Smart contracts are going second layer so that isnt the core devs.  Much of the work on the chain is to keep scaling and making the operations as easy for app devs as possible.  That is the reason for HAF.  This allows non blockchain devs to get the data from chain without having to worry about updates to the blockchain.  That is handled by blockchain devs who feed HAF.  That is updates so the apps only need to maintain the connection to HAF and all new is instantly added.

That is just one example.  We have to make it easier for devs to get into blockchain.