Absence of them when you're a consultant is the issue. Its not that it wins you clients by having them, but not having them might lose you opportunities. Also, not obtaining them (especially if you know what you're doing) shows either potential laziness or "better than everyone" attitude that also is negative. The thrust of that article was exceptionally tilted to that attitude, and I would think twice about hiring someone with such a huge head. I'm sure those guys are good at what they do. If so, take the minimal effort to credential yourself so when people see your name on paper, they have some reference that you know what you're doing. Without it, is the readers imagination.
I have CEH, EnCE, and EnCEP. Doing CISSP this year. Why? Because it makes me stand out regardless. And I've landed clients who were amused by the "ethical hacker" destination. So don't undervalue cert just because of some cocky nerds.
It depends on the market you're after. Sophisticated buyers won't ask for certifications. They can look at your work and understand your value. Those are the clients my firm is after. Leads that ask for certifications drop out of our sales process, and I refer them elsewhere.
Part of the problem with certifications is that lots of students look at them as a means to an end. This is wrong and counterproductive. Learning to pass a certification is the laziness, most counterproductive exercise you can do to learn security. Yet this is common. Learn by doing. Then get a cert if someone demands it or offers you more money for one.
If more people approached certification that way, there would be less industry-wide pushback about it.
Sure, but who are you standing out from? Do you want to optimize your career to stand out from those candidates, or from the person you've optimized yourself to be currently?
Stated another way, getting a bunch of certifications helps you stand out from the entry level. Putting aside a platonic ideal of what certifications should be, you could have done that without those certifications.
With regards to your first paragraph - at this point my consultancy bills five figures per week, and I do absolutely no outbound lead gen. The lack of certifications will lose you business, yes. But I would argue that was not necessarily business you wanted to optimize for.
I have CEH, EnCE, and EnCEP. Doing CISSP this year. Why? Because it makes me stand out regardless. And I've landed clients who were amused by the "ethical hacker" destination. So don't undervalue cert just because of some cocky nerds.