MATLAB vs Python — which should I learn first for engineering jobs?

I'm a junior mechanical engineering student and everyone keeps telling me different things. My professor swears by matlab programming because it's what industry uses for control systems and signal processing. My roommate who's doing data science says Python has taken over and I'm wasting time.

From what I can see, a lot of aerospace and automotive companies still require MATLAB fluency — especially for simulation and hardware-in-the-loop testing. But Python seems more versatile for data pipelines. Is it worth getting certified in MATLAB before graduation, or should I split my time?

I started working through the MATLAB practice test material to get a feel for the exam topics. The coverage seems solid for matlab for engineers — covers numerical methods, matrix ops, and control flow. Wondering if the cert actually carries weight on a resume or if it's just a checkbox.