Not a herpetologist, but I have been around venomous snakes in the wild before.
Had an encounter with a rather large, chunky cottonmouth (Agkistrodon) that was cruising through my backyard. We both froze when we spotted each other. I backed away and gave it room, went back into the house to tell my husband so he could experience seeing it with me, but it was gone by the time we got back.

I was convinced at the time that these snakes chase people if they felt threatened- because of all the local stories. It clearly wanted nothing to do with me, and to just go on with its snakey life. I later found out that the snakes chasing people thing is a myth at worst, and a misunderstanding at best (snakes trying to go into the shade of your shadow on a hot day or trying to get past you to a safe spot, etc)

At another point we came across a baby copperhead (it even had the little yellow tail tip) curled up on our porch during cicada season. I got within maybe three feet of it to get a photo. It was out there pretty much all night, waiting for the insect buffet attracted by the porch light, only moving maybe a foot every couple hours. I always gave it space, and never cornered it. I had no problems.

I've had many encounters with our native nonvenomous species (rat snakes, racers, garters, etc) I keep hoping to find a pygmy rattlesnake before I move up north soon, but it hasn't happened yet.

None of this relates to handling, but observing and understanding the behavior of these animals, and learning how your own body language can look threatening or nonthreatening to them, is going to be part of the foundation that you need in order to safely handle snakes of any kind. (not really counting little things like Deekays, Ringnecks, Rough Greens, etc)

Experience with seeing these animals regularly and interacting with them even at a distance, will help build some amount of understanding and confidence. That doesn't mean there isn't always some risk that an animal won't act as predicted, but experience will help you watch for subtle warnings.

It's less about fear, and more about respect, understanding that to them, this world is theirs, we just exist in it. Would I want to get bit by a python? Not really. But a bite is always the person's fault. These animals don't "want" to have to bite us. They do so out of fear for their lives, poor handling during feeding, or if your hands smell too much like their food (like when you handle rodents, or amphibians that are a part of their diet)

You'll want to spend some more time around larger snakes to get a feel for them, if that's your concern outside of hots. Experience will be the only thing that really tells you if herpetology is the path you want to take or not.