As with many things, the hardest part is that I don't have the basic skills or knowledge. For example, soldering looks like the basic building block of putting electronic components together. For a regular software developer, it is akin to editing text. If you can't solder, then you can't build any electronics, and I didn't know how to solder. When you don't know what to do, how to do it, or why it should be done, making progress is hard.
In the hardware world, everything costs something. In the software world, once you have a computer and an internet connection, there are tons of free languages and tools to build real world applications. If you have been building robots for a while, you may have a collection of unused supplies. But for me, a beginner, I had to buy a lot of stuff, from wires to soldering tips and of course batteries.
It is not easy to undo a change. If you break something, you might need to buy a new one. This makes tinkering a little bit scary. For now, I don't have a good means of debugging a problem or testing a change. It will take a combination of increased knowledge and maybe some new tools (like a volt or current meter) to really be able to debug problems.
This experience reminds me of being a physics student. In class, we solved problems and the math worked out perfectly. Then, we tried to measure things in lab, and all the answers were just a bit off. The hardware world is much less forgiving, but I hope that going through the trouble of working with hardware will have some benefits. I hope to have a greater appreciation for all hardware, and I hope it helps me be a better software developer.
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