Just wondering if my workplace is especially shit or if this is normal in the industry.

I am a frontend engineer. I don't get any mockups like wireframes or design specs. Requirements are generally just two sentences of text, even for a large module that take months to develop.

The lead developer often doesn't take the initiative to come up with the system design or an API design for features I need to build build. I need to consume API that doesn't exist and is not even planned for.

I feel like I often have to work in a dark room, blindfolded. I don't know what kind of UI design they want, how the data flow will be, how the API will look like, etc. It's so difficult to do my job as a frontend engineer.

It's like I'm basically on my own. Even though the lead dev should be coming up with a real plan and tell me exactly what frontend modules need to be built. Why should I think about how to design the backend logic or the API? Why do I need to be an artist creative too and create UI designs? And I get paid a miserly junior frontend level salary using which I can't save anything and live paycheck to paycheck still living like a student with roommates.

I often have to think about how to structure data in the backend. And then I make recommendations to the BE engineer but it's not always like this. It feels like a chaotic mess.

There is no one-on-one's with my manager. He doesn't seem interested in it. No feedback on my performance apart from the corporate forced annual review.

I've been here for around 6 months full time but more than 2 years as a part time student employee. I wonder if I'm just being unreasonable and expecting too much.