It seems to me that if one looks for a Cisco, SUN, Oracle or Microsoft oriented job, that the certification may not increase your pay, but you also wont get the job without it. The laundry list of skills most mid - to - advanced IT positions require almost always require one or more certifications. Just hit Monster, Dice or someone similar to prove that fact. Just how many Java, Oracle, Cisco, VoIP, BI, security experts are really out there? Maybe the shortage of IT workers is partially due to trying to collapse three positions into one????