Granted, but six weeks is easily long enough to learn how to assemble a computer, or to do basic soldering. If we're going to compare hardware skills and software skills, let's do so in a reasonable way. If we're talking about building a new system from the ground up, I think the comparison to kernel development is about right.

Much skill is needed to make a serious contribution to an open hardware project, but the same is true for many types of software.