In the lower level certifications, developer technology is all over the place.

At the highest level (Microsoft Certified Architect), the Solutions track appears to be a good fit for high level application designers and architects.

MCA requires an MCM as a prerequisite.

However, none of the MCM tracks are targeted towards development. Obviously to be a good architect you need to have knowledge of other technologies, servers, sql, messaging etc. But those seem like things that should be part of the course load, and not the sole focus.

Are the lower tiers really as high as you can go for application focused professionals?

For most developers, the SQL MCM seems to be the best fit.

Are the MCM and MCA really targeted ad more administrators and not developers?