The latter. Every time I install i3, I like the flexibility it offers for first few minutes, and then suddenly I find myself unable to do some old thing which is very easy to do in GNOME, and then get frustrated and revert back. Also, the documentations are very long and complicated for a relatively new GNU/Linux user like me.
In what way? Dive right in. Set your own shortcuts, and just use it. It's not terribly different, you're just not dragging windows around and everything is fully maximized unless you use some sort of gaps system. Check the i3 documentation, reddit i3 forums, and also /r/unixporn can be useful for finding things that will assist you with tiling wm's.
Kickstart your configuration by looking around on github for other users' dotfiles, everybody needs to do some common things after all, like opening programs, changing volume, brightness, suspending, etc.
In my opinion, as someone who used i3 exclusively for years but switched back to Gnome, don't bother.
You're not actually going to be more productive with a different window manager. You may feel more productive, but it's highly unlikely that how quickly you switch between windows is an actual bottleneck in your life.
As a former devout Fluxbox user, I concur with this comment. I use a pretty bog standard Gnome now. It's not really an active thought so much as something that Mostly Just Works.
My productivity is about the same, since I use the same applications. The only thing I don't have is an incessant need to fiddle and tweak.
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[ 1.4 ms ] story [ 32.2 ms ] threadArch wiki is useful. Also https://faq.i3wm.org and https://www.reddit.com/r/i3wm/
My dotfiles repo is private but here is mine: https://gist.github.com/simonacca/425dad70526bcfd9c6af7ed5f4...
You're not actually going to be more productive with a different window manager. You may feel more productive, but it's highly unlikely that how quickly you switch between windows is an actual bottleneck in your life.
My productivity is about the same, since I use the same applications. The only thing I don't have is an incessant need to fiddle and tweak.