Why edge cases for newcomers [v1]

Spent the last few weekends digging into this and the deeper I go the more questions I have. The trade-offs here are not obvious to me and I keep flip-flopping. Not sure if this is the right place to ask, mods please remove if it is not.

For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land. Maybe an unpopular opinion but here we go. This came up at a meetup recently and the room was split, so curious what the broader community thinks.