Take the Big Project
Something I’ve learned as an engineer: when presented with the option of working on a big project, or doing anything else, take the big project.
The Big Project™ is a new dashboard, an AR/VR/AI integration, an experimental mobile or hardware app, etc. They take multiple people days to plan, and at least a month to complete, possibly with multiple engineers. People on the team are excited (and possibly a bit intimidated) by the idea of being the lead on the Big Project.
Let’s address the counterarguments right away. Yes, Big Projects are harder to pull off. Yes, there’s a chance you will fail.
I’m writing this blog post partially for me. I tried to avoid Big Projects early in my career because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to figure them out. Then I got into consulting, where Big Projects are pretty much all you do. Finding my way through that, again and again, taught me that the risks of the Big Project are worth it.
You’ll learn more. There’s no faster path to improvement as an engineer than building things. You get to create. You get to get stuck, then unstuck, learning tons in the process. You get to take an amorphous idea and turn it into ones-and-zeros in production. You get to make choices and live with them. When it comes to learning, the Big Project is the fast lane.
