This isn't just a problem common to project management, it's very familiar sounding to "devops" teams as well - while I agree that something fundamentally needs

This isn't just a problem common to project management, it's very familiar sounding to "devops" teams as well - while I agree that something fundamentally needs to change I do not believe it is the same problem. In the case of project management, what you have is horrible hiring practices that favor extreme credentialism (PMOC, etc) rather than a proven track record of results. Businesses seem think that anyone with a cert is going to be effective, but in my view, these certifications are mostly worthless in terms of actual skills gained. Another thing is, what should even change? No one knows. This isn't an unknown phenomenon, there just isn't anything better at this current moment. It's very easy to point at things and say they should change, another thing entirely to propose a solution. To me, I would put more technical requirements on PM's rather than these dumb PM certs, as the better PM's I've worked with always seem to have a much deeper understanding of technical nuance than their shittier peers.