I've used Linux for over 20 years at this point, my first Linux computer was a PS2 console and my second one was a PS3 console. I remember the rc scripts and upstart, and I hated dealing with any of it, systemd, its timers and the user units were the most convinient change in decades. I hear so many anecdotal accounts of "sytemd destroying someone's system", yet personally it was nothing but a pleasant experience.
I think there's always needs to be an alternative, and I welcome anyone who's actually building alternative code paths and doing the work to create the alternative tools, but every time some tool gains a dependency on systemd to improve the functionality and the mob comes in complaining I can't help but get angry. It's open source. You can patch it. You can switch to something else, but instead you hurl insults at people volunteering their time to make software you run better.