Arjen Wiersma has been an Emacs user for a long time: twenty two years. He has a lengthy post about that time that describes those years and also his current set up.
It all started for Wiersma when, after drifting among several editors for a while, his mentor told him to pick one and devote sustained effort into mastering it. He chose Emacs and all these years later he’s glad he did. The story of those years is an entertaining read and worth your time.
The last half of his post is about Wiersma’s favorite packages. No real surprises there; his list is pretty much like mine. It includes the big two—Org mode and Magit—of course but he also uses Org-roam, MU4E, Which-key, Eglot, and Projectile. Those are all packages that can have a huge influence of programmer productivity. Wiersma makes a case for each so if you were wondering if you should try one or more of them, take a look at his post for some reasons you should.
Wiersma’s closing thoughts include one that I’m always pushing: Emacs, far from being defunct, is getting better and better. As he says, “Here’s to another 22 years [of] Emacs.”