@opsnlops You can do it! I resisted SMD into the 90s but then in the 2000s started messing with them and found it's not that hard. You just have to develop a few new soldering skills and tricks. I was motivated to do it because radio frequency stuff really benefits from tiny capacitors and no lead inductance.

Now I don't hesitate to use them even on one-off experiments where I cut the board traces with a Dremel. Lol. If you're going to hand solder with a conventional iron a "third hand" like welders use is useful to hold the chip cap down for the first solder joint. Another method I use is to tin the component and the spot where it goes, then reflow it. Once you have one joint stuck on there, the other is easy. For SOICs I solder two opposite corner leads to hold it in place then solder the rest.

Or you can do it right and use hot air reflow, which I've never bothered to do.