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when i say beginners, i am talking about myself. big projects require a ton of experience and one has to have a concrete idea of where they are going, or else it's very easy to spend time and reach nowhere. it's not entirely avoidable, sometimes you need to build some toy projects to understand things, but your whole resume cannot be just toy projects built by yourself without any real reference point. experience is more valuable when starting out.
so it's better to layout things on the timeline such that the initial few years of work is collaborative, in the real world, with people who are more experienced than you. if it's open source, even better! with time, you will get answers to your questions and deep insights by working with the tech stack. it's far better than not knowing things and then asking them on IRC confusing people. experience can't be spoon-fed, it has to be earnt, the hard way!