Its a profession based on commission. The real challenge is landing a project. the partners/bosses of the firm take that risk. Lets say for instance, a residential project costs around a million $ to build. A architect makes about 5%-8% on average of that cost as fees = $80k. This is spread across lets say 3 people for a duration of 12-24 months. To conceptualise, design, develop a scheme, coordinate with the client, consultant and contractors and the develop detailed schedules and drawings whilst reviewing materials, samples and building code etc., does take an insane amount of time. Its like making a manual on how to build something for real. (Imagine this process as making an ikea design manual for an SOC or the latest iPhone) only, each iPhone is different and comes with lots of requirements and varied configurations.
Its also a profession based on experience and the more you have it, the better your chances of landing a bigger project. Hence people put in way too many hours than humanely required - with the hope that they climb the ladder or gain enough experience to start their own practice.
I guess I'll be an odd-ball here. I'm an Architect. A real one - that designs built spaces. The hours are insane and the pay is crap. But I absolutely love it because I get to create things in real world. Shakespeare said " All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;"
I get to design that stage, add a piece of my imagination into the real world. I also code and mess around with ML and game engines to see how agents could create spaces with discrete elements. There are many times I think of jumping ship to UI/UX or AR development due to my graphic, design and problem solving skills, but , the amount of satisfaction I get solving a real world problem with design is more meaningful to me than to be able to afford a decent living wage.
Its also a profession based on experience and the more you have it, the better your chances of landing a bigger project. Hence people put in way too many hours than humanely required - with the hope that they climb the ladder or gain enough experience to start their own practice.