Although, I have to say, it is a sad state of afairs, if rST is already too difficult for a person with the job role "programmer" to use. If this is already the threshold, which would stop them from writing documentation, then I have my doubts about the quality of documentation, that they will write in Markdown.
Small barriers matter. Anything that kicks you out of the flow makes a huge difference. And rST is confusing enough often enough to kick you out of the flow.
