> Quite possible I’m still the junior in terms of skill though.

This is a very "senior" mindset.

IMO senior understands that simplicity is possible, but economically not viable for most projects. So complexity is inevitable evil. And true mastery is delivering products, keeping complexity at bay. Not spending time to pursue ideals and at the same time keeping project from felling down to unmaintainable mess.

Thats why I want a framework. Let me pick components. If at some point I need oauth its one composer install away with laravel

I do to, but now it's in a discord channel dedicated to venting instead of work.