If you are made out of matter stay away from manjaro. Other than that I agree, and would recommend debian slightly over fedora but that is just personal preference. Also I feel like opensuse deserves an honorable mention. Maybe not tumbleweed, but leap could be suitable for a new user and yast rocks.
Edit:
Also vscodium can be good alternative to vscode. It is vscode without Microsoft's tracking, but an exact copy otherwise.