I also started my Linux journey with a turn of the century Slackware install. Linux has come a long, long way since then, but I learned a lot back then. Distros like Bazzite are practically "turn-key" now.

In any case, I would rather use those hard earned skills hand configuring Slackware today than to put with the shitshow of Windows pop-ups, forced account creation, telemetry collection, UI changes for the sake of change, advertisements built into the OS, random OS corrupting BSODs, etc..