I work for IBM and there's no question that studying has made
me a better
Java programmer, and that can only translate into doing better in your job if you are in the I/T field. Do you have a profound understanding of RMI? Do you know most of the Design
Patterns? Are you very comfortable with Swing and the Model View Control? Have you written much code where you had to put a great deal of thought into how to handle a large number and wide variety of exceptions? Have you ever done extensive documentation for your project? Have you ever created a policy file? Have you done a great deal of grappling with issues like whether to subclass a class or modify it if you have existing code....not just to answer a question on an exam but because it REALLY matters. These are the types of things you will become very adept at. No disrespect intended but I think you already have the wrong attitude. "What can this do for me?" It's a reasonable question, but I would guess that most people who are
successful at this are doing it because 1.) they enjoy it, 2.) to learn. If you truly wonder if you will learn anything from this certificationm then you must be amazingly knowledgeable and your valuable time could probably be better served elsewhere. It's a whole lot of fun though, and I have learned a tremendous amount, and to answer your question once and for all, without having even passed yet, I can say that it has unequivocally helped me do my job better.
Hope that helps.
With Respect,
Matt