Hahahaha, I do this job (the IT software installer), and no dev should be without admin rights.

It's not practical to sit around for a week or more while you wait for each piece of software to install. No dev will ever get any work done.

But then you're waiting around for the rest of the day for them to come install it.

DAY!? What magical place do you work at where IT is so specialized that you have to request them to install an application, and it only takes ONE DAY?

They wouldn't even know how to install our stuff.

Precisely! And then they'll get it wrong (or worse still say they won't do it the way you ask even though you will know better why those choices are needed!)