I think k8s has a learning curve, absolutely, and there are absolutely cases where it can be unnecessary overhead. But I actually think those cases are pretty small. If you're running multiple apps, k8s is valuable. There is initial investment in learning the system, but its v-extensible, flexible, & portable. (Yes, every hyperscaler's implementation of k8s has its own nuance in certain places, but the core concept of k8s translates very well)

We must be terrible at implementation bc we have a had a prod outage and our DX is objectively worse. Its caused more problems and headaches for us.

Use killercoda and get your CKA, I bet most of the confusion will be gone. I've basically started mandating it for newer folks on my team since it covers so many of the gaps that get created by people who try Just In Time learning on the systems. K9s is great for visual people who are used to vim.