I can't speak for the certs, but I can tell you that the DevOps course was actually pretty good. It had many real-world examples, wasn't copy-paste-click-next heavy and had great intros to the newer tech such as Lambda.
Just a quick chime in here - our system does in fact do that, and though I can't speak with authority about others, my understanding is that they do the same.
I think what people might be missing is that even with the features you currently have, there's a market for this application already, though maybe not as a stand-alone lightroom replacement.
If you think about batching, my brain immediately starts gravitating towards real estate, headshots, HS seniors photos, ENG.
In short: drop the filters, put the "basic" controls on the left, focus on what you do best.