If you realise it's a losers game then you can adjust your approach.

You need professionals and experienced developers to lead software development, set standards and keep quality high.

Smaller projects can have lower standards because there is less code, reduce complexity and fewer other developers to slow down.

On large projects quality, standards and fast feedback is important. You need better developers and create software to higher standards (devops, unit testing, documentation, processes, automation, code reviews, etc)