What's your opinion?  Are professional certifications worth it?  I need opinions here, so please respond.  I'll take responses to this post, or you can take the anonymous survey on my website here.

I'm fairly opininated here.  I'm all for getting your project management professional (PMP) certification through PMI, but I also feel that HR departments and hiring managers are lazy and are using it as an easy weed-out requirement, thus excluding qualified and experienced PMs who can manage circles around most PMP candidates.

That said, I also know that there are certifications out there that are essential to your profession.  I'm assuming most networking specialists aren't going to find a job without the proper certification.  Accountants need a CPA to be taken seriously.  Etc., etc.

Let me know about your certifications or lack of.  How you feel about them.  Have they helped your career or do you think they would if you had them?  Which ones are absolutely necessary and which ones are a joke?

Everything is anonymous, but I'll be using this information and possibly anonymous quotes in an upcoming article for Network World.  Thanks in advance!