I think this is true when you realize "customer" means "coworker" or "person on the next team over" or "management" or "your intuition about the problem". Which all sort of have the same shape.

Agree. What a strange perspective. Engineering is what is hard, and that includes coding and non-coding activities but doesn’t require customer interrogation.

That has only been true in the largest corporation I've worked for (around $4bn annually). Even then, we (devs) had to challenge inconsistencies in requirements or incomplete specifications. The only job I've ever had where I could just do exactly what I was told and get away with it was right after I got out of college.

That job was often called a "business analyst" in "the old days".

Not in agency or consulting jobs.