Certifications and impact on prospective clients/employers?

[sajdlz]

I searched the forums but did not find this topic discussed (I apologize if I missed it) I also didn't know which forum it would be most appropriate in so if the mods need to move it.. please do!

What is the view on certifications from places like brainbench etc. What are your experiences as both a professional and/or a company that has them and how they are viewed by others?

Do they help show at all that you at least have some idea on the subject or are they more detrimental to your case than helpful?

What certifications have helped you the most in your profession?

If you outsource to individuals, what do you look for and how do those certifications affect you?

I have a whole stack of certifications (mostly because currently I do not have the time to go get a degree) and am curious if they are even worth the paper they are printed on?

[netcastles]

I would like to know, too. I work mostly by word-of-mouth and have never had someone ask for my "papers". But that doesn't mean they won't.

[sajdlz]

No one has any experience or input on this?

[matauri]

When I arrived back in Australia about 3yrs ago, I found that many job vacancies asked for certification in relevent fields. I checked into the courses offering certification courses & was looking at costs of $10k. Microsoft ones being the worse. All of a sudden everyone wanted MS certification. After a bit of research I found that there were many reputable colleges that offered just the exam at a considerably lower cost. So I set about educating myself to jsut take the exam. During this time priorities changed, so I am glad I didnt fork out the $10k.

However, I was looking thru vacancies last week, and now I am not seeing anywhere near the same amount of ads requiring certification. So it seems that trends must be changing. Maybe employers are beginning to see that with technologies changing as fast as they are, that a certification from a couple of years ago isn't as relevent now, that experience is.