> the right operating system, the right text editor (vim), and the right window manager (i3).

As a TA I see a lot of people who also made these same decisions, maybe just add Arch Linux and zsh to complete the cliche. So you don't have tl worry, as this is actually relativly commom.

But I don't think it is wrong to have intuitions based on stories, as long as these don't prevent you from trying out said tools or languaged yourself. They can be right, but they might also be outdated. Just stay curious.