"Technically competent" is a wide spectrum, you'd like to have to narrow that down a little. I use Manjaro. Started my Linux journey on Knoppix (for coolness)

"Technically competent" is a wide spectrum, you'd like to have to narrow that down a little. I use Manjaro. Started my Linux journey on Knoppix (for coolness), then Ubuntu (for easy/popularity), then Fedora (for serious workstation environment), now Manjaro (for a great UX and not putting up with Canonical's strong flavors on everything)