l3db3tt3r

Enjoy the journey!
I went with a kit from splitkb ; and the community in their discord was super helpful.
Soldering a keyboard isn't too difficult, the components aren't very fragile, and you mostly have some easy feedback and will know exactly where you messed up (the key doesn't work, which is easier then chasing signals/volts around a more typical soldering/electronics project). I think its a very rewarding endeavor.

I think the harder part is learning a new keyboard layout; and overcoming muscle/finger memory.

Find the skills gaps that you have; find the thing that interests you about it; and dig into that fundamental piece, don't understand what the fundamentals might be, go check out .edu, or certification outlines with the vocabulary/knowledge you do have so you can build from the concepts (and benefit from their already determined progressions) , so you can developed additional vocabulary and knowledge of the discipline.

I think the gatekeeping part isn't the warning or cautionary advice being given, It's the failure to point, and give direction to, the relevant thing(s), the skill sets, the place to start in order to understand the complexities.

Like the hart-surgeon analogy given elsewhere in the comments; it's not just the dire warning of 'you can kill someone' - it's the humanity to say, well if you want to learn how to do this, you're going to have to start by having an understanding of basic biology, organic chemistry, human anatomy, etc, and to learn about those things go here...

I think you've missed the point OP is trying to communicate. It's not that these things aren't relevant, highly important, and good caution/warning. It's the gate that people are creating with these no depth explainers. "you need to understand" "if you don't know" -- then fail to provide direction to people who want to know, to learn these things, to figure out where to start; that's the gate.

This article kind of reads like a nothing-burger. (and it's buried behind a paywall).

I'm not a big fan of 'tests' that go and try and cherry pick one variable to play around with to make a single conclusion, when it's really the system of various variables working in relation to each other.

The general population, and even general categories of competition, you're better off picking a tire that hits somewhere in the top 20% of performance in all relevant categories: Aerodynamics, Rolling Resistance, Traction (various: stopping power, cornering, surface type, etc), and Durability (mostly related to the additional weight) and making additional compromises as it relates to the thing you are doing, the environment, and your experience.

The price of being on the bleeding edge.
But also, trust the process, it's a feature not a bug.