A+ Certification

The certificate and the little card they gave that you are a A+ certified!

Not much really in my opinion experience is everything. But alot of companies require a either a degree in the it field or sometype of certificate stating that you know how to do something with computers. If you a degree awesome and if you have a cert in A+,N+, Mcse even better.

The primary benefit is in the preparation.
You learn what you know and what you don't know. You are forced to learn the facts to get the cert.

The certification is sometimes bad mouthed by those who don't have it. I think that you have to validate your knowledge for yourself and for others. If you know it prove it by taking the test and passing. It is not that hard, right.

P.S. I like the COMPTIA because they are vendor neutral.

Certs are important but they are just a starting point for you to ensure you have a reasonable and balanced foundation.

If you get Certs it suggests to me that you are willing to make the effort to confirm and validate your knowledge- perhaps you even want to know what you don't know.