If anything it's knowing the plumbing that makes you productive as a dev, of any kind. You just can't get around understanding how branching works, or having some unit tests.
Very little of the work ends up being the bit you think you're there for. I suspect it's the same in many industries. My parents ran a restaurant, and there's a lot of cooking, but there's also a lot of driving to the wholesaler, picking out vegetables, cleaning surfaces before and after a day, doing the plates, accounts, and so forth.
