From First Lines to First Clients: Carol Nichols on Building a Career in Rust

Clock out and log in!

At 17:30 BST Caroline Morton sits down with Carol Nichols - co-author of The Rust Programming Language and co-founder of Integer 32, the first Rust-focused consultancy. Carol will trace her journey from writing Ruby to shaping Rust’s early ecosystem and turning her passion into a thriving consulting business.

What you’ll learn

• Getting started: Discovering Rust and landing the first real-world projects
• Early-days challenges: What the ecosystem looked like (and how it’s grown)
• Consulting 101: Finding clients, pricing work, and balancing open-source with paid gigs
• Career pivots: Leveraging previous-language expertise to win Rust roles
• Community & visibility: Speaking, writing, and contributing to crates.io to amplify your voice

Timings

• 5 min — Welcome & community updates
• 35 min — Interview with Carol Nichols
• 15 min — Live Q&A (bring your questions!)

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FAQs

Are there any House Rules?
At SurrealDB, we are committed to providing live and online events that are safe and enjoyable for all attending. Please review our website for more information: https://surrealdb.com/legal/code-of-conduct

Is Women in Rust only for women?
We set up Women in Rust to foster a more inclusive and diverse Rust community by providing a dedicated space for women to connect, learn, and grow. Our online and in-person events are designed to support this mission. However, we also want to contribute to the wider Rust community, which is why all of our talks will be available to watch on YouTube Youtube after the event. We also welcome you to use our Notion Resources page, where you can find useful articles, reading materials and advice to help you on your journey in learning Rust.

How can I get involved with Women in Rust?
We’re always excited to welcome new contributors! You can get involved by:

• Speaking at our events: Share your expertise or experience with the community.
• Hosting online workshops: Lead interactive sessions to help others learn and grow.
• Spreading the word: Help us reach more people by sharing our events and initiatives.

Simply fill out this form to express your interest: https://surrealdb.typeform.com/to/B2gk7bzz.

We’ll be in touch to explore how we can collaborate. Let’s grow together— your involvement makes a difference!