I go even further than you in this regard - I have never made anything that uses RS232 or USB; instead, I make up my own transmission protocols when I need some sort of data link (such as between a controller and the main circuit, or a monitor). Similarly, I have never found any inclination to use a graphical LCD display or whatever hobbyists usually use - I make my own displays (and in ways, they can be simpler and easier to use; for example, a computer monitor needs a video signal locked to horizontal and vertical sync, while I can just send a continuous stream of data locked only to vertical refresh (or a submultiple, meaning a data rate less than a standard “pixel clock”), with no blanking intervals or anything like that). Or even a data link that combines data and power, with data modulated so that a clock can be easily extracted from it, so only two wires are needed. I have used a parallel port for interfacing to a computer, but I don’t use it in the way it was intended to (i.e. the transmission protocol).
In other words, conforming to standards only applies if you WANT to be able to interface to stuff that you didn’t build.
Also, for SMT parts, I use larger parts (mainly capacitors) as if they are through-hole by soldering wires to them (in fact, some through-hole parts like monolithic ceramic capacitors are really chip capacitors with leads), or for chips, connecting them with thin magnet wire to sockets so they can be handled like through-hole parts, including rearranged pinout and other parts built onto them (except for the ones with really small lead spacing; I don’t find it that hard to solder onto leads 1/20th of an inch apart for example).