Yes, as I wrote, Irrlicht is only a little difference. It is very intuitive and easy to understand. This changes with other engines.

And as I also mentioned: The real challenge is to code something more than just water, sky and plants. Slin, you already know this for sure. Your challenge is the shader / shadow route and I am sure this is really a knowledge that will help you later to get a job.

And most XNA developers know this as well. They have to code scene-management, physics and so on on their own.