Are Certifications Worth It?

For our training this year, because of budget limitations, we were restricted from traveling, and ended up all getting CBTs that should enable us to get some Microsoft certifications. I'm about to start my training, and I've started wondering if it will be worth it.

On the one hand, doing the study necessary to earn it will definitely expose me to more of the .NET framework and the C# language than I may have been in by day-to-day programming. Of course, a lot of it may be things that I don't really have a need to know, since certification exams tend to ask about such a wide range of topics.

On the other hand, it's been my experience in the past that getting a certification doesn't usually buy you anything at your current employer; they're more useful when looking for something new. I'm not currently looking for a job, nor am I expecting to (though you never know, especially with the economy going the way it is).

I'm not going to turn down the chance to take a week and study, and I'll definitely take the exams and get the certifications, but I'm still not sure exactly how much benefit I will gain from this.