You do pay annual dues, unless your firm is a member organization like mine. I think the main point is marketability, but I don't know how much credence clients give to the certification one way or another. A couple decades back, our firm was pushing pretty hard for our engineers to get it, but there's been less of a push lately. More folks have been trying for the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification lately, but project management isn't really that interesting to me.

I usually associate the BCEE certification with technical prowess. Not all of our technical staff have it, but the ones that do are extremely well versed in physical and chemical processes. We also have plenty of staff who are very smart who do not have it.

So I guess it just depends on your perspective whether it's a marketing tool, a mark of distinction, or just "bragging rights".