Actually there are more beginner-friendly standards in the hobbyist electronic space. Using an i2c plug standard like Sparkfun’s Qwiic QT / Adafruit’s STEMMA QT (which are mostly compatible) avoids soldering, but you’re limited to the i2c parts that they have breakout boards for.

https://learn.adafruit.com/introducing-adafruit-stemma-qt/sp...