• A few jobs back, we hired in a MCSE certified network admin.  The guy was like a reference book.  If you had a specific question, he could give you the answer off the top of his head without a problem.  BUT as soon as you needed to rely on him to troubleshoot, he froze, and invariably couldn't solve the problem.  I had always been good at troubleshooting, but, I can't remember a million minor details.  If I don't use it, that's what the reference books are for.  So, when he couldn't solve a problem, he'd come to me, and I'd use him as a walking talking reference book to solve the problem.  He had all the knowledge, but, when you hit on the more complex problems, he just couldn't put it all together.  I've been in the same position more then once with our network admins at several of my employers. 

    I can't say much about the SQL certifications, but, the MCSE seemed to produce people with the knowledge, but not necessarily the skills to use it.