Certs are certainly used as a filter factor and are valuable for that. Having one doesn't necessarilly prove anything but lacking one can make a job search difficult.

Another value,...

Who should get paid the most, programmers or sales people? It depends. It depends on how much each job contributes to profit (and both do), and it depends...

Our company sells commercial insurance. Our salespeople generally have degrees in accounting or finance and are paid very good commissions. Our DBAs generally monitor and tune software from...

Craig is right - customer reviews can be another good aid to making a software decision. And there should be others, as well.

I'm not sure whether the original article...

Trust via the distributors brand (Apple, Microsoft, EBay or whoever) is one good way, although quality may take a back seat sometimes to marketability.

Another type of approval could be obtained...