could you give me a hint why you didn't like jsonnet? I dreaded k8s yaml when needing to (write) and use helm packages and think of indenting levels, but jsonnet via grafanas tanka gave me the option to be concise, writing functions and creating reusable bits. Of course then you're not far away from using a real language "sdk style".

As you so aptly put, k8s learning curve is beginner hostile and needs system knowledge before you go at it, so I'm not sure if this was also with being more familiar with the abstractions - after having looked at k8s for 2-3 years, jsonnet made me finally like interfacing with the k8s apiserver.