even thinking about it. Especially if there are other candidates who do have that much experience in a specific language. Even if you are a better candidate overall (whatever that means), you need to pass the resume screening first.
  - nicoburns 2y ago
    > Chances are that recruiters just ignore your resume without even thinking about it. That's why should always try to avoid recruiters and apply direct if possible! > Especially if there are other candidates who do have that much experience in a specific language. True. But the context of this discussion is that there are not very many candidates with the (nominally) required experience (i.e. several years of professional Rust experience). And that's often the case as job specs often have unreasonable requirements.
DecoySalamander 2y ago
Solvable by launching your own startup, using rust and running it for 3 years.

EasyMark 2y ago

I see postings occasionally for FAANG and Microsoft jobs, and very randomly and rarely from small shops.

rapsey 2y ago

There really is a strange dichotomy. Plenty of Rust developers have trouble finding jobs and apparently companies have trouble finding Rust developers.

pytness 2y ago
For being a relatively new language, there are almost no "entry level" positions. Just take a look at https://rustjobs.dev/ https://rustjobs.dev/. Most of them are well paid remote jobs, but they are asking for +3 years of "professional experience" with rust, "with a proven track record of building and deploying production-quality code", and more. Hell, iirc, i saw one asking for proof of contributions to the rust repo (eg, being a core maintainer). edit: to be fair, i saw one position a while ago asking to be willing to learn rust
- FridgeSeal 2y ago
  > For being a relatively new language, there are almost no "entry level" positions. Isn’t this a fairly well-known phenomenon though? - new language makes waves. The people who picked it up early do some impressive stuff. - early early adopter companies either snap them, or internally make the choice to learn it too. In turn, they do some stuff with it. - gets a reputation for being the hot new thing. Other companies “want in on it”- they want to be able to do the fancy cool things the other places did, but they don’t have the patience, time or culture to grow it themselves so they aim to hire out seniors and everyone with lots of prior experience. <——- many orgs are here. - proliferates enough that it’s well and truly mainstream. Also known as the “hire 1000 Java devs and throw bodies at stuff” stage of hiring and availability. Python, Node, Java, PHP, etc are here.
- IshKebab 2y ago
  Yeah though bear in mind most job requirements are really job desirables. No skilled jobs say "0 years experience, no track record required". Asking for proof of contribution to the Rust repo is insane though.
yawpitch 2y ago
This sounds like a matchmaking problem that could probably be solved by a competent Python developer, if we can find one.
Seattle3503 2y ago
As someone who has been searching for a Rust job lately, few rust roles are only Rust. Many are Rust + another niche domain. - Must have 5 years of Rust and 8 years of embedded experince or - Must have 5 years of Rust snd 10 years of writing SQL engines. or - Must have 2 years Rust experience and 5 years with Linux kernel development. etc... If you are looking to hire someone with specific domain experience, it makes more sense to compromise on the Rust language side of things. A developer can learn Rust on the job, but it is harder to learn to write a production SQL engine on the job. But that means you aren't hiring Rust devs. Developers who just specialize in Rust are behind their peers who are domain experts when it comes to looking for a job. IMO that means Rust will "win" not when a bunch of undifferentiated developers learn Rust, but when the domain experts learn Rust. e.g. Kernel maintainers.
netdevnet 2y ago
Salary and job conditions. Companies want low salary and worse conditions. Candidates want the opposite. An equilibrium is not necessarily reached

nicoburns 2y ago

> 3 years professional Rust development in production" (disqualifies self-learners). It doesn't necessarily. Very few jobs postings that require "N years of experience in language A" actually require that. Most will accept N years of total experience and some smaller amount of experience (not necessarily professional) in language A.

_proofs 2y ago
this is the ideal but does not appear to really be the practice -- regardless of whether you're applying direct or not.
rty32 2y ago
Chances are that recruiters just ignore your resume without even thinking about it. Especially if there are other candidates who do have that much experience in a specific language. Even if you are a better candidate overall (whatever that means), you need to pass the resume screening first.
- nicoburns 2y ago
  > Chances are that recruiters just ignore your resume without even thinking about it. That's why should always try to avoid recruiters and apply direct if possible! > Especially if there are other candidates who do have that much experience in a specific language. True. But the context of this discussion is that there are not very many candidates with the (nominally) required experience (i.e. several years of professional Rust experience). And that's often the case as job specs often have unreasonable requirements.

DecoySalamander 2y ago

Solvable by launching your own startup, using rust and running it for 3 years.