hey, i failed one of them as well... to be honest a degree is pretty worthless today unless it's a first and even then i'd take someone with experience over someone with a degree. usually you find raw graduates have this conviction they know everything which is just too much hard work to deal with. give me a grizzled veteran who can do the job in his sleep, won't spend hours mentally masturbating over the newest way of doing something (even if it isn;t compatible with the rest of the project) and who won't blow a gasket if things go tits up.

of course give a newbie a chance and a foot in the door if that's all the job requires but if an otherwise good candidate has a lower degree or none at all then still get them in for an interview - or at least talk to them on the phone.

edited to add: surely if someone is intelligent enough to get someone else to do the work for them then they deserve the degree anyway. plus it's closer to how the real world works.

cheers

julian