I've been daily driving Qubes OS for last 6 years. You don't need to be an Linux expert but you should know basic things. And few common commands and maybe simple bash scripting if you want some level of customization

Main thing is divide your personas,and create a Qubes for each of them. and if you just want to search for some random shit use disposable VMs

My setup is something like this I've 3 debian and 3 fedora templates 1 minimal used for sys VMs and vault, 2 normal template here I only install packages only available in official debian/fedora, repos 3 in this template I add custom repos which are still trustworthy

Then depending on what I need in which app on I assign the template.

I'm forced to use zoom and other very intrusive apps for them I've just setup the rc.local script (this runs with start of any Qube) to install them

Also even though Qubes provides isolation at Qube level I still use firejail inside all the VMs it just takes few minutes to setup and gives a peace of mind

Also Hassel depends on what you use it for. Few pain points for me are

1. Nested virtualization isn't possible* there are some workarounds and in most cases it's okay. The only problem is for Android app development. In that case the best solution is to just use adb and connect your own device

2. PCI passthrough it was really terrible few years ago but now it works in most cases but for me sometimes my Laptop overheats. I don't need it much often so i haven't spent time to fix it.