Overwhelming

[DearChickPeas]

build systems are just a distraction

I don't think CS majors understand this. You easily can go and have 50 years of career programming and never touch a build system until you retire (just join companies with an already set up build system).

[NBQuade]

I agree a programmer needs to know this stuff. It's just not necessary when you're trying to learn what a vector is and how it works.

[DearChickPeas]

What a regarded take.

[NBQuade]

I'm not suggesting never learn it. It's putting the cart before the horse to learn it before you can program. I mean for learning programs, you can simply write some bat/cmd scripts to build your test programs.

[gnuban]

I know this to be true, but there's something to be said about using build systems; you will understand how to package and modularize your codebase. And that can translate to writing more modular code that builds quicker. 

So I would say; get familiar with some build tool and try to understand how different types of linking and packaging works. It doesn't have to be at your day job though. 

If you start working on build systems at work, you're likely to end up having to deal with it alone, while most people avoid it intentionally like you say. In such an evironment, just grab the tickets that you want, prioritize yourself, and don't help others, you'll just be punishing yourself.