If you are in a .... contest, I use Linux for exactly 25 years, and I always use the newest software I can get my hands on, in some cases even beta (like with mesa or some intel drivers) - in the last 15 years it is Debian - combination of testing/unstable (some packages from unstable) and a lot of self compiled ones for those that don't exist in Debian at all or have old versions (even in unstable). Had one case the the update broke my system, it was fixed few days later (after a weekend) - I probably don't update that often (when I remember to do apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade) to get more frequent breakages or don't use that much of software.

If I knew about Arch earlier I would have switched, because it sounds like my kind of distro - but I have to much customizations and too much kids to have time for that right now.

I never quite get why people want they development environment be similar to production - you install IDE on production? Or you just code in vim/emacs/ed without any plugins (because production doesn't need it)?

Again, system vs. apps, though. My production servers don't have Slack, Spotify, GUIs, etc.