The simplicity of the chip means that the cognitive load in programming assembly is pretty straight forward. In my tween/teens the thing I had to get over was not being "afraid" of assembly but realizing it was just a lot compared to the MS BASIC you had in most micros of the era.

comapred to intel, or .NET IL or even java bytecode its restrictions make it easy to pick up again. Also a good macro assembler will aid in productivity