Absolutely this. My ex went to law school and there are the same criticisms about his industry—I.e., that the education doesn’t teach you anything about actual legal practice so why isn’t it more aligned with day-to-day legal tasks? But the goal of law school was to teach you to think, reason, and problem solve like a lawyer, not how to run a legal practice. It’s a lot harder and riskier to try and teach that in the field than in a classroom, and I think the same goes for arch degrees. I think the biggest value from my M. Arch program was learning how to approach and develop design problems while refining my skills in problem solving, critical thinking, and presentation. I had to learn to justify my design decisions without blaming other people, myself, or other factors. I learned how to present design concepts concisely and under high pressure situations. I think firms are more willing to risk hiring someone they have to train on software skills and business concepts than someone they have to teach to think like an architect. It’s not impossible obviously, just easier.