My code before a transitive dependency pulled in the k/k universe took milliseconds to compile. Afterwards it took about 10 seconds to compile. Laboriously compiling thousands and thousands and thousands of lines of nearly-identical code turns out to be much slower. There are no clever shortcuts for a compiler that cannot deduce a higher intent.

I have the same experience. I maintain lots of software that directly depends on k8s.io/go-client and it feels the same as any other Go project.