Are technical certifications of any worth?

I would guess that there is a very high correlation between CS degrees and programming or problem solving ability. I've worked in a pretty good lab full of grad students and their average skill level was dramatically higher than what you find at an average company (or at least, what I've seen working at half a dozen or so places), let alone what you see from average job applicants. Upon graduation most of these people easily found jobs at places like Google. They didn't get stumped on FizzBuzz because they had spent their time on abstract academic problems without real-world application.

There are definitely some people with CS degrees who cannot code, and you don't want to hire those people. The existence of these exceptions however doesn't mean that degrees aren't a strong positive signal when you are looking to hire somebody competent.

I think there's at least some reactionary bias against formal qualifications in the software industry and in startups. Some of the old professions like law or medicine do go too far the other way, but it's just as wrong to fetishize "real world experience".

Most (not all) are pointless multiple guess waste of time and passable by anybody compitent after they have drunk a bottle of vodka, been up for 5 days straight etc etc.

Some are actualy using real good practical exams and those have some crdability though they are few and washed by the tarnshish of certs being crap since the MCSE multiple guess muppet days. I've been a situation were the MCSE guru was unable to resolve a windows problem and me as the UNIX guru solved in a minute using common sence and understanding computers. That to me highlighted why alot of certs are bad.

Now sadly certs help you get past the HR people who have no clue about IT and over the past 10-20 years grown into a egotistical power-house that controls things they have no clue upon. 20 years ago I had a job interview, I was in my late teens and was a etchnical position. HR interviewed me first and there attitude was so sucking even saying I dont see why somebody your age should be paid this amount. i then had te technical interview with the person who was the manager for the job and his contractor and blew them both away with my skills that they offered me more than I was asking for. I turned them down just becasue the HR department pissed me off that much. So Brown and Root engineering, you missed out there.

Sadly HR have grown and so have a whole generation of IT managers who don't know IT or can use word and think that is knowing IT. These sadly have no clue and will look at a CV for certs.

Bottom line if they need certs then generaly they are not a company that you want to work for and if they dont demand certs and do proper technical interviews/screening, then they are the ones you want to be working for. Anything else is extra crap/stress you will never be paid to endure.

Remember that there is only one real certification that carry's any real weight and needs to be respected and that is the certification of sane and insane. Respect them both as one bites and the other knows somebody who bites.

How to get a interview and bypass HR, now that is a certification I'd study for thesedays.