You mean…Satan?!?

Someone who is technically oriented and persistent; with a desire to get an understanding of the lower structures of the operating system, would be a great candidate for Gentoo. Regardless their familiarity with Linux.

Don’t. Not yet at least, since you’ve picked a distro.

Remember when you first started using Windows? All that new learning?

Remember that this is new learning again. Take your time to understand things, and like another poster said, d don’t blindly copy and paste.

Since you’ve picked Mint, utilize their community as there may be “Mint specific” solutions to many problems.

Good hunting!

If I could give only one reason to use Gentoo, it would be the community.

Anyway, if you choose this route, read the handbook through like a book first. Get an idea what you want your endpoint to be, then start.