It is a lot of work, but there is litterally an order of magnitude in time and energy you spend to get the same result, depending of your technic. And when you start, you usually do it the hardest way.
Took me a moment to figure it out, but the word you are looking for is "technique". Unless you're talking about using Lego blocks :)
I agree. For a beginner, the first year is almost always disappointing. But after several years of trying and learning, you may be shocked at the abundance you can produce. I'm grateful for all the authors and youtube-ers doing some incredible and crazy projects that I can learn from