in reply to Perl Certifications and/or Professional Development
What type of job would you like? A succession of "programming technician" jobs, interspersed with periods of unemployment while you try to become certified in the next favourite language of the month? Why not get certified in Java? No, VB / ASP . . .wait a minute, .NET will be really hot in a few months, get some certification in that.
Alternatively, if you want a long term career in the information technology arena, designing and developing software, go to a good quality university and get a proper computer science degree. Don't treat it as a meal ticket to a super high paying job when the dot coms take off again. And while you are at university, study material other than just programming. History, english, philosophy, writing, economics, some law and government.
You will notice I have used the (archaic) term University, not college. A university is a place where, among other things, you will learn how to learn. A college churns out the cannon fodder for industries current needs. Of course, not all instutions follow those rules when deciding their title.
There have been many discussions on the Monastery about the benefits of a proper computer science education. But as an employer, I look at paper certifications for entry level tech support people. If I want top quality application developers, designers, analysts, I expect to see a relevant university degree. I would not go to a medical practicioner who did not hold a recognised MB/BS; or a lawyer without an LLB.