Rust in production at planet scale : lessons learned deploying Rust code to millions of devices

Coding Chats episode 55 - Emma Nedelcu discusses her experience managing teams that transitioned to Rust at Amazon Prime Video. She highlights the reasons for choosing Rust, including its performance and safety features, and the challenges faced during the transition from JavaScript. Emma explains the importance of over-the-air updates, device constraints, and effective onboarding strategies for engineers. The conversation also covers testing strategies, managing technical debt, and hiring practices for Rust teams, emphasizing the need for a mindset focused on problem-solving and adaptability.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Rust and Its Adoption

03:49 Performance Gains with Rust

06:37 Challenges of Over-the-Air Updates

09:36 Onboarding Developers to Rust

12:33 Team Collaboration and Trust

14:53 Testing Strategies for Rust Applications

17:38 Trade-offs and Considerations with Rust

20:13 Hiring and Team Building for Rust

23:02 Advice for Organizations Considering Rust

26:00 Managing Technical Debt in Rust

28:48 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

33:52 Exploring Related Content

LINKS

Emma's Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmanedelcu/

John's Links:

John's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncrickett/

John’s YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@johncrickett

John's Twitter: https://x.com/johncrickett

John's Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/johncrickett.bsky.social

Check out John's software engineering related newsletters:

Coding Challenges: https://codingchallenges.substack.com/ which shares real-world project ideas that you can use to level up your coding skills.

Developing Skills: https://read.developingskills.fyi/ covering everything from system design to soft skills, helping them progress their career from junior to staff+ or for those that want onto a management track.

Takeaways

Rust was chosen for its performance and safety guarantees.

Transitioning from JavaScript to Rust involves a steep learning curve.

Over-the-air updates are crucial for device management.

Device constraints significantly impact application performance.

Onboarding to Rust can take about three months for JavaScript developers.

Building trust within teams is essential for fast-paced development.

Testing strategies must be robust to handle diverse devices.

Rust's compile-time checks require strict runtime discipline.

Compiling for WebAssembly requires careful optimization to manage bundle size.

The Rust ecosystem is maturing but still evolving.

Organizations should engage with the Rust community for better integration.

Prototyping can effectively demonstrate Rust's potential to stakeholders.

Managing technical debt in Rust involves understanding complexity depth.

Hiring for mindset and adaptability is more important than experience.

Ideal Rust engineers should have a deep understanding of low-level systems.

Candidates should demonstrate initiative and impact in their projects.