Is this a CS-specific mindset? Because in other engineering fields, the expectation is that students will gain a strong scientific/mathematical grounding at university, but specific vocational skills, like say how to use Boeing's wind-tunnel simulation software, will be taught on the job, in training programs for new hires.
I don't think software is really different - there are certain companies with unrealistic expectations that want fresh grads to know the obscure libraries and APIs they rely on, but that's relatively uncommon.
e.g., I got hired into Amazon out of school, and they use a crapload of proprietary software internally I had to learn in a hurry. Software supports this model of operation as much as traditional engineering.
I've also interned in traditional engineering before - and the differences really aren't significant. Both software and traditional engineering fields highly value internship experience both as an indicator of competency and as a recruitment tool. IMO software simply does this on a much larger scale - e.g. literally hiring thousands of interns across a single summer.
