What do people with college/university degrees do all day?

When I worked on a production line I knew what I was doing and I knew why I was doing it. I was producing a product that would be sold. <br>When I worked at a gas station I knew what I was doing and I knew why I was doing it. I was selling products to customers, and I could see them interact with me and see a finished product that we sell. I can see the till at the end of the day and I would know how much money the store made. <br><br>Now, I work as a software engineer at a huge tech company and at the end of each day I ask myself; did I even do anything useful today? Nowhere I go in my day to day job am I interacting with any customers and nowhere I go in my day to day job am I seeing a finished product. Not only that, but the work I do is so narrow in scope that I have no idea what the product even is that we are selling. <br><br>I used to think that only my job was like this, but my friends also work similar jobs. One of my friends works for a big consulting firm, but the other two work for smaller companies and they describe similar experiences.<br><br>I guess my question is; am I the only one who feels this way? Do you feel like you are doing a real job in your day to day work? Do you feel like you could explain what you do to a child?