There were absolutely compromises, and the engineers who shipped it knew myriad ways in which it could be better.
To answer the question:
Find something you think is equally cool, learn what you can about the field, be open to the possibility of a pay cut, and start knocking on doors. Sometimes doors open. Work really hard when they do.
Two months before the Voyager probes were shipped for launch it was found out that Jupiter's magnetic fields and radiation environment were a lot stronger than anticipated, in excess of what the spacecraft were designed to tolerate. They ended up wrapping many of the cables on the spacecraft with aluminum foil bought from a local supermarket as a protective measure.
There were absolutely compromises, and the engineers who shipped it knew myriad ways in which it could be better.
To answer the question:
Find something you think is equally cool, learn what you can about the field, be open to the possibility of a pay cut, and start knocking on doors. Sometimes doors open. Work really hard when they do.