Discussion on: Should I start by learning vanilla Javascript or a framework?

I definitely agree with this. However, I feel there is a middle-ground between understanding the fundamentals of what you're working on and just getting something out there, even without fully understanding every underlying piece of code. As Jobs once said, "Real artists ship."

I built my first complex production-grade app with Laravel PHP. I had some understanding of PHP before I started, creating some simpler apps. Then, as I scaled up my Laravel knowledge, I found I had to scale up my PHP knowledge to fill in the gaps that Laravel didn't cover.

I guess in my experience, learning isn't so linear, but hopefully you eventually end where you want to be.