As too my "only go off past experience". That isn't exactly true. I usually test the people I interview by asking them questions. Some certifications that I have took were not jokes and you actually got something useful from them. MS though seems to be more of a push a button and hope your right.

My problem has always been in my 18 years in this field that I can sit down and do the work mostly perfectly, I am just really bad at taking tests. The company I used to work for paid for all my tests and to go to seminars. Unfortunately I moved from the Tech Industry into a retail environment. We have enough time trying to get them to understand they need an IT let alone pay to improve us.

Even though I received a certification for MS SQL 7. It really meant nothing once I came here as the DBA (among many other positions). This list alone has saved me more times than anyone could ever imagine.  I use this as my bias towards certifications.

Certifications do play a small part when I hire people, very small, but if they have a certification it shows me that they at least have a small chance that they want to learn more and possibly will not be a slacker. Of course depending on there attitude in the interview I can also look at it as they just want more money.

So many people have certifications now, that a certification 10 years ago that would get you $4000 more a year will now only get you $500 if that.