Yep, even for military projects such as SAGE and Bombe, I'd say the a normal day is not too different from an engineer's normal day. After all we are all humans, and bureaucracy inevitably grows within all such large projects.
I'm not sure. I've been through some interesting ones. Some pioneering work on courseware for Apple II computers, one of the first Brazilian news portals, the third-gen Brazilian voting machines (the one with Windows CE - not my fault)... All these had the feeling that we were on to something big, not that we were writing history, but that history was writing itself, as if all we could do was to surf that huge wave. And surf them we did.
I understand the value of work-life balance, and I wouldn't compromise it on a normal day-to-day operation, but when you feel like you are doing something really great, it's almost like the art takes control and you need to chanel it into the world. That the thing you are building is begging to exist and you are the one who can deliver it.
