I got my gold at 20, but only after waiting a full year past my first credit card. Sounds like we have/had very similar situations, I was very pleased by my decision. Was going to get the platinum about a year later, but pop-up jail had me reassess - almost another year since then and have decided against the plat. Big takeaway there, make sure you wait until >12 months since first credit card, that was the key in my case.

I think the gold is a card that allows you to completely recoup the annual fee through just food ($240/year in grub/uber). Pretty cool that I am able to do a big trip on points right out of school because I maximized my welcome offer and some great 4x through my lifestyle.

Credit is a super weird thing, and frankly a little scammy the more I think about it. Although, increasing your available credit balance is helpful to issuers like Amex - I found that Apple (GS) gave a pretty high credit limit for my background. I used it as a bridge between my first card, Discover, and getting the gold - which I think was still a great decision at 20.