For me the Beginner's Box sets would be a must unless I'm joining an experienced group. It has been thirty years since I've played an RPG and am fairly sure I wasn't "doing it right" for a number of reasons. I most certainly would be in need of some "hand holding."

I think (EotE, or other) Beginner Box would be best approach for people who feel like you do. It starts from what is roleplaying game, actual play example and actual adventure is railroaded heavily at the beginning, but opens towards end. So newcomers are kind of guided into the game. More experienced players would probably feel a bit frustrated because of this.

There are some differences between BB rules and CRB rules, examples: in BB there are skill pilot, and in CRB it is presented by two skills pilot (planetary) and pilot (space). Critical injuries also work differently. But nothing which would hinder learning the CRB system if BB rules are mastered (IMO). CRB has about 10 times more pages than BB rules, so it's natural many parts are omitted or simplified. IMO even with just BB rules one could play a fairly complex campaign without problems, if one is OK with pregen characters. Biggest shortcoming of Beginner Box is that it doesn't have character creation rules, so players are forced to use pregenerated characters.

So TL;DR and summary: IMO some people would probably benefit getting Beginner Box instead of CRB. And for some getting Beginner Box would be waste of money, and only worth dice and maps. Personally I liked beginner box, although I started gaming 20 years ago, and have been active without larger breaks.