Sweet. I keep thinking I need to make something with Arduino. Even if it is just duplicating someone else's project just to get a feel of how it all works. Earn the 'engineer' in 'software engineer'.
Arduino's are a ton of fun, but I think the biggest barrier to entry, when coming from a programming background, is the electrical engineering stuff. The language they use is very similar to C. But to do things like wiring up an input button and an led, you end up needing to learn about Ohm's law and pull-down resistors. It amazed me how different analog and digital environments are, and how much we take for granted in our programming environments