Melting Metal, Making Connections: A Beginner’s Dive into Soldering

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to attend CypherCon, a regional cybersecurity and hacker conference held in Milwaukee. I’d been looking forward to it for months, and the excitement kicked in before we even got through the doors. I went with my mom’s husband, who works as an electrical engineer, and we’re both tech nerds at heart. In fact, one of our first interactions at the event was helping a vendor wheel in a trolley loaded with enterprise switches. That small moment set the tone—it was a hands-on, community-driven environment where people pitched in and shared knowledge freely.

Once inside, we explored the various booths and skill stations. The layout was like a playground for anyone interested in technology. There were areas dedicated to coding challenges, lockpicking, hardware hacking, and soldering. One of the highlights for me was getting to solder an ESP32 Wi-Fi capture device, which we were allowed to keep afterward. It was my first time using a soldering iron, and I was immediately drawn to the precision and control involved. The process of placing components, heating the pads, and watching the solder flow into place was both technical and satisfying. It felt like a skill I’d been circling around for years without ever diving into.

We also attended several sessions that pushed the boundaries of what I thought was possible. One talk demonstrated how to delid chips using acid and lasers, while another explored glitching software to bypass password protections using electromagnetic pulses. The mix of theory and hands-on experimentation made the whole event feel like a deep dive into the edges of technology. With my background in IT and his in electrical engineering, we were both in our element—exploring, learning, and getting inspired.

A few months later, at the end of August, I received a Pinecil smart soldering iron as a birthday gift. It was the perfect follow-up to the experience I’d had at the conference. The Pinecil is compact, powerful, and flexible enough to handle a range of projects. I started working through a few soldering kits at home—some simple, some more complex—and began building up my skills. I set up a small workspace and started practicing regularly, focusing on technique and consistency.

Through these kits, I learned how to read resistor values using the colored bands, how to identify and orient components like capacitors, diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits, and how to follow board layouts with attention to trace routing. I also learned the importance of heat control—too little and you get cold joints, too much and you risk lifting pads or damaging components. Each mistake taught me something, and each successful joint built confidence. I’ve started thinking about how soldering fits into my broader interests, especially in embedded hardware and smart home automation. It’s already relevant to some of the Raspberry Pi Pico projects I’ve been planning, and I can see it becoming a core skill in future builds or troubleshooting work.

Soldering has opened up a new layer of technical understanding for me. It’s one thing to configure networks and troubleshoot software, but working directly with hardware adds a level of control and creativity that I’ve really come to appreciate. I’m planning to keep practicing and eventually design a simple PCB of my own. The hands-on nature of soldering complements my IT consulting work and gives me new ways to approach problems—whether it’s repairing a board, customizing a device, or helping someone else get started.

CypherCon was the spark, and the Pinecil helped keep the fire going. I’m grateful for both—and for the chance to keep learning in a way that connects directly to the work I care about. Whether it’s building something new or deepening my understanding of how systems work at the physical level, soldering has earned its place in my toolkit.