How to solder electronic circuits - build projects and fix devices 

You can do it!

You'll be fine. Just take it slow and work out what you want to do before you try it.

To be honest I've always used lead based. Mainly because I've got a pile of it I'm still working through from my electronic engineer days..

My dog handles that side of production. You'd need to ask him.

Just to hold the pins in place!

Give it a go, it's all about "technique" and just a bit of practice. I hadn't touched a soldering iron in around 25 years until the "You Know What" happened around 2020 and took up electronics as a hobby again when spending a lot of time locked indoors - now I've got into Arduino, ESP32 and building circuits, as well as taking my computer repair skills on further and doing motherboard repairs using an oscilloscope. Now I am "happy as a pig in wossit".

Yes. It's great fun being able to build up your own projects and as @terrydaktyllus1320 says it just needs a bit of practice.

Definitely give it a go. A great tool to have in your project skill set.

Are you using flux paste? If you've got this sort of problem the flux in the solder wire probably isn't enough to get it all cleaned out so you're not getting proper wetting of the metals.