I think you overestimate the abilities of “certified AWS Architects”. You can get one without ever logging into AWS. At least for the “Architect Associate”. You could probably get away without any practical experience for the Developer Associate. By the time I got that one though, I had practical experience.

I did just that. I was a “software architect” for a company that was completely on prem that was moving to the cloud. Before I actually started working with AWS, I actually wanted to do it correctly and wanted an overview of the services offered.

For $reasons, I left that company about a year ago before ever touching the AWS console, and based partially on my “certificate”, I got another job and was given admin access to AWS. I spent the next year actually getting practical experience.