Does Certification Really Matter in IT?

Does Certification Matter in 2010?

 "Over the last few years, it seems like technical education and corresponding credentials have begun falling by the wayside. Sure, IT administrators, technicians and other staff still need to master their respective domains. There's certainly little margin for error when you're configuring, provisioning and managing computing resources in multi-million dollar corporate data centers. So why don't industry-recognized certifications seem to matter anymore?

This worry isn't just conjecture or my own personal opinion. In late 2009, TechTarget sponsored its annual Data Center Decisions survey. The survey was designed to gather information on the technological preferences and initiatives across a cross-section of IT professionals, and it also included a few career-related questions. The career results were stunning.