Management often views software engineers more like machines that spit out code rather than actual engineers who design software. I can't tell you how many projects I've been on where someone up the ladder is unhappy with the time estimate given to complete a feature so they either bring on a contractor or pull a team from another project

Invariably, the additional "help" makes a giant cluster fuck and the people who are actually familiar with the code are now stuck having to scrutinize every PR and fix a ton of defects rather than contributing to feature development. Then the feature takes twice as long to develop as originally estimated. Management scratches their head, shrugs it off, and repeats the same mistake the next time.

I think the main reason is that big companies are full of engineers working outside their area of expertise.

So they're bad engineers for the given task.

I just write mediocre shit cause I know my company doesn’t give af about me. Code works, ship it. It’s not my personal passion project. They own the code and IP, I’m not taking it with me . It’s a job, for a company that would gladly replace me in a heart beat. Not to mention, I don’t get paid more money if my code is the most beautiful code ever, or barely works.