Hmmm, ceritification in my opinion is good as a suppliment to a resume. People hire for what you can do for them, and will look at you as a whole so to speak. My best suggestion is to get certified as leverage, but take the time to really sit down, look at code do graphics and see what you can develop. Good ideas are found all over the place and are great tools for inspiration. Then build a portfolio with some of the creations you made as an example. Also, do some free jobs to build the resume and have some live sites out there. That impresses people.

Here are some links to help you along:

http://www.thebestdesigns.com/55.shtml <-- a good place for inspiration, resources, etc.

http://www.worstoftheweb.com <-- Knowing what NOT to put on pages is important.

http://www.htmlgoodies.com <-- An excellent resource on HTML, JS,CSS and more

If you wanna talk more, PM me or click the link in my sig.

Jack