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The nice thing about larger SMD components is that you can route interconnect between the terminals. This way you get a "free" layer in the form of components.

you can definitely hand solder 0201s without solder paste, if you have thin solder, a thin tip (on your soldering iron) and decent magnification. I have successfully done 01005s with this method.

Hand soldering 0201s and anything above is trivial. The problem is that managing components gets harder and harder the smaller they are. I did two practice kits and the problem is that I lost two 0201s out of 10 and couldn't find them.

I really like using a USB microscope for taking a close look at PCBs. They're pretty cheap, free up a hand, and you can put the picture on a large monitor.

pro-tip: your phone's magnifier app can be used as a perfectly good digital scope, you just need something to hold it up with.

ios: Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls > Magnifier