
Helsing with Jon Gjengset
From Rust in Production by Matthias Endler
April 23, 2026 · 1h 33m · Episode 43
About this episode
Jon Gjengset discusses building mission-critical systems in Rust and the foundational role of Rust at Helsing.
Jon Gjengset is one of the most recognizable names in the Rust community, the author of Rust for Rustaceans , a prolific live-streamer, and a long-time contributor to the Rust ecosystem. Today he works as a Principal Engineer at Helsing, a European defense company that has made Rust a foundational part of its engineering stack. Helsing builds safety-critical software for real-world defense applications, where correctness, performance, and reliability are non-negotiable. In this episode, Jon talks about what it means to build mission-critical systems in Rust, why Helsing bet on Rust from the start, and what lessons from his years of Rust education have shaped the way he writes and thinks about production code.
People in this episode
Host: Matthias Endler
Guest: Jon Gjengset
Topics covered
- Rust programming
- defense software
- mission-critical systems
- software reliability
- engineering practices
Keywords
- Rust
- Helsing
- software engineering
- defense applications
- production code
- correctness
- performance
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Helsing
Books & works: Rust for Rustaceans
Places: Europe, Rust ecosystem
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