Web Dev Notes

I often wonder if its worth the time and effort to obtain certificates to demonstrate your proficiency with certain web development applications. My experience is that your portfolio should speak for itself, however there are jobs I have not bid on because I felt my resume could not compete with other bidders. MySQL certification is an obvious example, but what about the less technical applications.

Design applications like Flash and Photoshop are examples but these two applications are so prolific that no obvious answer surfaces. I talked to a friend with a Contribute Certification and he advised that getting this cert was not relevant to his employers. So, whats worth the time and effort? I am a little new to this to speak from Experience so I thought that I would throw this out to the public, any idea?

Thanks in advance

Arnold