I found the Associate level good for directed learning. I learned about some facets of services I hadn't been aware of and gained exposure to services I hadn't

I found the Associate level good for directed learning. I learned about some facets of services I hadn't been aware of and gained exposure to services I hadn't used for projects to date. It was my first cert in ~20 years of IT (sysadmin and dev), FWIW. I've heard, as another poster pointed out, that the Professional level certs are well regarded. Associate, eh. No one ever comes out and says "You were hired on the basis of a cert". It's just another factor. If you've got the experience they're probably not worth as much. If you don't, they'll help.