I’ve used GIMP for decades and it’s never crashed on me. Krita and Inkscape are also great imo. I’ve used photoshop. It’s fine. I really think issues with the UI are mostly just an issue of what you’re used to. I see exactly the same thing with people switching to Blender or Vi uses trying to use any otherr editor in the world
New Zealander here. I work in IT. Americans seem to get on fine here in the IT sector. NZ is less right wing than the US but you wouldn’t earn as much and housing is expensive