No degree here. Gave back a 4-year paid scholarship after about a year and joined the Marines instead. I am now the Engineering manager for a high tech company and almost everyone that works for me has a BS, MS or PhD. Not the easy way, but possible. The only downside to not having a degree in high tech is that you tend to have to prove yourself all over again if you change jobs and many companies now mandate a degree no matter what your experience is. Which is really silly given the fact that in many cases, they don't even care what the degree is in.
I'm biased, but I find that the 'can do' attitude, work ethic and real world experience of many ex-military job applicates is more benefitial than a degree for many positions.
No doubt, a degree is the safest route, and typically needed for the training in many technical jobs like Engineering, but there are other paths to success as well as long as the person in question has the drive and some smarts to go with it.