I've passed three Microsoft certs, two of them in these last two weeks. These exams (70-306 (Winforms in VB), 70-315 (Web in C#), and 70-320 (Distributed Apps in C#)) raise my level of certification status from Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) to Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD).
What does this mean to me? Well, aside from the fact that I was promised a small raise for achieving this goal by December 31st, this certification status really doesn't mean anything. I get to put it on my resume, but since I'm not looking for a job that doesn't help. Since I'm a consultant, I get to put it on my ProQual report (which looks exactly like my resume) which might help me get certain gigs. However, I'm at my current client until at least June and possibly a lot longer. The guy I'm replacing was here for 2 years.
Anyway - YAY! I'm officially certified! <no wise cracks about mental health please!>
I've now got 7 Microsoft certifications, and I've (to date) always passed each exam on the first try. I've got 4 exams from 1998 that say I'm certified in Windows NT 4.0 and 3 from 2006 that say I'm certified to develop .NET 1.1 applications in C# and VB.