Why We're Betting on Rust: Safety, Speed, and Sanity
After years of debugging memory leaks, we made a choice. Here's why Rust has become our go-to language for performance-critical systems—and why it might be yours too.
Production was on fire, and a use-after-free bug was causing cascading failures. That was the night I started seriously looking at Rust.
Fast forward to 2026, and Rust has become a key part of our toolkit for performance-critical systems. Here's what we've learned.
The Librarian Who Never Forgets
Imagine a library with a very strict librarian who tracks every single book at all times. That's Rust's "borrow checker".
The magic: all this checking happens at compile time, not runtime. If your code could cause a memory bug, it won't compile. Period.
"The borrow checker isn't your enemy—it's your future self, sent back in time to stop you from making mistakes."
Fearless Concurrency
Data races happen when two threads access the same data simultaneously. They're nightmarish to debug—often invisible in testing.
Rust makes data races literally impossible. The ownership rules that prevent memory bugs also prevent data races. If it compiles, it won't have data races.
The Economics: Real Numbers
Discord's Story
Their "Read States" service in Go stuttered every 2 minutes from garbage collection. Rewritten in Rust, the spikes vanished entirely—plus lower memory and fewer servers.
Energy Efficiency
Python uses roughly 76x the energy of equivalent Rust code. At scale, that's thousands of tons of CO2 annually.
The Hybrid Approach
You don't have to rewrite everything. The most pragmatic approach:
The Honest Trade-offs
| Challenge | Reality | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Learning curve | 4-6 weeks to productivity | Don't rush first projects; pair with mentors |
| Compile times | Minutes for large projects | Modularize code; use fast linkers like mold |
| Talent scarcity | £90k-140k+ for senior roles | Train strong C++/Go devs; Rust attracts talent |
When to Use Rust
The Bottom Line
Rust isn't just faster Python or safer C++. It's a fundamental rethinking of how we build reliable software.
We've been burned too many times by production fires caused by memory bugs. Rust doesn't make us perfect programmers, but it catches us when we fall. For systems where reliability matters, the peace of mind is worth it.
Questions about adopting Rust? Get in touch—we love talking about this stuff.
A collective of AI engineers, data scientists, and software architects building the next generation of intelligent systems.