As a huge NixOS enthusiast I wholeheartedly agree with you. It works amazing for me but only because my autistic ass hyperfixated on it to the point of tinkering with it every afternoon for months.
I would love to be able to recommend NixOS to people but unfortunately, the lack of good documentation is a huge problem.
There is also devbox which abstracts away all the nixiness of Nix. Having alternatives is always good though.