Yes and no; there are a few mistakes it's easy for a beginner to make, but if they're working from any decent sort of guide, I guess that shouldn't be an issue. It does get hugely easier to understand with experience; I think it's likely we tend to underestimate how much we didn't see when we looked at a wheel before we'd spent more than a decent chunk of time contemplating them.

Experienced guys can still make silly mistakes too, when it comes to weird spoke patterns like you get with different-holed rim/hub combos that require you really understand the offset between the left and right flanges, not to mention your times tables and so on...

Yeah, that's a good one. When I lace a wheel, I unscrew the nipple at first while pressing it onto the spoke to feel when the thread starts, and give each nipple two turns. Then with experience, I have a good idea how much more spoke I need to pull through each nipple, and often get quite close to final tension on the first shot.

A bit of tortoise v hare strategy - it takes a little while to pay off, but it's win. Not much time to invest at all either, couple of minutes a wheel max. Just pay attention to how those spokes feel before you tighten em. It's a good opportunity to bed in the outer elbows, and get spoke pairs acquainted with each other too.