Chances are that the person doing the “fun” stuff at a company has a Masters or Doctorate.
The reality is when the company's go out of business, merge, or when the product changes, the certification goes down in value. They are also devalued when non-practioners get the cetification. Consder the case with "paper MCSEs" which refers to people who hold the certification, but cannot apply any useful working knowledge to systems.
I agree with John Will - advanced degrees open doors for the business world.