Daniel Szoke - Why you, as a Python developer, should learn Rust - SPS25

Talk recorded at the Swiss Python Summit on October 16th, 2025.
Licensed as Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.

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Abstract:

Why should you, as a Python developer, learn Rust? In this talk, we will explore Rust's compelling answers to this question. Rust offers guaranteed type safety and memory safety without a garbage collector, "fearless concurrency," and incredible performance. We will look into some of Rust's most distinctive features from a Python perspective, including its strict compiler, the ownership and borrowing system, null safety via Option, and explicit mutability. We will discover how Rust eliminates common runtime errors at compile time, and additionally, how understanding the concepts behind Rust's safety features can sharpen your Python skills, helping to write more robust and reliable code. By the end of the talk, you'll understand Rust's core value proposition and how its paradigms can benefit you, whether you are writing Python, Rust, or any other language.

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About the speaker(s):

Hello! I am a software engineer working for Sentry in Vienna, Austria. I am the primary maintainer of [Sentry CLI](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-cli) and I also help maintain the [Sentry Python SDK](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-python).

In my free time, I enjoy skiing, hiking, swimming, running, bouldering, photography, traveling etc.

I am originally from the US, and have been living in Austria since summer 2023. I speak four languages: English, Hungarian, German, and Spanish.