Am I the only software engineer unable to build anything?

Question

My company has bought hundreds of 3rd party systems and glued them with bubblegum. I should be thinking how to improve the situation and developing but 90% of the time I am running around the office trying to find who is responsible for what. Some weeks I even do not write a single line of code and any change in the current system configuration takes weeks to get approval from some stakeholder somewhere. Also, most of it is "no code" so everybody can change anything.I have never seen such a situation in my life, just wanted to ask: how common is it?

gt50201 · Accepted Answer

I think that while it is a common situation in small/scrappy companies, unless you want to get good at scrapping together tech solution, this may not be the best experience for you right now.
I was fortunate enough to start at one of the big four out of school and work on some cool projects. I eventually went to work at a few startups, where it was more about being a good plumber (similar to what you are doing) than being a good coder. Many of the junior engineers got burnt out by trying to build and create solutions (where do I make algorithms?!?) around these 3rd party systems but the truth is, that wasn't what the business needed. Since I had already had my fix for creating some complex software, I did okay. I probably stayed at certain startups too long but I did get better at knowing when to build vs buy and how to build+buy+glue.
What helped me develop that knowledge was actually spending years building so I knew the cost of design/implementation/support/extension.

slater · Answer

Very. Get used to it.

cmollis · Answer

sounds like every company I've ever worked at.