Not underpaid. No experience in real life software engineering. Probably thinking of this ideal world where there is planning and then a waterfall implementation.
I think waterfall hits the problem on the head. The course and certification are the product of a waterfall process. Consider all the work to update the questions on the course: The course syllabus, training material, tests. There are processes for each of those, with stakeholders to sign off.
If you want to change a question or add a new priority, you might make one of your stakeholders angry because that was their favorite topic and they have strong opinions.
The rollout has to be planned so that people currently studying the material are not caught off guard when they take the test.
I have a lot of empathy for the people involved, but it's still a bad product.
