The degree is useful for getting past HR - most of the people that actually matter in a hiring decision (engineers/managers) don't care. Which isn't to suggest a degree is worthless - you [hopefully] learn what you'll need to know to make a positive impression on the people that matter...but it's entirely possible to do that without a degree (it'll probably just be a little harder to score interviews).
In my first search (as I approached graduation) interviewers barely asked about anything directly related to what I did in school (they were far more interested in side projects I did in my own time and the stuff I created that I mentioned above) - in my second/most-recent search it never came up at all, it was all about what I did at my then-current job and [more recent] side projects.
