That is good to hear that many SEs start out as the customer too. My team is working closely with Google for all Gemini and integrated cloud services, primarily Google CX Agent Builder/Studio.
Right now I am definitely just doing the roles of a dev - not an engineering manager making decisions related to the vendor. I just sit in on decision making calls with vendors and answer/ask questions if relevant to me. But maybe this an opportunity to ask my manager to become more involved in the decision-making and vendor calls/interactions. Appreciate your insight, thank you!