Why attend Rustikon 2025: a Rust conference for developers

Did you know that next year marks Rust's 10th anniversary? What better way to celebrate than at a conference, among fellow Rust developers and enthusiasts! We want to grow the Rust community and strengthen Poland's technical talent pool, just like we're doing for Scala. That’s why we are launching a Rust conference: Rustikon!

Save the date!
26/03/2025, Polin Conference Center, Warsaw, Poland. Visit Rustikon website.

Why attend a Rust conference?

At SoftwareMill, we've been actively shaping the Scala developer community for years. A major effort goes to creating a platform for developers to really connect: the Scalar conference.

But, we’re no strangers to the importance of other key technologies, like Rust programming language. Developer events, especially in rapidly growing languages, are more than just networking opportunities: they're a strategic investment in your career.

Here’s a simple breakdown of why attending conferences can progress your development skills, career, and even benefit your team. So if you’re a developer looking to level up, or you need arguments for your Team Lead deciding on conference budgets, this article is for you.

Make a smart career move

Boosting community engagement and delivering real business value – that’s what tech conferences are for. Rust’s ecosystem is highly community-driven, with developers from diverse domains working on a wide range of tools and solving various problems. Attending a conference gives you the chance to meet them in person and spark organic collaborations. Engaging in this kind of knowledge-sharing is invaluable, as it allows you to avoid pitfalls and apply solutions that are proven to work.

Starting professional relationships at in-person events could give you a career advantage quicker than the ones established in virtual environments. I highly encourage you to really take a chance to meet open-source contributors, discover new tools or techniques, and have fun while doing so! More on this in the next paragraph.

Gain from social-driven innovation

It’s good to talk. This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s worth keeping in mind. Discussions often lead to new ideas and seeing the broader picture. It's easy to get caught up in day-to-day tasks, but when you step outside your usual environment and engage with peers at Rust conferences, you're exposed to fresh viewpoints that can transform the way you think about coding problems. Who knows, maybe you’ll get inspired to apply Rust in new and creative ways?

Even if you're not naturally outgoing, the collaborative atmosphere at conferences is designed to make it easier to connect with others.

Tips from the community

Still in doubt? Here are some pro tips from our team. We regularly attend developer events and have coached each other on this many times.

My tip is to approach individuals who are standing alone, maybe sipping a drink or just observing. These situations are perfect for starting a conversation because they're likely looking for someone to chat with too. Another option is to join small groups that have open body language, where people are standing a bit farther apart, making it easier to join in. However, if you notice a group where people are standing very close together and seem deeply engaged, it's usually best to avoid interrupting unless you're invited in. - Krzysztof Grajek, Solution Architect

Start by simply saying “Hey” and asking how they’re doing. You can reference to last talk or inquire about their plans for the next one. Great questions to ask include what their main goal is for the conference, or what they hope to achieve. You might also ask if there’s anyone specific they’d like to meet. Even if you can’t directly help, showing a genuine effort goes a long way in building a relationship. Keep in mind that conferences are ideal for networking. With knowledge easily accessible online—through blogs, courses, and YouTube—the real value of attending in person is the networking opportunities. - Konrad Łucka, CGO

Try approaching a speaker. When there is a presentation you liked, then the next time you see the speaker hanging around the conference, tell them that you enjoyed it, or which parts you found interesting, or ask questions about any details. They're often more than happy to talk about the topic, and if it's interesting to you, it means you have common interests. Also, chances are that some other people will be gathering around to speak about it, so that means even more people you might get to know. - Magda Stożek, Senior Scala Engineer

Learn from Rust experts

When attending Rust conferences, you can experience the language's direction, future goals, and best practices in a very proactive way. You can provide feedback on problem-solving approaches and share experiences, use it all to your learning advantage.

So what can you expect on the agenda of Rustikon? There's a couple of talk categories that our Programme Committee is particularly interested in:

• Rust use-cases
• Performance & memory efficiency
• Type safety, functional programming
• Async, concurrency, distributed systems
• Web/GUI/Embedded & everyday libraries
• Data engineering, big data, streaming & databases
• Rust for machine learning and AI
• Tooling, developer experience
• Teaching Rust, building communities

Want to speak at Rustikon? CfP ends at the end of October, you can submit your talk here.

The first round of submission closed, as this post is being published and we're excited to have a great array of speakers, below already announced:

• Zainab Ali
• Piotr Jastrzebski
• Maciek Próchniak
• Aliaksandr Zaitsau
• Andre Bogus

You can already check the details of their talks topics on the Rustikon website.

Influence the Rust ecosystem direction

Rust language is developing quickly. Developer events give you a chance to meet maintainers, tech experts, companies, in person. Not only could you discover use cases that you might not typically explore on a daily basis, but the most important, you can provide feedback, suggest features, or even contribute ideas that may shape language or tooling improvements.

Simply have fun

Developer conferences combine learning, community, and fun in a way that makes them exciting, energizing, and enjoyable for anyone passionate about coding.

“Maybe you’ve only heard of that thing called “Rust”, but never really understood well what the fuss is all about. Going to a Rust conference might be a jump in at the deep end, but trust me - people are willing to answer even the most basic questions. Listening to what problems are solved with technology and how, might be the best crash course that you’ve been looking for.” - Adam Warski, Scala expert

Imagine the whole day of inspiring talks (single track, so you won’t miss anything), organic discussion during breaks, and exciting tools launches. You’ll also get a chance to gain behind-the-scenes insights from the Rust industry. After spending the day immersed in this, the evening continues in a casual bar environment. We promise more of great discussion in a relaxed atmosphere.

Check out the venue It's designed so that everything happens in one central space, making it easy for attendees to feel connected and included.

You can easily get there from the city center by taxi or using public transport - name of the bus stop is Muranów. I encourage you to spend some time discovering the city that you travelled to for Rustikon! Ask us, the organisers, for some tips on attractions, museums, restaurants and other Warsaw highlights.

Plus, if it happens that you are also into Scala, Rustikon and Scalar are collocated events! You can get a ticket bundle, and double the fun 😊 Here's a summary of the previous edition.

Is Rustikon good for students?

If you’re a student who is already contributing code to the Rust project, or a student graduating, and wanting a job with Rust, what could be a better place to talk to potential employers and get useful career advice?

We have a special pool of tickets for you.

Grab Early Birds tickets for Rustikon

By joining us, you will:

🦀 be able to actively participate in the first Rust conference in Poland,
🦀 build lasting professional connections,
🦀 learn, collaborate, give feedback,
🦀 celebrate Rust’s 10th birthday among the Rust enthusiasts like you!

Hurry up to get your ticket why they last!