I have a certificate in Photoshop 5.5. I knew more than the instructor when I signed up for this 5 day, 40 hour "push-course". But as I quickly found out, recruiters and employers seem to want that "all important" piece of paper. I thought it was important to show a client and employer what you could do rather then what you could "learn" by sitting in a stuffy lab and do during a seminar-type course. And mostly fooling around with the software instead of diving into it. I left the class with the piece of paper and as a result had more offers then before. Silly Huh? Yeah, I thought so too. But it is a reality check.