I didn't have any trouble with sniping, really, and on my second playthrough mainly used sniper rifles because I'd gone the shotgun route the first time around. Mass Effect starts out hard (relatively, I'm not saying it's super challenging or anything) but once you reach a certain level the difficulty just kind of drops off as you continue to get more and more badass. Just do some sidequests, get some money, and find/buy some wicked armor.