Disclaimer, I don't have a university degree. Java world asks if you really need a college/university degree. For the most part these days - in a tight labor market - it is the price of competing for the high paid software jobs. So for a large part the rational reasons for why it isn't necessary don't matter in that instance. For those that have a resume of projects though, the degree is immaterial. From the article:

So I asked for input about the reasons someone might require a college degree as part of their company policy. I hoped to be given an "Oh! Now I understand!" moment in which I whacked myself on the head. So much for that idea.

Basically the reasons given for the requirement were lame, and did not really determine whether the person is a quality candidate or not. We have interviewed people who could answer all the technical questions but when given pen and paper could not write a line of legible code.

It probably doesn't hurt to have a degree, again it is the price of competition when you first enter the labor market, but the education itself is immaterial to the job being done for the most part; and degrees could be a lot shorter, while imparting as much useful knowledge for the work place (they should be two years max IMO) and get the students out and earning earlier.

More: Scrymarch offers a counter argument.

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