The great engineers I know have done it all before. They've worked on similar problems. They're not really breaking new territory.
I think this is where being 'prolific' matters.
Beethoven was a genius, but it makes no difference that he was smart if he didn't spend years and years just 'writing' music, transposing, experimenting etc..
That's the advice big composers give today i.e. 'you have to move quickly'.
If you were to watch someone build something, relatively quickly, you might be just amazed. But there is a lot of practice and trade-craft / craftmanship going on.