I disagree that I'd "be crazy not to use a host like Netlify and github/bitbucket integration (another thing to learn, of course, but worth it if you’re building any software anyway.).
All of that "junk" has nothing to do with publising content. It's like arguing that I need to learn about rack and pinion steering and be able to do my own oil changes to drive my car to work or to get to go see my family.
I agree that Hugo is fast but 3000 visit a day doesn't impact my wordpress blog -- 15 years now -- in the least bit. Hugo would give me a negligible increase in performance. So small that the trade offs are not worth the effort of all learning to be a plumber of the stuff you wrote above.
I really get pissed off with technoratic idea that everythign needs to be as hard as possible because you know "learning." It's arrogant.