Niko Matsakis, a key figure in the Rust community and Senior Principal Engineer at AWS, shares his incredible journey with Rust, from its inception at Mozilla to its current status. He discusses pivotal concepts like ownership and borrowing, and their role in shaping the language. The conversation dives into Rust's growth, its remarkable libraries, and the challenges of building an async ecosystem. Niko reflects on the 2018 edition's transition, Rust's versatility in modern tech, and the vital importance of community collaboration in the language's evolution.