I think it depends where you are in your career. Is it worth it for you to shell out your money for a cert? Maybe. I know earlier in my career a Red Hat cert op

I think it depends where you are in your career. Is it worth it for you to shell out your money for a cert? Maybe. I know earlier in my career a Red Hat cert opened doors for me (but my employer paid for it to show team competencies). But, now it would be to prove a point or something like beta testing it.