First pickup? Have someone else do it for you.
I think it boils down to who you are. If you're one of those cautious people that wants a job done right the first time and is willing to learn and buy stuff to make that happen, and you're known for how you can do complex things the right way the first time, I'd suggest you do the pickup install yourself.
If you're not that good at complex tasks but are willing to learn, take a class or two on soldering and/or get some krappy used electronics to practice on.
If you're desperate to start playing the guitar ASAP, have the tech do it lol.
I'm USAF certified in soldering and electronics and yet for some reason I've had bad luck in this department, mostly I think because of my gear with which to solder, so I usually have it done by the shop so that I have someone to blame and someone to make fix it. However, recently I did a JB -> CC swap in my Ibanez without any issues.
Let me relate the story of my Ibanez. It is a RX240, and I hated how it sounded. Compared to my ESP with the hot rodded combo, it sounded like @#$. So I tried to swap pickups on it, but the guitar didn't work. First, I broke the back off one of my STK-S4 stack plus pickups, and sent it in to SD to get fixed, only for them to say it's unfixable and never get it back. I ended up routing out the body because the pick guard and electronics wouldn't fit down in it. I couldn't get it to work so I took it to a shop in Jacksonville, NC. They didn't do it right the first time, and charged me $100 because they honestly suck. The only reason I took it there was because I couldn't get it to work, but it turned out to be the 5-way switch.
That guitar has been abused and beat up too much for what I wanted to do with it. My ESP was done by someone in the USAF (friend) with the high-reliability soldering class certification (one step above my own) and he did an excellent job. I consider it my main axe so I have it done by a reputable shop when it needs modification. As for the Ibanez, it's my side project guitar, for me to learn to do better with.
Don't mean to bore you with the details, just that soldering isn't for everyone. Case in point: I did a high-quality modification to several F-117's when I worked out there at Holloman AFB, and had to actually fix what other idiots had done wrong. I did great with that. However, aircraft wiring and guitar wiring are not alike.
Anyways, good luck! I suggest that unless you have all the NICE equipment to do this with (not bargain-basement krap), have the shop do it. Good luck!
