It’s worth learning, in my opinion, but I’ve been writing it professionally for the better part of a decade, so my opinion may be a bit skewed.

It’s my favorite language to write, and it gets much easier over time. As a first approximation, if you’re doing something and it feels insanely difficult like the GP is talking about, try to think of a different way to do it rather than fighting it. There’s usually a way to do almost anything, but it’s more pleasant to lean into the grooves the language pushes you towards.

Rust is definitely very verbose. I think it's a fine choice -- probably even the best choice -- if you're doing systems code or if performance is your most important feature. If not, I would pass.