I've heard differing viewpoints on certifications. Some developers claim they are entirely useless because most (if not all) are vendor specific. While some, swears by these tests.

For example, Zend offers the Zend Certified Engineer for PHP. If you're a programmer, have you taken tests like it or the ZCE? Do you feel it has truly helped you?

If you are looking for developers, do you favor candidates that have a certification in a particular language?

If you're looking for a job, especially in the corporate world, certifications are important. If you're promoting yourself as an independent developer/programmer, those people who will consider hiring you are normally more interested in results than papers. They want to see examples of your work, not your grades.

If you work for a consulting firm, then you need certs. If you are freelance, then you don't need certs, but you need either history/portfolio or good salesmanship. If you work for corporate and want to stay put, then you don't need certs, if you work for corporate and expect to move "up" (meaning around, or up in salary with each new job) then you need certs. It's pretty much that simple.

I don't think that certifications are always important. It really doesn't matter when it comes to internet marketing, but when it comes to your own business is when it will become an issue.