Being a Beginner
28 May 2021
Over the last 45 days, I have been learning Rust, a programming language designed for performance and safety. I am not sure why I am learning Rust. I don’t have a project in mind or plain to get a job. Programming feels meditative and good. In these times, learning something new feels satisfying. Maybe it’s the novelty I am craving and the feeling of getting into the flow while working on a challenge.
I am currently going through Exercism. It’s a fantastic platform where you can practice code and get mentorship. Once you are done with your solution, you submit it for feedback. It makes you feel you are not alone and over time you learn how to write better code.
I started my career in the early 2000s as a Java programmer and getting back to compiling a Rust program feels immensely satisfying. Every morning when I get to learning Rust, I tell myself - it’s ok to be a beginner. I fire VSC, the mac terminal and humbly get to learning the basics without worrying about the end goal.
For now, it’s great to be a beginner, make mistakes, fumble and continue with the journey not knowing where it’s going to take me.