From Chalk to Rust: Autobiography of a rustacean born from the shell of a History teacher

This is the first article in a series where I document my transition, at age 40, from History Teacher with a Professional Master's in History Teaching, to a Software Engineer focused on Rust. At 40 years old, I’m rebuilding my career from scratch—transitioning from a History teacher to a Software Engineer focused on Rust. This isn’t a “learn to code in 6 months” story. It’s about legacy systems, technical debt (human and institutional), and a path that started long before I even knew what progra