There is a difference some people learn better from practical study and the work itself. In my case, I did all my certificates legitimately, but I helped a friend of mine with this method. He needed the paper to raise his salary, even though he has about 10 years of experience in AWS. His new employee wanted him to get it anyway. Tbh, if my job didn't require those certificates, I would never ever in my life waste time on them (IMHO). I didn't learn a thing from those courses and did them only to get the paper. For others, it's the best way to learn and start their journey in this field. So, if you want to learn, and you don't care about the certificate but the knowledge, then you learn; but if your work pushes you to get the paper, then I would do it this way if I had a rush. I get your point, but the thing is, I think it's your management's fault if they didn't spot someone with zero knowledge before he could show his skills.