I managed 1000+ VMs without k8s with an orchestrator that less code than most k8s manifests I've had to work with since.

I fully accept that there are sizes and complexities where k8s is a reasonable choice, and sometimes it's a reasonable choice because it's easier to hire for, but the bar should be a lot higher than what it currently is.

It's a reason why I'm putting together alternatives for those of my clients who wants to avoid the complexity.