Hi all, mechanical & aerospace engineer here. Like the author alluded to, I DON'T think software is easy and hardware is 'medium' difficulty. Just my .02, hardware is expensive in terms of design, develop, test & iterate when compared to software development at the university level. From my experience, if you're studying mechanical/aero/civil/mechatronics/or similar fields, get involved in a student project / organization (as some one else has already commented) that culminates in the manufacturing of some doodad (plane, car, bridge, canoe, rocket, etc). Not only does it look good and sound good when interviewing for internships, it's actually really good experience to have if you decide to go and work at a large engineering firm after your studies (where they don't let the new young guy design the new rocket engine, for example); and having that bit of experience from designing your gizmo and then seeing it explode/rupture/sink when put in to practice is a valuable lesson learned to recall when you're designing a part for a large corporation. And as far as the universities I have attended, it is true and unfortunate that a lot of universities MAINLY focus on analytical work (undeniably necessary, but not sufficient).

-currently working in the aerospace industry