I find it's a mix between ML languages and C++, and knowing one of them would help yes.
If you're tired if chasing a wild pointer because of a subtle use-after-free in a multithreaded monster under gdb, you'll love #rust.
The reality is probably that kernel developers don't get any younger nowadays. And believe me, when you get older, have children and less free time, your waistline suffers a bit.
Or even a bit more than a bit.
10 years ? Mine is around 20 years old. I slapped a Raspberry Pi on it to have it network-enabled and it still works like a champ.
Never ever will I buy another brand.
I want my map application to look exactly like that.