I realize there are no VBA specific certifications but are there any that are close?

N2IT

Close in nature, that would add value to understanding the programming syntax while assisting in real world usage? I was going to go with the SQL certification, but I picked up on VBA a lot faster and quite frankly in my company we have 7 or so experts in SQL while we have maybe 1 - 2 employees who know VBA enough to automate etc. Thanks for reading my post and contributing in advance. (I being one of the 2). If it goes out of scope quite a bit that's okay, I work in a development shop so a deeper understanding isn't a bad thing. However I am not looking to be an astronaut either.

RobertKaucher

Have you looked at developing VSTO solutions? That might be a way to leverage the VB knowledge and get some of the .NET goodies as well. Don't neglect PowerPivot, either! I think the really important thing is a very deep knowledge of the Office clients.

Now I am going to tell you something you do not want to hear.

VBA is as done as Silverlight. Please, I am not in any way suggesting that VBA is of no use and will be removed from Office. But MS is aligning in the HTML5/JS direction. If you want to really go deep into this with the new Office clients, learn JavaScript and the new JavaScript API for Office and learn them very well.

If you know for a fact that your company is going to be stuck on a version of Office lower than 2013 for the next three years, then it will be good to continuing developing your VBA skills along with the JS. But if the company is starting to test Office 2013 or is already deploying it, it's time to start shifting your focus as well.

I know you are thinking, "OK, this is crazy. What the hell did Bob just say?" But seriously, think of all the possibilities that integrating next gen web technology into Office applications opens up for you: web services, a huge community of developers with libraries that originally had nothing to do with Office but now are at your finger tips, NodeJS (all of a sudden you can write server side code!), SharePoint app integration on new levels!

If you are still stuck on VBA, grab an advanced book and keep going. But you cannot ignore JavaScript.

Roadmap for Apps for Office, VSTO, and VBA - Apps for Office and SharePoint blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs
Divorce court! Javascript & HTML5 to replace VBA in next Office Suite | SouthGeek
Excel Does JavaScript! A VBA developer
John's Random Thoughts and Discussions: VBA and Office 2013

Summary: if your main interest is business process automation know the following:

SharePoint workflow using SP Designer.
JavaScript for Office and SharePoint
PowerPivot/PowerView
Office 365 development
Data Visualization Techniques
Amazon.com: Visual Intelligence: Microsoft Tools and Techniques for Visualizing Data eBook: Mark Stacey, Joe Salvatore, Adam Jorgensen: Books

N2IT

Wow thanks for all the great information. I dabbled with PowerPivot quite a bit a few months back but then it crashed on me. It was EXTREMELY limited in how much data it could handle. I couldn't get passed two filters before it would crash out, I literally broke the plug in. I know for 2013 aka 365 it comes already baked in with the Excel application (I believe). That's why I plan on really learning it, but I have become familiar with it. Right now I order John Walkenbach VBA Power programming 2010 so I'll keep working through that. With that said I will start to digest what you said. It is a lot of material.

N2IT

Now I remember why I can't stand PowerPivot. I opened up a macro enabled file and it disables the tab. I too have team foundation server add in so I'll look into VSTO. Thanks again Robert.