Yeah, bazel is sort of the exception that proves the rule, here. I wish it did not have such an absurd learning curve; I've found it next to impossible to get started with it.
I'm not sure I see much point in using it outside of Google. Maybe if you're a company within 1/10th the size and have a lot of Xooglers? It seems like the sort of thing where most companies don't need it and therefore shouldn't use it, and those that do need it probably need to build their own that's right for them.
My work became a lot more, ahem, linear, once I moved us off of Bazel.