The After Effects of trying to Nuke everyday compositing problem
I started out with After Effects as my first compositing software and being layer-based, the learning curve was not that steep since I use Photoshop religiously since 2001.
To be frank, my first exposure to node-based compositing is not through Nuke but with Shake. Not that shake that you drink or shaking someone hands (same goes with Nuke as it does not imply launching a nuclear bomb to solve your compositing problem neither does After Effects with its unknown side effects in the visual effects industry).
To make things easier to read instead of a wall of text, I will list it down in summarized form.