[ta8908695]

As someone who has worked in an electronics lab and done lots of soldering, I can say your setup makes a huge difference. A great setup will make soldering SMD components a breeze, but a bad setup will make it very frustrating. Practice obviously helps but a nice soldering station with some kind of magnification will close the gap a whole lot faster.

[sannee]

Using a proper microscope for soldering was definitely one of the most useful things I learned as a high schooler interning in an electronics lab.

I am still surprised that this is not more common. Even a biology-grade binocular microscope for 100$-ish makes a huge difference.