1 Year with Rust in Aerospace: My journey migrating from C# to Rust (and why it’s not for everyone)

As a developer who spends most of my time with C#, Python, and C++, I work in the Aerospace industry where C# has been our primary reliable workhorse. However, driven by pure curiosity, I decided to dive into Rust a year ago. With a bit of AI as my "tutor," I discovered that while Rust has a steep reputation, it’s actually quite approachable—though certainly not "easy."

​I recently took the plunge and migrated a production-level project from C# to Rust. The results were honestly eye-opening:

​Memory Efficiency: The RAM footprint dropped significantly.

​Stability: It feels "rock solid" compared to our previous managed environment.

​Code Conciseness: The total lines of code (LOC) decreased noticeably, thanks to Rust’s expressive syntax and powerful enums.

​The Reality Check: The Mental Shift

The biggest hurdle wasn't the syntax, but the philosophical shift. Converting C# logic to Rust is painful because the design patterns are worlds apart. In C#, you’re mostly thinking about runtime behavior. In Rust, you are forced to front-load all your architectural decisions to satisfy the compiler. Thinking about Ownership, Borrowing, and Memory Management at compile-time is a struggle at first, but the payoff is absolute control over resources.

​Conclusion

After a year, I can say Rust is a phenomenal language. It’s powerful, it’s fast, and it offers safety that is crucial for aerospace. However, I’ve also realized it might not be for everyone. The learning curve and the shift in logic are real barriers. But for me? I’m hooked.