Nah it is. When something "just works" you don't learn much about how. When your graphics card driver shits itself, you learn something getting it working again. Console text editor at the minimum!
It's not "misery is good for you" but having to solve random problems is an opportunity for learning the guts you otherwise don't get.
Linux on a laptop used to fill this niche nicely. Does it still?
running a mainstream distro & desktop env on a thinkpad t480s is significantly easier, more efficient and less fragile than any windows laptop I've ever used, seen or heard of. Less signficantly so but still easier than any apple laptop I've used. Genuinely so. YMMV.
the primary difficulty isn’t supposed to be the os, but the software you’re building. though os difficulties will always come up, depending on workload.
being on linux means you gain intuition debugging locally. whatever you might be debugging.
to sum up my point: linux. never not be running it.
to your point, linux is a better experience now than before. this is for great good, not a cause to search for a more brittle os and distro.