Certs do fluff up a resume nicely. But that said... not very many of my department have certs other then my network engineer. He has a CCIE, but just written, not practical (pretty common, that, the practical test is a real bugger).
I think only one of the group, a new hire, has an MCSE.
If you twisted my arm I'd say that certs don't really matter to me. There are too many people with boot-camp certs that really don't mean much (called "paper MCSE's").
Experience and (drum roll) *writing skills* are the things that make resumes float to the top in my group.
But all that said, you have to make a resume get pulled from the stack for an interview, and certs might just be the thing that does it, all else being equal.
Someone once told me there are only 10,000 full-on CCIEs in the world. I can't imagine taking that practical! It's like the nerd version of getting beat into the gang.
Well, networking is not where my plans lie, but Mamma always needs a new pedicure, and I figure a few certs will get me ten polished toes.
Here's to testing!