We too started using docker for Ignition development recently, and it works like a charm.
It’s a lot faster to set up a new installation compared to virtual machines, there’s a lot you can automate (f.e. automatically copying backups), and it’s a lot lighter on resources than virtual machines.
Though I’m still looking for ways to make it more accessible for my colleagues with less Linux/CLI experience. For the moment, I’m using Portainer as GUI for docker, so they can start, stop and add containers. But defining volumes in Portainer is quite cumbersome, and you really need named volumes for a project that takes some months to develop.