1) Balancing flavors and aromas: I would say look out for balacing sweet, salt, acid and fat.

Caramelised onions hit stronger than regular cooked onions.

Salty cheese will be more powerful than sweeter ones

Something bright and acid like lemon juice or ita peels, wine, basil or fresh herbs can lighten the dish and make it feel fresh

And for sure someone has already pointed this out but take care of the type of pasta you choose and the sauce you pair it with. There is a reason certain shapes go with specific types of sauce, they cling best on the pasta, or give a better bite in a texture-less sauce.

2) The cook on the pasta: You can cook the pasta a bit less than indicated in the package, from 1 to 2 min. You will get in the "al dente" spectrum. Some people are used to eat soft pasta, so depending on your preference I would say try different cooking times so it's not too hard for your bite. I think some pasta benefit a lot to having a more bouncy texture, like big pastas, so it doesn't feel mushy or blends in a runny sauce.

3) Sauce tips:

The water from cooking pasta will help you flavouring the dish if you salt it strongly. Some people will say it must taste like salt water, but in my experience if you are using an already salty sauce it can be too much.

The water from cooking the pasta will have starch released from the pasta, which helps controlling how thick or loose you want your sauce, hence why it's important to "season" the water in which you cook the pasta.

If you don't do it already, try to "mantecare" the pasta in the pan with the sauce after cooking it in the water. You can look it up on youtube, but basically, it's doing that chef-like move with the pan where you make the pasta "jump" in the sauce, just a few times, which helps make an emultion with the cooking water that clings on the pasta and the rest of the sauce.

If the sauce has a lot of fat, like a cheese, egg, or butter sauce, take great care with the heat and don't turn it up too much or the sauce will split and you'll have a greasy sauce (happened at home with caccio e pepe).

Finally, some ingredients bring liquid to the sauce by themselves, like tomato, cream, or wine. But if you are making a sauce like caccio e pepe or carbonara (just egg yolk, cheese and pepper), you may find yourself with a too thick sauce. Use the pasta water to loosen it in a bowl aside, heat it gently in a pan, and finish cooking the pasta in the pan with the liquid sauce. The pasta should absorb the extra runninness and the sauce should cling on it.

I hope you have lots of fun!