I'm looking at getting my first handgun soon. Trying to choose between the standard 9mm and the compact. Looking at mostly using it for predator protection in the woods, with home defense as a second function.
Discussion
Full size pistols are much easier to master than their compact and subcompact counterparts : larger grips that allow a full 5 finger grip, heavier weights that tame recoil, and longer barrels mean less noise, muzzle blast and flash. Small pistols have all of these things that will give you bad habits like flinching that are fixable but not easily, and not without help.
If you want to learn to shoot better than the average ape, get a .22 pistol or revolver. Put a few thousand rounds of serious practice through that concentrating on the fundamentals : grip, sight picture, trigger control...you will learn the skills much faster when you eliminate the recoil, noise, and expense of shooting a 9mm (or any centerfire pistol). You can buy 5000 rounds of quality .22 for about $400...5000 rounds of 9mm is about $2,600
How it fits your hand is one of the biggest determinants of what to buy. Most modern plastic pistols have interchangeable back straps for smaller or larger than average hands. For a first 9mm I would get a steel frame pistol because it will be easier to shoot well. Plastic guns are fine for duty carry if you have to carry a bunch of other stuff like a radio and cuffs and 4 extra mags, but for those of us that don't carry that extra stuff, a steel gun is fine as long as you have a good holster and gun belt.
I assume you are a bitcoiner so you don't want to be average. Do the work. The lowly .22 isn't flashy but its the best way to become a shooter.