One big problem I perceive is the basic irrelevance of the Project Manager certification (at least, the one that's most widely accepted in the USA). Maybe the issue is that it's not software-specific; holders of the certification are supposedly experts at project management in general (be it building a bridge, planning a birthday party, or whatever). I looked into the possibility of getting that certification, because I thought it would be a smart career move and also something I might enjoy studying. But I found little correspondence between the material I would have been studying and anything I had ever encountered in reality.