Salesforce.com Certified Force.com - Take the exam or Not?

Hi:
Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Examination. Wow, this has became the biggest thing in Salesforce is getting these cerifications.
There are 5 Certification Exams in different levels for Force.com, 2 for Admins, 2 for Developer and 1 for Consultants. The exams tend to run from $200-$400 depending on which one. The 5 Exams plus study guides, for these are:

• ADMINISTRATOR:
• Salesforce.com Certified Administrator : Study Guide
  
• Salesforce.com Certified Advanced Administrator : Study Guide
  
• DEVELOPER:
• Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Developer : Study Guide
  
• Salesforce.com Certified Force.com Advanced Developer : Study Guide
  
• Consultant:
• Salesforce.com Certified Consultant : Study Guide

There are Classes for these courses which will run you about $5000 plus 5 days of your time. Do you need the classes?
That depends on you. Basically, You need to answer a couple of questions:

1. Can you Self Study?
2. Do you know the force.com platform
3. Are you an ADMIN/Developer for more them 2 years?
4. Have you been up to date on the software enhances every season?

I personally took the Force.com 320 Application Library Course. It was awesome, I had a great Teacher, I went through BlueWolf.
There tool is not that bad for data migration purposes. I use there ESI tool.

Now, I will be taking the Developer exam on December 5. Hope to pass on the first try.
I'll keep everyone updated.

BottomLine: Get the certs, its like getting certs for Microsoft. Many companies are now asking for Certified Force.com People.

Thanks
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