Which one gives you more advantages: Microsoft or SUN/Oracle certification? If you don't mind, please relate your answer to your career (dev, sys-admin, dba), industry (finance, general consulting, business apps, software house), and location (where you live, does it influence your decision?) as well.

One reason I asked this because I heard that having MCP (in C#, MCSAD or whatever the cert is called these days) could give you extra point from the employer perspective if they're a Microsoft Partner. I don't quite understand why and am also wondering if SUN/Oracle certificate holder have similar edge/benefit.

I'm also interested to know if Certification plays role where you live. For example: certification could be a big negative sign in Silicon Valley, but might be helpful if you're in other US/Canada cities or outside USA/Canada.

If you are an independent software consultant, do these certification helps you win bids?

I totally understand that this question might be subjective and could be "closed". But it doesn't hurt to ask I suppose. I also understand that there are people who dislike/disagree (or have negative perspective on technology certification).

While there are people who have the opinion that "these are not the kind of employers you would want to work with", I respect you guys, but sometime a pure software product company might not exist in certain cities in the world. And if certification can help one's career somewhere else, I guess that means more opportunities right?

I've had experienced in both platforms: (short) .NET and (not too long) Java (minus Oracle DB stuff), but I think it's about time I have to pick one of them and be good at. Where I live right now might also dictates my career albeit insignificant. Anyhow, this last paragraph is just tiny blurb.

Thanks!