Well Certifications by themselves are not that useful. The experience will always win over certifications. But if u r new to java, certifications can be a good start. Even you are an experienced Java developer, you can still benefit from preparing the certifications. Personally, I feel that I leant a lot from taking scjp, scbcd, and scwcd. Currently I am preparing scea. If u decide to take java certifications, my suggestion is that "DO NOT take for passing". You won't learn much by doing it. Al
I've got the certification. I think it does help you make clear many Java basics and OO concepts and new Java 5 features. What we uses most in our daily job counts for only about 50% those knowledge.