It depends on who you're working for. I worked at one financial institution, and worked with people who had no idea what they were doing, but they knew how to not take responsibility for stuff. I've also worked at a couple of places where they let you do your thing. In all cases you wind up being a consultant of sorts (internal or external) to whatever business team you're working with. You work with them from a technical side, but you also have to be able to communicate with them and understand their actual requirements. Not just what they say, but actually figuring out what they are looking for.
I like it, because I like learning how things work, and you pretty much get the chance to ask all the questions about how their business works, or at least how they think it works. Then the data will reveal something, either supporting, contradicting, or completely opposing the initial thought.
