Agreed, that's usually why I start a gig - they've hit a wall on technical scaling and need someone to help them dig out of it, so I can take over the firefight

Agreed, that's usually why I start a gig - they've hit a wall on technical scaling and need someone to help them dig out of it, so I can take over the firefights and provide the guidance on how to go about it, mentorship on whether a particular path is worth trying, that kind of thing.