I don't think git is unusual in that regard, and I think those complaints would be unjustified. Loads of tools work totally fine with only the barest understanding of how to use them, occasionally have problems that require a bit more understanding of their internal model, and even more rarely require deep knowledge of their internal model. I think most development teams would be totally fine with only a single member who has a slightly better understanding of the internal model. That knowledge only comes into play very rarely for me. If nobody were available with that knowledge, those teams could make do by simply copying the work into unmanaged text files for a few minutes and then just "manually" override the botched merge that got them into trouble.