As a hardware engineer, let me define what hard is when it comes to hardware vs. software. I wouldn't say hardware is harder in any way conceptually although o

As a hardware engineer, let me define what hard is when it comes to hardware vs. software. I wouldn't say hardware is harder in any way conceptually although of course both have degrees of difficulty. The main difference is that the "activation energy" of each step is greater, so you have to be more confident, deliberate, and determined when you are building. A step like assembling components and wiring together a breadboard is small but non-trivial amount of effort. So you won't find many people who just play and see what happens (which probably won't work anyways). A step like designing a PCB is as long as designing any piece of software, except you don't get to see the results until you're done. Well unless you have a fancy expensive commercial software that does simulation as well as layout. But it's still far from quickly throwing up a webapp and getting motivated with insta-results. You might get some inspiration, then have to horribly dig through Digikey or some other catalog to find your parts, then wait for them to be shipped. You might also find that some parts are not cheap. Not unaffordable for an engineer, but maybe you'd prefer the nice dinner over a slight probability of a future product. So time you could spend building sometimes end up being used to decide whether to spend the money. Basically, in hardware you get bogged down in details that have little to do with designing, whereas in software you can just sit down and go.