> Like imagine trying to explain systemd timers and services and unit files to a beginner.

I think it's... easier? Like "systemd is the place where your system manages all the processes it needs to run. Part of those processes can be run on a schedule, or on a timer, and you define them using this simple text file".

cron is easier for easy stuff ("just run this every 10 minutes") but harder for hard stuff ("run it every 8 hours but with randomized offset so not all machines at once do it, but also if machine was down when it should run, run it immediately").

It is also easier to debug as every job gets its own log rather than trying to write to system mailer nobody had set up with the job errors