Well just for the record, I would hire a guy that used to be a hell's angel over a professional cert collector if the hell's angel had the mad skillz that I desire. I too have seen paper MCSEs who don't even know how to join an exchange server to a domain.

Am I going somewhere with this? Yep.

Funny story. My mentor (who works with me now) used to be a hell's angel then went on to work for IBM in the early 70s where he developed an OS for them that is still in use today.

He has no certs, no college education, nada. He is self taught, reads *all* the time and has an IQ of 151.

A cert is a single part of an overall presentation. You need many things to be successful.