I don't understand why you think a search engine requires the use of "real engineering skills" like picking and choosing libraries and identifying which opportunities will yield fruitful optimization.
Literally all of the listed projects, text editors, compilers, operating systems, and ray tracers, can exercise the exact same activities.
I'm more inclined to think that your comment is really more revealing about what kind of knowledge is in your own personal wheelhouse. Having worked on a ray tracer that was subsequently used on many feature films, I can assure you that all of your bullet points apply to that project, too.
It's much more a matter of whether you want to do something small scale and fun, or whether you want to suck all the joy out of it by applying the same soul crushing constraints we already get paid to do in our day jobs. Bleh.
Literally all of the listed projects, text editors, compilers, operating systems, and ray tracers, can exercise the exact same activities.
I'm more inclined to think that your comment is really more revealing about what kind of knowledge is in your own personal wheelhouse. Having worked on a ray tracer that was subsequently used on many feature films, I can assure you that all of your bullet points apply to that project, too.
It's much more a matter of whether you want to do something small scale and fun, or whether you want to suck all the joy out of it by applying the same soul crushing constraints we already get paid to do in our day jobs. Bleh.