Which of one is more important to a career: Certifications like Java, Oracle and Linux or a Master Degree on computer science?
I know that if I go to the academic area the Master Degree would be better, but a Master Degree will be valued by my company too. Both are good for the curriculum. So, what is more important?
To your career as a professional programmer? Neither.
The 1-2 years experience you'd get instead of doing a Masters is far more professionally valuable than the time it takes to earn a Masters. Plus a Masters costs you money and you get paid while working so... It's only really of value if you see yourself becoming an academic.
You could spend a year or two building a really kickass open source project of some kind and that will be of far more value to you than a Masters would be. Cheaper too.
A degree in a non-computing field is of way more value than a Masters in Computer Science. That might allow you to be a programmer in areas required a specialist knowledge. Maths springs to mind: statistics (data mining), probability/game theory (finance), etc.
Certifications are, by and large, a tax on programmers. Occasionally they're useful to get you through screening by a HR department but otherwise they don't mean much at all. Do them if your work will pay for them otherwise don't bother.
Certifications are usually a waste of time and money. Simple working experience beats those. However, now that every other coder has a Bachelor's, a Master's degree would certainly give you the edge if you think of applying to the more discerning companies (Google, IBM, etc. value graduate and post-graduate degrees).
If you enjoy studying and have the money, go for a Master's. Otherwise get a job.
When forming my first impression of an interview candidate, I would value a master's degree in CS/EE orders of magnitude more than I would professional certifications. That difference is formalized in the hiring requirements of many companies I've worked for (which have requirements like "5 years experience and a BS degree, or 2 years experience and a Masters").
And really, school is a great experience, if you can swing it and have the drive.
Having a Master's degree will directly impact your pay at most large companies. Certifications will not. In my experience, certifications are only useful as metadata on proposals. If your company cares enough about that, they should pay for the certifications.
Additionally, many large companies will pay for all or part of a part-time Masters in a field related to your work. If you can swing this, it is a great way to get experience and the degree at the same time.
If the company you're working for wants to become an Oracle Partner, Microsoft Partner, whatever... then certifications will be very valuable to that company.
It's also important to value Professional Development in general. You have to keep learning. Certifications that have been maintained over time help demonstrate that. A Masters degree can demonstrate that too, but many people who have done a degree many years ago think that's all they need. It's not that they stop learning, but they stop doing recognised learning. The fact that you're here on SO is a good thing, but having relevant certifications is a bit more demonstrable.
I like certifications from actual universities... I know a few reputable universities have these which you actually take 4-10 classes for to get a certification in "X" . They are often post graduate requiring you to have an undergraduate degree already, but many aren't. I see these as particularly better, they are less known among the H1B and paper cert crowd, more expensive meaning you really have to think about it, plus they are vendor neutral and don't have to keep upgrading them. You also don't have to meet more strict requirements and seating allotments competing with masters and phd students.
I'd rather have my cert from UC Berkeley or University of Virginia or BU for instance vs. "zend" or "comptia" or "ms" 150 dollar exams. These in my opinion will get name recognition as well as not a glut of other people with them. It certainly isn't a bscs mscs msee but, it certifies from an established University that you are competent in certain "IT" areas, again you have to take classes and actually pass to get the certifications...
Why would I want to certify in both Oracle, DB2, MySQL and MS Sql Server? That is just too much to keep up with, even though I am good at SQL and have seen many organizations, actually every one I've ever worked or done consulting work for is running mixed databases.
That being said, definitely a masters degree! Not even a debate there.
Others have already said that employers give more credit for a Master's degree rather than an equivalent amount of time spent earning certifications, which I agree is true. A couple thoughts on why this is true:
You don't get a Master's degree in computer science to learn specific skills for a specific platform, but to learn general skills that can be applied across platforms. If you have a Master's degree in computer science, then this should mean that you understand algorithms (so that you can make your programs faster, regardless of platform), architecture (so that you can understand the strengths and limitations of various platforms), and operating systems (so that you can build concurrent and distributed systems across platforms).
Of course, you must have used some platform or other when you were doing your projects for your graduate degree, but the platform wasn't the point. The point was that you learned skills that you should be able to apply to any platform.
And of course, if you're smart, maybe you can connect the dots and learn these general skills just through work experience or in the course of training for certifications. However, the Master's degree gives prospective employers a lot more confidence that you'll be able to adapt to the tools that they will need you to use in the future, not just the tools for which you are certified today.
I would consider certificates over a masters if the holder of such certificates has a long track record of work (7+ years). And I'm not referring just 7+ years of dumb coding work, but 7+ years that show a track record of professional and technical growth and accomplishments.
Best combination: get the master and then the certificates.