Maybe this is the case today. When I went to school EE’s built things, they didn’t just design them. In fact, you would be looked down upon if you could not assemble your own design properly.

Note I said “assemble” not “solder”. At the time (‘80’s) wire-wrapping was a viable prototyping option. Once digital circuit speeds and complexity increased the option evaporated. I must have wire-wrapped thousands of feet of circuits, including a 6502-based multiprocessor robot controller.