I’m a bit sceptical about the benefits of learning “native” js ways to manipulate the DOM. Sure, you definitely need to learn JavaScript as a language, learn how to write algorithms in it, and learn its features and quirks as compared to other languages. And maybe in your future job you’ll never write a single line of jQuery… but you’ll be doing very little native DOM manipulation either, because it will mostly be handled by the framework or library your project uses.
jQuery is a good starting point because it’s simple and cross-browser compatible, so you can use it to quickly build simple websites while you’re learning. And there’s a good chance you’ll get to use it professionally too - it’s still a very widely used library.