Jon's Miscellany

Also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_zp82fYrGw.

Questions and answers session from January, 2026.

Timestamps

[@0:00:00] Introduction
[@0:01:44] Marriage and kids plans
[@0:03:26] Have you tried Helix editor?
[@0:06:10] Interview questions for Rust developers
[@0:13:19] How did you and your girlfriend meet?
[@0:15:31] Claude Code usage at Helsing
[@0:22:29] Thoughts on Mojo
[@0:26:47] Learning Rust to get a 100k job
[@0:34:40] Writing a new version of your book
[@0:41:47] How do Rust developers get girls?
[@0:45:50] Application-wide error handling patterns
[@0:54:03] Getting a Rust job as a graduate
[@0:54:38] Recommended Rust streamers
[@0:57:42] Advice for early career
[@0:57:55] Interesting companies to work at
[@1:14:11] Will AI widen or narrow the expert-novice gap?
[@1:25:27] One billion row challenge: is Java really the winner?
[@1:28:16] Are you WASM yet?
[@1:28:36] Crust of Rust on self-borrowing and Ouroboros
[@1:30:41] NixOS and its effect on your workflow
[@1:35:02] Interview approach for assessing candidates with LLMs
[@1:39:49] Breaking changes worth making in Rust
[@1:47:47] Improving as an intermediate Rust developer
[@2:02:54] Testing critical software (flight systems)
[@2:09:33] Generalist vs specialist
[@2:13:05] Why care about high salary in Norway?
[@2:16:49] Prep for Impl Rust videos
[@2:18:58] Job security with the rise of AI
[@2:27:20] Rust 4 Linux
[@2:29:45] Quick-fire answers

In the quick-fire round, we covered measuring growth as engineer,
thoughts on Zig, Rust job market for juniors, the Rust community, how
2025 was, the next-gen trait solver, tech to learn in 2026, ML and Rust,
monorepos and CI, missing Rust features, Dioxus, reflection in Rust, Zig
leaving GitHub, and favorite CS books.

Also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw88-0ofBs0.

Questions and answers session from January, 2025.

Timestamps

[@0:00:00] Introduction
[@0:02:42] What’s your stand on “the AI stuff”?
[@0:06:51] Have you had to do a “LeetCode” interview?
[@0:09:52] How can I actually finish projects I start?
[@0:12:53] What is your opinion about nix and NixOS?
[@0:16:48] How do you view the Zig programming language?
[@0:19:18] Will you do any more CodeCrafters streams?
[@0:21:18] will you do any more from-scratch building videos?
[@0:21:57] Do you use a debugger like GDB?
[@0:24:40] Will you decrust rayon?
[@0:26:11] Can you tell us more about ReadySet?
[@0:30:28] Who’s been instrumental in your programming journey?
[@0:34:08] What do you think about Amazon’s recent RTO-mandates?
[@0:39:31] How do you navigate a large codebase?
[@0:45:23] How do I learn to write performant code in Rust?
[@0:49:35] Can we ever be truly free from libc?
[@0:52:15] How did you learn to speak so “carefully”?
[@0:58:32] Do you have any favourite Rust or programming blogs?
[@1:03:23] I’m learning Rust but am struggling to follow your book/videos
[@1:07:48] Should rustc move away from C++ written LLVM?
[@1:11:41] What are your thoughts on the state of IPv6?
[@1:13:30] Are you interested in formal verification?
[@1:25:16] If you could study CS again, what would you do differently?
[@1:29:50] As a Principal Engineer, do you escape the PM aspects?
[@1:34:16] Do you have ethical concerns about working in the military industry?
[@1:44:03] Can you provide more technical details around what you’ve worked on?
[@1:49:30] Thoughts on the Rust 2024 Edition?
[@2:02:12] Rules of thumb for “bolt more on” vs “just rewrite it”
[@2:05:19] What are your main sources to keep up with new technologies?
[@2:09:04] Do you still keep up to date with academic research?
[@2:11:29] What inspired/influenced your way of working with humans?
[@2:18:42] How can we help you make more educational content?
[@2:36:15] Have you read about the academic research around CRDTs?
[@2:37:51] What do you think about Rust-side GUIs like Tauri?
[@2:41:22] What is missing from Rust?
[@2:51:00] What are you looking forward to the most in 2025?
[@2:53:22] How are the cats doing?
[@2:56:56] Is this OK to wish Helsing will never need to use its products?
[@2:58:55] How do you choose the right abstractions when coding in Rust?
[@3:01:18] Is the Rust performance debugging experience worse on macOS than Linux?
[@3:03:49] Have you ever used Elixir/Erlang/other BEAM-based languages?
[@3:07:49] Rust with a team who are excited about Rust but have no experience
[@3:10:06] What’s a concept that you initially found challenging?
[@3:13:35] Picking Rust as a startup language
[@3:15:27] Is the adoption of Rust slowing down?
[@3:16:50] What new technologies are you willing to learn this year?
[@3:18:03] Have you considered going vegan?
[@3:20:37] Does Helsing sell arms to Israel and would you stay if they did?
[@3:22:06] What is something that you think is underrated?
[@3:29:18] Running through remaining questions (list in description)

Here are the questions I covered in the “run through” at the end. There
were way more questions left that these, but these are the ones we go
to!

What is one thing you regret learning in 2024?
Thoughts on gpui from the zed team?
What language would you “main” if rust wouldn’t exist?
How do you see Rust in Linux kernel?
Have you used ghostty?
Have you made any updates to your setup recently?
Are you neurotypical?
What do you think about graphics programming in Rust?

3:32:14

Why is your mascot a llama?
How hard is it to land a first job working with Rust?
Will you decrust actix-web?
Have you ever had to fix memory fragmentation issues in Rust?
What are your plans for 2025 around content creation?
How do you retain knowledge?
How do you stay motivated?
How can you stay so lean all the time?
What do you enjoy except coding?

3:35:35

Is it expected to look so many things up while reading R4R?
When did you pick up Rust?
Why didn’t you stay in academia?
Is self-teaching Rust possible?
Are you afraid of dying (too early)?
How can I improve my English?

3:39:34

What is the tech stack for this site?
Why doesn’t Rust support arbitrary sized integers (e.g., u1, u2)?
Why can’t Rust’s std be distributed as a static library?
What’s the source of your aversion towards Blockchain?
Are you still enjoying Norway?
Are you concerned about Rust unsoundness bugs?
What software do you use for dealing with documentation?

3:44:50

How do you keep up with friends (esp. across timezones)?
Have you tried the zed editor yet?
Does being in Norway make up for career/income upside lost from the US?
Any wisdom on Borrow vs AsRef?

Also available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diCEj3F3itc.

Questions and answers session from May, 2024.

Link list

Discord: https://discord.jonhoo.eu
LogLog Games article: https://loglog.games/blog/leaving-rust-gamedev/
Rust API Guidelines: https://rust-lang.github.io/api-guidelines/
Rust Design Patterns Book: https://rust-unofficial.github.io/patterns/
Data Latam podcast: https://www.datalatam.com/
Engineering blogs:

https://words.filippo.io/dispatches/
https://smallcultfollowing.com/babysteps/
https://without.boats/
https://danluu.com/
https://docs.rs/dtolnay/
https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/
https://noidea.dog/glue
https://matklad.github.io/
https://www.ralfj.de/blog/
https://faultlore.com/blah/
https://fasterthanli.me/articles
https://www.evanmiller.org/
https://blog.regehr.org/



Timestamps

[@0:00:00] Introduction
[@0:03:27] Decrusting rust-analyzer
[@0:07:34] Unified approach to error handling in Rust
[@0:14:35] What don’t you like about Rust?
[@0:26:15] How to gain experience in Rust
[@0:32:03] The recent loglog.games article about the bad Rust gamedev experience
[@0:38:02] Struggles with a lack of motivation/focus/drive
[@0:45:52] Rust for web development
[@0:47:56] How are you doing
[@0:54:57] Norway: upsides/downsides compared to the US
[@1:06:41] How you stay focused and productive during the day
[@1:19:01] Voting + tea + cat break
[@1:22:44] Best practices in setting up a Rust project
[@1:28:23] Unexpectedly high ROI things you’ve bought/started doing
[@1:39:04] Getting a junior job in system programming with Rust
[@1:42:09] Deciding to use async rust or not
[@1:45:23] Design patterns that are specific to Rust
[@1:48:01] Decrusting Leptos/BevyECS?
[@1:48:57] Favorite YouTube channels

[@1:49:46] https://www.youtube.com/@BBCArchive
[@1:50:30] https://www.youtube.com/@CGPGrey
[@1:50:54] https://www.youtube.com/@danielthrasher
[@1:51:04] https://www.youtube.com/@everyframeapainting
[@1:51:25] https://www.youtube.com/@IanHubert2
[@1:51:53] https://www.youtube.com/@JosephAndersonChannel
[@1:52:08] https://www.youtube.com/@razbuten
[@1:52:22] https://www.youtube.com/@SummoningSalt
[@1:52:36] https://www.youtube.com/@MinutePhysics
[@1:52:46] https://www.youtube.com/@xkcd_whatif
[@1:52:53] https://www.youtube.com/@numberphile
[@1:52:58] https://www.youtube.com/@veritasium
[@1:53:12] https://www.youtube.com/@ozzymanreviews
[@1:53:16] https://www.youtube.com/@RyanGeorge
[@1:53:54] https://www.youtube.com/@TomScottGo
[@1:54:02] https://www.youtube.com/@TwoMinutePapers
[@1:54:09] https://www.youtube.com/@theslowmoguys
[@1:54:20] https://www.youtube.com/@Vsauce


[@1:54:43] Code review style livestreams
[@2:01:00] Do you still program at your job or is it mainly management?
[@2:10:49] Do you do any workouts/exercises?
[@2:14:54] A crate you don’t have the use for, but wish you did
[@2:16:52] Rust for Data Engineering
[@2:21:58] Voting time
[@2:25:30] Engineering blogs to follow
[@2:34:42] The most exiting company that is using Rust
[@2:37:50] Enums or traits
[@2:42:12] Crust of Rust on intrinsics/SIMD
[@2:42:55] Frameworks for making non-web (RPC) services
[@2:45:33] Organizing your daily work
[@2:48:03] Quick-fire answers

Also available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/A3qBmLx9uTU.

Questions and answers session from December, 2023.

Link list

Atomic operator in Raku/Perl 6: https://andrewshitov.com/2019/09/09/atomic-operations-in-perl-6/
Helsing on Glassdoor: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Helsing-Reviews-E6763957.htm
Simon Singh’s The Code Book: https://simonsingh.net/books/the-code-book/
Rustc dev guide: https://rustc-dev-guide.rust-lang.org/getting-started.html
I automated my bad keyboard: https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/17wrkaw/i_automated_my_bad_keyboard/

Timestamps

[@0:00:00] Introduction
[@0:01:31] How is work at Helsing?
[@0:09:26] What software are you using?
[@0:14:57] What do you think about Zig ?
[@0:16:16] What’s the pathway to become a contributor to the Rust Language?
[@0:23:42] What languages did you use before Rust?
[@0:31:20] How did you get such a good, deep understanding of Rust?
[@0:34:05] How’s life now back in Norway?
[@0:38:46] Does WASM have a real future outside the web realm?
[@0:40:55] My code feels way too simple. What am I doing wrong?
[@0:42:55] How do you now feel about AI code tools like GitHub Copilot?
[@0:48:55] Rust’s concurrency model compared to other languages you’ve worked with.
[@0:51:04] Video on embedded programming when?
[@0:54:23] AsyncIterator: poll_next + Generator Syntax or just next?
[@0:56:01] How do you test for concurrency bugs?
[@1:02:14] What social platform do you get most value out of?
[@1:11:05] Rust Foundation developing an official training and certification program.
[@1:16:25] Why don’t you use a Mac? is Linux actually that good?
[@1:18:03] Is Ferrocene the right starting point for Rust in Space/Avionics?
[@1:22:27] How is your experience of the culture, wlb and leadership style at Helsing?
[@1:35:06] What does the role of Principal Engineer entail?
[@1:39:15] Are you just using vanilla neovim for Rust?
[@1:41:18] Will Rust 2.0 be just another release or will it be different?
[@1:42:13] How can I get a job working in the Rust ecosystem?
[@1:45:03] Why are there so few Rust jobs?
[@1:50:07] What’s your favorite book?
[@1:53:58] What’s the biggest cultural difference of working in EU vs USA?
[@1:56:40] What did you like/dislike about Amazon compared to Helsing?
[@2:00:31] What do you do while waiting for Rust to compile on a big codebase?
[@2:01:21] How do you feel about mathematics in computer science?
[@2:03:12] If you had kids, would you want them to grow up in the US or in Nordic countries?
[@2:06:35] Will you do some advent of code in rust?
[@2:07:31] What’s a project you would like to start, but haven’t had the time to start it?
[@2:15:34] What are your thoughts on CTFs? Have you ever played them?
[@2:15:49] How are you so cool?
[@2:15:59] How are the cats adjusting to the move?
[@2:16:30] How are you doing?
[@2:17:28] Any ideas to make profiling of Rust programs better?
[@2:17:59] How do you use properly mpsc receiver on a separate thread?
[@2:18:29] Do you use a debugger, print, or both?
[@2:19:00] What’s your Rust 2.0 wishlist?
[@2:19:37] What do you think about certifications?
[@2:20:10] Why do you look so old?
[@2:20:30] Any tips on how to increase my salary (in LatAm)?
[@2:21:23] What does your ideal team look like?
[@2:22:53] Is there any issue/topic that you are too busy to do but would love if someone did it?
[@2:24:45] What are some beginner-friendly open-source Rust projects that may hire remotely?
[@2:25:53] Are there jobs for junior Rust developers?
[@2:26:23] Can you give any advice on Statement of Purpose and Letters of Recommendation?
[@2:29:26] What do you think of Rust’s 2024 roadmap?
[@2:31:11] Go vote for the last question…
[@2:33:22] How do you get excited to build stuff and improve without getting burnt out?

Also available on YouTube at https://youtu.be/r1lc2fmU_Rg.

Questions and answers session from July, 2023.

Link list

The B society: https://www.b-society.org/
Principal engineer’s handbook: https://ilya.grigorik.com/the-principal-engineers-handbook/
Writing about your work: https://jvns.ca/blog/brag-documents/
Stream calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/embed?src=719b6cf08a9f11da4a732083a43aa00a61a7943ea864a57417b5da13b1fc8ccb@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=Europe/Oslo

Timestamps

[@0:00:00] Introduction
[@0:01:32] How did you find your new job?
[@0:03:48] Pay gap between old and new job
[@0:09:00] Rust Foundation Trademark debacle
[@0:12:30] Isn’t AI in the military a bad idea?
[@0:18:12] Where is Rust used in Helsing given they do AI?
[@0:22:45] Skin care routine
[@0:24:53] Notoriety and interviewing
[@0:33:13] Does the lack of sun in Norway bother you?
[@0:34:48] Is a PhD worth it?
[@0:39:10] How does your partner like Norway?
[@0:43:06] Best way to practice Rust?
[@0:45:00] Rust on GPUs
[@0:46:32] Where in Norway are you working from?
[@0:51:36] Moving to an IDE?
[@0:54:08] How do you know the company isn’t evil?
[@1:01:34] How are the cats?
[@1:06:12] Interviewing and moving at the same time
[@1:07:40] What is your daily routine?
[@1:14:45] The Rust build system at Amazon
[@1:18:46] Do you exercise?
[@1:20:06] AI replacing engineers
[@1:29:16] Helsing and remote work
[@1:32:29] Favorite purchase last 6 months
[@1:34:12] Did requiring remote reduce your job opportunities
[@1:35:29] Will you be an IC for the rest of your career?
[@1:37:16] Leaving Amazon
[@1:39:45] Cat!
[@1:40:37] Rust for data engineering tools?
[@1:43:01] Do you mentor?
[@1:43:59] How do you organize your todos?
[@1:47:35] What about Norway disappoints you?
[@1:54:03] Might you start a company?
[@1:55:30] RustConf situation
[@1:58:46] A community Discord? Patreon?
[@2:05:52] Do we want more compiler backends?
[@2:08:22] Moving to Wayland
[@2:11:13] More Crust of Rust
[@2:12:23] What’s your setup now?
[@2:13:48] Getting a job without formal education
[@2:15:25] The omnomnom voice
[@2:15:45] Programming languages at Helsing
[@2:16:49] What are principal engineers?
[@2:20:30] How do we make Rust default choice for ML kernels?
[@2:21:38] Video on ghost_cell and qcell?
[@2:22:50] Pitfalls for junior engineers
[@2:28:46] Rust in robotics and space stuff
[@2:30:04] Will rustc share code with rust-analyzer?
[@2:31:23] Imposter syndrome
[@2:32:27] How’d you meet girls during your PhD?
[@2:35:13] Wayland compositor
[@2:35:55] Why do you not work on Noria?
[@2:37:31] Emacs?
[@2:38:16] Struggling to find a junior tech job
[@2:42:03] Innovation in Norway
[@2:44:26] BSDs and NixOS
[@2:46:19] Working in security
[@2:47:31] Front-end development in Rust
[@2:49:16] Tech in a decade
[@2:51:38] Backend framework choice
[@2:52:10] Best language for cryptography
[@2:53:24] Return to lock-free simulation series?
[@2:53:50] Why did you leave the US?
[@2:55:13] Question speed-run
[@2:58:21] Opinion of Amazon
[@3:01:22] Working on a visa
[@3:03:10] More question speed-run
[@3:13:12] What brought you to Rust?
[@3:15:30] What can dynamic dispatch do that enum dispatch can’t?
[@3:18:41] Outro