> because one of the primary roles of a software engineer is to develop tools and abstractions to reduce or eliminate boilerplate.

Is it? Says who? Not only do I see entire clans of folk appearing who say ; DRY sucks, just copy/paste, it's easier to read and less prone to break multiple things with one fix vs abstractions that keep functionality restricted to one location, but also; most programmers are there to implement crap their bosses say, that crap almost never includes 'create tools & abstractions' to get there.

I agree with you actually, BUT this is really not what by far most people working in programming believe one of their (primary) roles entail.