Comment by _callcc

As a younger programmer, speaking honestly, it seems to me a significant part of the motivation behind Rust evangelism has to do with distinguishing yourself against older colleagues who have 20+ years of C systems programming experience. When you find yourself in a field that's supposed to be new and fast-moving, yet you're stuck in a junior position waiting for the old guys to retire, potentially for years, as if you're a journalist or academic or something, it's not hard to see why people look to develop a different skill set.