From teaching C++ and Rust interoperability to writing hands-on guides, Herbert Wolverson has become one of Rust’s most trusted educators. As Rust Lead at Arden Labs and an author with Pragmatic Publishers, he’s helping developers across industries transition to safer, faster code — one training session at a time.
DISCOVERING RUST THROUGH GAME DEV
Herbert first discovered Rust while working on a game in Unreal Engine. Frustrated by memory management issues in C++, a member in a Discord chat suggested Rust. Curious, he gave it a shot during a 7-Day Roguelike Challenge on Reddit.
“The first version was terrible, but it worked – and I wanted to do it right.”
That experiment led to an online blog series and eventually caught the attention of publishers. His site went viral on Hacker News, and soon after, was asked to write a book.
FROM BLOG POSTS TO BOOKS
Herbert’s first book, Hands-On Rust, focused on learning Rust by building a game – a project-based approach he found more engaging than theory-heavy texts.
“I like to learn by doing, so I wrote the kind of book I wish I’d had.”
He’s since followed it up with Rust Brain Teasers and a new title currently in beta with PragProg, aimed at more advanced Rust concepts like generics, publishing crates, and library design.
You can find all his books at pragprog.com.
TEACHING RUST WORLDWIDE
At Arden Labs, Herbert now trains developers in Rust across industries, from government to fintech and beyond.
His first Rust training sessions were virtual during the pandemic. Now, companies fly him in for in-person workshops, particularly around C++ to Rust migrations.
“One of the most advanced use cases I’ve seen? A system using tunneling microscopes and Rust-powered AI to inspect microchips on the production line.”
WHERE RUST IS GAINING GROUND
Herbert sees government and defense as major drivers of Rust adoption, especially after the US government’s recommendation to avoid unsafe programming languages.
Many teams are rewriting only the most fragile or exposed components in Rust rather than rebuilding entire systems, a practical approach that keeps existing infrastructure intact.
“Rust tends to show up where safety and performance both matter, and where mistakes are expensive.”
He also sees growth in fintech and internal tooling, where teams value both speed and correctness.
COMMON ROADBLOCKS AND MISCONCEPTIONS
What holds new developers back?
“Fear. Especially fear of the borrow checker and lifetimes.”
In his workshops, Herbert intentionally avoids complex Rust features on day one, helping attendees build confidence before diving into memory safety mechanics.
Interestingly, he believes it might be easier to start with Rust than to switch from another language – as long as you haven’t been warned how “hard” it is.
THE RUST HIRING LANDSCAPE
Despite rising interest, Herbert notes that most Rust developers he’s met weren’t hired for Rust-specific roles — they were hired for something else and introduced Rust into their teams.
“I rarely meet people hired as Rust developers. More often, they sneak it in by solving a problem — and it spreads from there.”
Some companies are starting to formalize Rust hiring, but many still rely on internal adoption led by passionate devs.
LOOKING AHEAD: RUST’S ROLE IN THE STACK
In five to seven years, Herbert sees Rust continuing to grow at the systems level – operating systems, embedded software, and infrastructure.
- Android and Windows are already shipping more Rust internally
- Fintech is exploring Rust for speed and safety
GUI development in Rust still lags behind, but improvements are coming
