Someone at a party arranged by my employer claimed that my boss strikes down on any talk of writing code that isn't basic glue code because he doesn't want me to give the other developers any ideas.
He further claimed that yes, my boss does want me to work on the fancier stuff. He just doesn't want anyone else to think they can get away with too, heavily implying that my special abilities grant me certain privileges.
I don't know if he has insider info, or if these are just his assumptions.