I sneaked Rust into my company and it might actually get me a junior dev job

I was hired as a video editor. Simple cuts, audio matching, file management, updating spreadsheets. Nothing glamorous. After a while I knew the job so well I could see the pattern in it, so I started automating the boring parts. My first tool was an Adobe CEP extension written in vanilla JS. No framework, barely any real programming knowledge, no degree, no bootcamp, and this was before AI could help. Just stubbornness and a lot of googling.

That extension is where my coding journey actually started. I tried React and didn't like it, tried Vue and thought it was fine, then tried Svelte and it just clicked. My understanding of programming was still shallow, but Svelte's syntax was simple enough that I could build a genuinely complex extension without drowning.

A couple years later I wanted to build a desktop app. That led me to Tauri, which led me to Rust. I only learned enough Rust to get comfortable with the syntax. Lifetimes and the harder concepts went completely over my head, and the app never got finished. But something about the language stuck with me.

Fast forward again: still a video editor, different company, bored and underpaid. I decided I wanted to become a Rust dev for real. So I looked at job postings. Every single one wanted senior, 5-7 years of experience, usually Web3. No degree, no professional experience, none of that was me. I applied anyway and got rejected everywhere. I expected it, but it still stung.

Here's the thing though: I really love Rust and I want it to be my primary language. Nobody hires a no-degree, low-experience aspiring Rust dev, so I decided to just build my own way in. Hopefully this is my break, and hopefully it chips away at the idea that Rust jobs are only for senior developers.

So I stayed in my editing job and kept building tools, mostly to make my own work less tedious. Eventually I showed one to my production team. They liked it and wanted more, but had zero interest in hiring me as an actual developer. I kept building anyway and treated every showcase as a chance to prove I could do this.

By now AI had become a real tool, and it helped me write cleaner, more production-shaped code, though I still can't fully verify that since no one reviews my code and I've never had a mentor. I went back to Rust, paired it with Svelte, and built a review and file management platform for the company: basically a stripped-down, purpose-built Frame.io clone. Nobody on my team knows or cares what technologies I use, so I had total freedom to pick whatever stack I wanted, which is exactly how Rust ended up in a video production company.

Today it's live, working well, and I maintain the whole thing alone. Still no mentor. Still no code review. Still officially "just" a video editor.

But the company is now seriously considering hiring me as a junior dev.

No degree. No bootcamp. No mentor. Just years of teaching myself in the cracks of a job that was never supposed to lead here.

What do you think? Can I be a Junior Rust Dev? 🤦‍♂️