I'd like to point out that I was not the burger provider but rather the end user. I personally think the problem was that it was horrendously over-specced. I also needed to make heavy use of the after sales support, i.e. the nearest bench.

but LOTS of places care that you HAVE a degree.
Is that a common experience others are having? I remember before I got into programming there was a definite glass ceiling I couldn't break through without a degree. Since I moved into programming I don't think anyone's actually cared about it except for my first job. I've kinda assumed that, while other career paths may still go looking for a degree, Programming jobs tend to only care about experience and ability. The funny thing is, most of the career paths that do want a degree don't actually seem to care what it's in.