[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":153},["ShallowReactive",2],{"idea-learning-rust-at-40":3,"related-learning-rust-at-40":71},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"cardSize":59,"category":60,"date":61,"description":62,"extension":63,"featured":64,"meta":65,"navigation":64,"path":66,"readingTime":67,"seo":68,"stem":69,"updated":59,"__hash__":70},"ideas\u002Fideas\u002Flearning-rust-at-40.md","Learning Rust at 40",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":51},"minimark",[9,13,18,21,24,28,31,35,38,41,44],[10,11,12],"p",{},"I turned 40 last year and decided to learn Rust. Not because I needed it for work. Not because it was trendy (well, maybe a little because it was trendy). But because I had not felt like a complete beginner at anything in a long time, and I missed that feeling.",[14,15,17],"h2",{"id":16},"the-borrow-checker-humbles-you","The Borrow Checker Humbles You",[10,19,20],{},"Twenty years of programming experience counts for almost nothing when you are fighting the borrow checker. I have written production systems in Java, Python, JavaScript, and Go. None of that prepared me for Rust telling me, with the patience of a disappointed teacher, that I do not understand memory ownership.",[10,22,23],{},"The first week was genuinely frustrating. I could not write a simple linked list. Me. A person who has been writing code since 2004. Could not write a linked list. Because Rust said no.",[14,25,27],{"id":26},"why-it-was-worth-it","Why It Was Worth It",[10,29,30],{},"After three months, something shifted. I started thinking about ownership in all my other code too. When I write Python now, I catch myself thinking \"who owns this reference?\" before passing an object around. Rust rewired how I think about data.",[14,32,34],{"id":33},"the-real-lesson","The Real Lesson",[10,36,37],{},"The real lesson is not about Rust. It is about the value of being bad at something again. When you are experienced, you get comfortable. You know the patterns. You can build things on autopilot. And that comfort is dangerous because it means you stop learning.",[10,39,40],{},"Being a beginner again at 40 reminded me what it felt like at 20. The frustration is the same. But now I have enough experience to know that the frustration is temporary and the understanding that follows is permanent.",[10,42,43],{},"If you have been programming for a decade or more and you have not felt truly lost in a while, pick up something that makes you feel stupid. It is good for you.",[45,46,47],"ul",{},[48,49,50],"li",{},"Mohan",{"title":52,"searchDepth":53,"depth":53,"links":54},"",3,[55,57,58],{"id":16,"depth":56,"text":17},2,{"id":26,"depth":56,"text":27},{"id":33,"depth":56,"text":34},null,"Learning","2026-03-08","Picking up a new systems language two decades into a career. It is humbling, frustrating, and exactly what I needed.","md",true,{},"\u002Fideas\u002Flearning-rust-at-40",7,{"title":5,"description":62},"ideas\u002Flearning-rust-at-40","XZGkGmTin2oUQPMPnE0TQZPRb_-B-lK9-eZTmU3BjxE",[72,104],{"id":73,"title":74,"body":75,"cardSize":95,"category":60,"date":96,"description":97,"extension":63,"featured":98,"meta":99,"navigation":64,"path":100,"readingTime":56,"seo":101,"stem":102,"updated":59,"__hash__":103},"ideas\u002Fideas\u002Fthe-90-day-rule.md","The 90-Day Rule",{"type":7,"value":76,"toc":93},[77,80,83,86,89],[10,78,79],{},"I used to keep a list of \"active\" side projects. At one point it had eleven items. I was lying to myself. Most of those projects had not been touched in months.",[10,81,82],{},"Now I follow the 90-day rule. If I have not opened the codebase, written a word, or thought about it with any seriousness in 90 days, I move it to the archive. Not deleted. Archived. I can always bring it back.",[10,84,85],{},"This sounds harsh but it is actually freeing. Instead of feeling guilty about eleven projects, I feel focused on two. The rest are honestly labeled as what they are: things I tried that did not stick.",[10,87,88],{},"My archive folder is large. I am at peace with that.",[45,90,91],{},[48,92,50],{},{"title":52,"searchDepth":53,"depth":53,"links":94},[],"small","2026-03-15","If you have not touched a project in 90 days, it is dead. Accept it.",false,{},"\u002Fideas\u002Fthe-90-day-rule",{"title":74,"description":97},"ideas\u002Fthe-90-day-rule","lx4DpnKyQB7a772BdAgWBsFMNGpETrd1NdmBXVmcO9k",{"id":105,"title":106,"body":107,"cardSize":145,"category":60,"date":146,"description":147,"extension":63,"featured":98,"meta":148,"navigation":64,"path":149,"readingTime":53,"seo":150,"stem":151,"updated":59,"__hash__":152},"ideas\u002Fideas\u002Flearn-one-thing-per-quarter.md","Learn One Thing Per Quarter",{"type":7,"value":108,"toc":143},[109,112,115,118,133,136,139],[10,110,111],{},"I stopped doing \"learn X in a weekend\" sprints. They do not stick. I now pick one thing per quarter and actually use it in something real.",[10,113,114],{},"Q1 this year was Rust. Not a tutorial project, but rewriting a small CLI tool I actually use daily. It took three months and the code is probably not idiomatic, but I can read Rust now. I understand ownership. I can contribute to a Rust codebase without panicking.",[10,116,117],{},"The trick is:",[119,120,121,124,127,130],"ol",{},[48,122,123],{},"Pick something you are curious about (not something LinkedIn says is hot)",[48,125,126],{},"Build something small but real with it",[48,128,129],{},"Give it a full quarter (not a weekend)",[48,131,132],{},"Accept that your first attempt will be bad",[10,134,135],{},"Previous quarters: Docker (finally learned it properly instead of copying Dockerfiles from Stack Overflow), PostgreSQL internals (read the documentation cover to cover, not just the \"quick start\"), and CSS Grid (I know, I should have learned it years ago).",[10,137,138],{},"My queue for upcoming quarters: WebAssembly, basic electronics (Arduino), and maybe Urdu calligraphy (not everything has to be tech).",[45,140,141],{},[48,142,50],{},{"title":52,"searchDepth":53,"depth":53,"links":144},[],"medium","2026-03-10","Not one course. Not one tutorial. One real thing, used in a real project.",{},"\u002Fideas\u002Flearn-one-thing-per-quarter",{"title":106,"description":147},"ideas\u002Flearn-one-thing-per-quarter","Yy3_VVxk7BHDLpllwCHjFUf1DtvJ2eG1GVnnbeMJ7KA",1776214201870]