I'm ok with translating is as "noob", but if you want to be nitpicky about semantics, "amateur" would be quite literally "любитель", and absolutely not "новичок

I'm ok with translating is as "noob", but if you want to be nitpicky about semantics, "amateur" would be quite literally "любитель", and absolutely not "новичок". And, yes, "новичок" is 100% literally "newcomer", both etymologically and in all possible meanings it can have in English.