a Help Desk job that I had would pay 25 cents more an hour if you had A+ certification. But then they only paid $9/hr to start with anyway. They would pay 50 cents more an hour if you had your MCSE. Also 50 cents more an hour if you spoke Spanish for their Spanish speaking hotline. I got hired without the A+ certifcation.

In some cases I think it just means that you will earn more than people without it. But there are other jobs that will require it to screen out applicants.

My former boss wasn't impressed by certifications, he claimed all the answers were on the Internet anyway and anybody could pass their tests, so he wouldn't authorize us to get certified or even encourge us to get it on our own.