I started off my career after college as a hardware engineer. I loved prototyping (although analog design wasn't my thing). I ended up moving in a different direction career wise, but today I'm always amazed by the level and sophistication of open source tools for simulation and design. You could DIY back in the day too, but like anything else CAD tools and existing fab options got to the point where just about anyone with a bit of training could have a professionally crafted PCB built at a very low cost.