I think it is hard to underestimate how much SQL code and database design is an afterthought on many projects. I tend to see lots of ad-hoc relational table/vi

I think it is hard to underestimate how much SQL code and database design is an afterthought on many projects. I tend to see lots of ad-hoc relational table/view/procedure creation by developers on the fly, without much thought put into how to best use a relational database and SQL to reduce the amount of code needed to implement a simple and straight-forward solution. So I would argue that you're not seeing the work of SQL developers, but rather the outcome of letting the db design and SQL code be done by inexperienced developers with backgrounds in imperative languages. Part of the problem is that SQL developers (and I'm in that group, both from personal viewpoint and job title) are not necessarily seen as necessary for a software development project, even when there is a significant relational db design and SQL code component in the project. Add in the fact that most of the db backend work is poorly understood and documented in the first place, and you really quickly get into exactly the situations you describe.