It's not as extreme but I feel similarly every time I write dense numpy code. Afterwards I almost invariably have the thought "it took me how long to write just that?" and start thinking I ought to have used a different tool.

For some reason the reality is unintuitive to me - that the other tools would have taken me far longer. All the stuff that feels difficult and like it's just eating up time is actually me being forced to work out the problem specification in a more condensed manner.

I think it's like climbing a steeper but much shorter path. It feels like more work but it's actually less. (The point of my rambling here is that I probably ought to learn APL and use it instead.)