[geerlingguy]

> When done correctly, automation tools are giving [developers] time back — and helping out of this problem of needing to wear many hats.

I've found this to be the case both in my full-time job (enterprise/healthcare industry) and in my larger side projects. Using some simple tools to make sure both server environments and deployments are uniform/repeatable/known in a good state has given me much more time to focus on actually developing.

Additionally, there are times when certain features (especially surrounding performance and scalability) requires a deeper knowledge of part of your stack. Being a good developer requires you to be a specialist (in your primary language/tools) and generalist (in almost all other areas) at the same time.