what if you have real world experience,but no certs

how do you get around having real world experience,but none of the certs that people love.i have been doing deskside and remote tech support recently for ibm,currently laid off. I have been in the industry since DOS was king.I’m pretty much self taught starting as a computer operator. I have worked with so called network admins who have read the boosk and took the test who did not know what ping was.sad but true. I have taken cisco networking and various windows courses,but never took any of the tests. Feedback?