A degree is absolutely something I value heavily in applicants. Not because of the specific courses taken, but because what it says about the potential employee.

It says that they can complete a years-long project with disparate, often competing sub-projects, milestones, deliverable dates, and revolving team members while being self-managed. And due to core curricula, they've also proven a baseline knowledge unrelated to their specific degree. That may not sound useful, but someone who's skillet is solely specialized work may have trouble navigating ancillary tasks that are part of the working environment. The best [insert technical skill] person in the world isn't going to be a good employee if they can't work in a team, prepare a report, respond appropriately and professionally to emails, document their work, develop/follow SOPs required for project handoff, deliver a presentation, etc.

Getting any college degree requires a baseline skillset that is valuable. Not having a degree doesn't mean you can't do all those things, but when I've got 40 applications I'm looking at, I can't interview everyone. It's a huge bonus to have a degree that tells me you have proven a minimum competency.