(I am in the UK.)

In 1999 I decided that I was either going to get myself certified (MSCS or something like that at the time) or get myself a Masters degree through distance learning (please note that some are hard work and some are a self-printed certificate - I advise researching this one).

There were two reasons to do this; firstly the desire to learn (which I strongly feel is a prerequisite for any option as anything worthwhile will take effort) and secondly to highlight on my CV that I am a candidate worth considering.

At the time I was working with a manager who was hiring and, therefore, trawling through a huge number of CVs and conducting a large number of interviews. Many of the candidates appeared to be graduating having done the equivalent certification to what I was considering. Unfortunately, most of them were struggling to answer basic software development questions. Clearly they had been learning how to pass the tests as opposed to learning the course syllabus. They were from institutes from different countries so it appeared to be a global trend (no xenophobia here, move along). There was also a trend beginning in "fake" university degrees.

I think either option is a worthwhile endeavour as long as you ensure that the learning experience is valid. This will give you both an advancement in your knowledge as well as a piece of paper to wave underneath someone's nose. If your learning journey doesn't provide the latter then if you are happy with the journey then that is OK, however, if you get the certificate from somewhere good¹ then the journey will have been worthwhile too.

Whatever you choose, make it worth the effort as no or little effort usually offers no or little reward.

¹ Use your own definition of good here!!!