I was an infra guy early in my career, and I'm still savvy, and I still prefer using Tailscale. It's very polished and reliable.

But personally, I'm past the point of wanting to fiddle with things like this and would much prefer them to just work out of the box.. so I can fiddle with the things I wanted to, and not end up down a (personally) unenjoyable rabbit hole.

No judgment on people who do enjoy it, though! I used to, and maybe I will again at some point.