Eric,
I will comment only from my personal experiences. As a scientific consultant, I am not a "professional project manager," but I must manage projects professionally. Additionally, I am a "newly-minted" PMP, although I have been interacting with project managers and managing projects for well on 25 years.
First and foremost, "No education of any kind is ever wasted." Make no mistake, studying for and successfully passing the PMP exam is an education in and of itself. As a more technically oriented individual, I found the material and rubric areas of the PMP exam to be extremely challenging. It was a very "right-brained" exam for me and I found the PMI-testing method maddening. It was very much like learning a new language. However, I found in a very short time from the time I started studying for the PMP, I was interacting with other project managers in a different way - I was speaking their language and we were communicating much more precisely and efficiently.
Moreover, studying the PMBOK guide and other resources in preparation for the exam taught me how using professional project management techniques will help assure success of projects that I run for clients; and as they say in business, "Success begets success."
I would strongly encourage you to pursue certification.
Best of luck!