>>And lastly, I've seen for myself first hand that for the right person and/or in the right arena, certification can be extremely valuable...
>
>Becoming certified also helped me prove to myself that I had some level of expertise and helped me see where I fit in with the rest of the crowd.

exactly. Confidence can be a powerful comrade to a developer who also has a good dose of humility, but it can also be a powerful adversary to those who tend to take things for granted.