Once you’ve restricted all your hobbyist designs/experiments to SMD, how do you go about producing the PCBs needed for prototyping? Personally, I dread the thought of etching my own boards.

But if scratching or etching your own PCB out of copper plate is very hands-on, very DIY, and very low-tech ... so there was no time for a PCB order. A perfect opportunity for the Old Ways™.