I got into an interesting discussion yesterday with some developers here about the value to any of the Microsoft developer certifications (ie. MCSD, MCPD, MCAD). I kow there is a mixed bag of feelings out there so I'm asking if you have a certification and why/why not? If you're a hiring manager do you look for applicants to have certifications? Do certified people "Get things done" faster/better than non?
I have toyed with the idea of working towards a certification. About two months ago I purchased a book to help study for the first test in the track. I'm about 300 pages into an 800 page book and I can categorize the stuff into three categories. 1) Stuff I already know 2) Stuff I kinda knew but knew where to look up 3) Stuff I couldn't care less about. I slowly trudge on though and try to learn it all because the Microsoft tests seem based on syntax rather than large ideas and implementation.
Further, I question the value of any certification when there are companies out there who have knock off tests that mirror the real tests so closely that someone can take these "practice tests" and then go in and pass the real thing. In my situation I'm tempted to get one of these products to save the hours and hours of time I'm spending reading whether is DataAdapter.Fill(Dataset) or DataSet.Fill(DataAdapter). I suppose I could skip that section/chapter but I know the tests are filled with simple little questions, like the one above, that in the real world intellisense solves for you.