The wording may be harsh, but the idea is roughly correct. Learning Rust and fighting the borrow checker requires CS fundamentals knowledge.
However, that doesn't mean the person can write concise code or have good soft skills, or be a good hire.
However, that doesn't mean the person can write concise code or have good soft skills, or be a good hire.
This whole argument is exclusionary and divisive.
I do agree that it is divisive, but sometimes it also feels like humbleness of research programming languages (esp. Haskell) designers is a bit faked, which can have the opposite effect and scare beginners. The most popular languages, who beginners love, tend to have a history of being designed to be practical, not well designed or researched.
I have a tiny bit of Rust experience, and honestly if someone taught me Rust as a first programming language, I'd get so frustrated and insecure. Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful language and the online book is great -- but it has a great barrier to entry and most people would get frustrated. Meanwhile, people following JS tutorials will already feel dopamine hit from getting their own programs running on screen and will be motivated to continue their journey.