I do a lot of SMD rework and TBH soldering two wires together cleanly can still be a bigger pain in the backside. It's different, but not necessarily much more difficult (until you get to footprints like QFNs and BGAs where you can't see the pads at all, at least).
Well, you’re saying that after you already learned how to do it.
I am very new to the crafts and I can attest trying to solder smd stuff, with correct equipment is way easier than soldering 2 wires correctly together. And I also kinda hate QFN like packages where you can’t see the pads.