Actually I'll be the first to respond to myself with RTFA. This was the counties own datacenter that got flooded not an outsourced datacenter. Damn it...

My company is currently having a "independant consultant" look at our IT infrastructure and he is dead set on us moving our production systems out of our building and into a datacenter. He keeps giving us the "what if there was a disaster and the fire marshall won't let you have access to your building". Uhm, ok, what if there is a flood in the datacenter and there is no power...

Certifications can get you the interview and if the hiring manager is the type that has a "BA in IT" then you are golden. But, if the hiring manager is somebody that has come up through the ranks and actually has IT experience then they will catch that you are a "paper cert" during the interview (and hopefully during the phone interview process) and throw you out.

If you are somebody that does have the experience and can do the job, why not get certified (hopefully with your current employer paying for it)? It's a resume builder that will get you in the front door and then you can let your real experience do the rest.