Membership in a professional association for coding is a must and absolutely essential to one's success.  The long term benefits include educational opportunities (in a variety of forms), benefits of exposure to areas outside your own, networking with industry leaders, networking with local professionals and chances at volunteering/mentoring.  You'd be surprised at how many opportunities are missed by those outside of the professional associations.  As for certification, it makes a world of difference.  Please take a look at the job announcements either in a local paper or a national website like this one and see what kind of coders recruiters seek.  (Here's a hint:  certified.)

 Good luck to you.