It's interesting I think having an understanding of the history of javascript concurrency is almost a prerequisite to using it correctly. I wonder how new people approaching the language for the first time find it.
I find two camps:
1. those who need to produce backwards-compatible code, avoiding or not thinking about new features
2. those who can/want to use new features
Camp 1 has the problem of continuously importing kitchen sinks instead of polyfills, which would allow getting into camp 2.
Camp 2 is essentially a luxury of time, thus rare. It already requires mental commitment, which may be scarce after a day of battling bugs for IE.
I think that as a beginner you can get far with async/await without truly understanding it. I also think that at some time the abstractions will leak and your head will spin madly.
Camp 1 has the problem of continuously importing kitchen sinks instead of polyfills, which would allow getting into camp 2.
Camp 2 is essentially a luxury of time, thus rare. It already requires mental commitment, which may be scarce after a day of battling bugs for IE.