I've had the opposite experience. As I've grown as an engineer, so has my appreciation for elegantly written tests. They help me refactor more quickly, anticipate edge and corner cases before the give birth to bugs, and deploy with greater confidence.

I've been writing software for decades now, and I find that it's quite the opposite. Other than using an SCM, nothing has been as much of a game changer for me as automated test suites.

I'm able to tackle bigger and larger problems with more confidence. I can tell when my new code has caused an error in some dusty corner. I more easily think through edge cases and sad paths. I can show someone my tests and they can understand what the module is supposed to do.

For the record, I don't TDD/BDD much anymore. I do use the lessons I learned while I was to write more testable code.

I would say, the easier (for you) the app is, the less you need tests. I've seen very experienced engineers of an older generation working on a complex service, that when being introduced to tests, after an initial phase of reject, coveted them like gold.