I was interviewed by a technical person, and the impresion that I get, is that no one in the technical side of things gives a monkeys about degrees, just your abilities.

I do agree with smitz that abilities are more important than degrees - but saying that employers don't care about degrees is a bit strong in my experience.

It does depend on the position of course, but sometimes having a degree is a very good indicator that you have the skills. It's also an indicator that the person involved can do something solid for three years (not saying that those without degrees can't - but having the degree acts as some supporting evidence).

If I'm looking at the resume of somebody with no commercial experience I'm going to give more weight to it if they have a decent CS degree. Since you only have finite resources when hiring and can see only so many people, not having a degree may mean you don't get on that vital interview list.

Also, in a tight job market, some employers use them as simple filters. No degree and your resume doesn't get past HR. Three years ago the job market was a lot better than it is now.