Similar experience here. The best thing I've built in a long time is replacing a complex (and scary) permissions system built on top of Snowflake with single role duckdb databases that - aside from no longer worrying about bugs leaking data across roles - are more performant, timely and flexible. Combined with the use of AI this is the way forward IMO.

At the other end of the spectrum, working with random data on "what if?" and exploration tasks with DuckDB is fun again. it's so straightforward and fast, with tools and functions for pretty much everything.