By Fresh you mean Fresh, the deno web framework? (So it's deno too.)

I am very proficient in my primary language, C#.

Writing more context out feels like boasting, so I think I will skip that and go to a summation/conclusion directly.

Knowledge and expertise comes from more than the language. Which you hinted at. The language is only our interface. How is the language represented, how will it transform the code, how will it be run. There's a lot of depth in there - much more than there is in the language itself.

I learned a lot, through my own studies and reading, studying, projects, and experience. I'm a strong systematic thinker. It all helps me in interpreting and thinking about wide- and depth- context and concerns. I also think my strengths come at the cost of other things, at least in my particular case.

You're not alone. Most developers do not have the depth or wide knowledge. And most [consequently] struggle to or are oblivious to many concerns and opportunities, and to intuitively or quickly understand and follow such information.

Which does not necessarily mean they're not productive or useful.

Read/Inspect and contribute to FOSS. They'll be bigger and longer lived than small, personal, and experimental projects.

Study computer science.

Work, preferably in an environment with mentors, and long-/continuously-maintained projects.

Look at alternative approaches and ecosystems. Like .NET (very good docs and guidance), a functional programming language, Rust, or Web.

That being said, you ask about "should", but I think if it's useful for personal utilities that's good enough as well. Depends on your interest, goals, wants, and where you want to go in the future.

For me, managing my clan servers and website, reading online, and contributing to FOSS were my biggest contributors to learning and expertise.

its goal is to be more user-accessible than NixOS

How does it attempt to do that? I assume it doesn't change Nix. Does it hide the configuration behind GUIs?

The "rectangle" probably isn't supposed to be this messy?

In highlighting the need to understand the requirements before development begins, the research charts a path between Agile purists and Waterfall advocates. ®

Random trademark symbol. What's the registered trademark here? The dot? "advocates"?

It's not POSIX either, but I'll answer your closing question: My current shell of preference is Nushell.

a random program

like

alert(Math.random())

You're asking about the backend only, separated from the fronted? The fronted will be HTML only, but independent of the backend anyway?

Doesn't that mean you're introducing another interface and a need for another backend for the HTML frontend generating?

If it's independent, why does the frontend intention matter?

My first choice/exploration would be C#/.NET.

you can completely understand how the page will look just by reading the html

You lose being able to read meaning and structure though, and you also lose technical accessibility.

I like to add css hacks to websites. But I can't if they don't have useful, identifying, and stable selectors.

Static typically refers to static pages. Which can have dynamic elements, but no backend.

IE: you can’t have a contact form without paying a 3rd party.

Unless you open an email client or other url to forward the contracting I don't consider that (purely) static anymore.

Given that, I'm not sure what you even want "static gen" for? You may be looking for the wrong thing.

From your description, my view is limited, there is no correct solution. Any choice is viable and fine, and any decision you make will be due to the reasons you chose with.

You didn't disclose what the alternative opportunity and field is, and also not your view on the field and you in it. So it's difficult to assess and put into relation.

You didn't disclose what you did before work, but two years is not that much experience for an engineer. Especially if it is not a particularly nourishing environment. You gain such expertise through experience and exposure over time. Depending on the project and environment it's also not enough to fully understand and intuitively know a big project.

At my workplace we separate role from [personal] development level. As a developer one's role may be developer or lead developer. The development stages are Trainee, Junior, Professional, Senior. If you can work on tasks mostly self-reliant (asking and collaborating is still open of course; knowing when to ask is a skill too) and can put tasks and work into context, you are a Professional. A Senior can support and guide the team. It is perfectly fine to settle for Professional.

Not being exceptional is not a good reason to quit. If you work and bring value, that's still value. Don't decide whether you are valuable or good enough for others. (This leaves out the question of what it means for yourself of course. Tackle those questions individually.)

You say you get your work done. Continuing to do that at a Professional Developer rather than Senior level is fine. You still bring value.

I want to know if that’s what it sounds like to people who’ve seen that before. If you were in my position, would you walk away and just be a hobbyist programmer or stick it out and hope to be a mediocre engineer one day?

I really can't answer that specifically.

You said your team environment is not the best. I assume you don't do retrospectives or personal feedback. Is feedback something you could ask [of some of] your team members, lead, or seniors? (Take care not to poison your question for open feedback with your negative assumptions of yourself and your work.)

Where would you like to be? Separating what you think is expected of you from your expectation and view of yourself and from what you enjoyed and where you think you would feel comfortable settling, how would you lay those out?

Have you considered switching project or employer? You have only seen and experienced that place. A different work environment could be very different - even in the same field.