I've met a lot of certified people who didn't know anything beyond the questions they crammed for to pass a test. When I see a cert on a resume, it makes me want to challenge it. Of course, there is a ton of nuance to these interactions, so I'm speaking very generally here.
No cert is a substitute for real practical experience. If you are trying to get a job and you don't have experience, then I can see how a cert might be nice to put on a resume. As a hiring manager, it doesn't make you more attractive to me to hire. The four years of experience doing a thing does. For tech stuff, I'd rather you have a home network with the thing and valuable time using it then the cert for the thing. The time spent pulling your hair out getting the thing running at home is a better use of the time then studying for the cert test.
However, I do put value in a liberal arts education. I don't even really care what that education is in. I feel people that come out of a four year program tend to think differently/more critically, on average.
Short answer, then: Get a liberal arts education. Get hands on experience. Skip the certs.
No cert is a substitute for real practical experience. If you are trying to get a job and you don't have experience, then I can see how a cert might be nice to put on a resume. As a hiring manager, it doesn't make you more attractive to me to hire. The four years of experience doing a thing does. For tech stuff, I'd rather you have a home network with the thing and valuable time using it then the cert for the thing. The time spent pulling your hair out getting the thing running at home is a better use of the time then studying for the cert test.
However, I do put value in a liberal arts education. I don't even really care what that education is in. I feel people that come out of a four year program tend to think differently/more critically, on average.
Short answer, then: Get a liberal arts education. Get hands on experience. Skip the certs.