Having worked decades in the IT industry, my experience shows that formal education rarely makes a positive contribution to a person's skills or credibility. I could be biased though, I'm self taught.
I've worked with people with and without degrees. Some of the best had no degree, some had PhDs, some had a standard BSc. Some of the worst were in all three categories too.
But I have found my degree useful, and not just for opening doors.
Agreed, a lazy or incompetent software/IT worker is lazy and/or incompetent regardless of past educational achievement!
Self-taught people, misfits (regardless of how that sounds like), etc. tend to think for themselves, be more creative and more critical.
Obviously,someone who's willing to risk his and his family life to testify against what he believe is wrong as such a high level is predisposed to have at least some similar past.
but then again, we do derive from the point, thus, yes,smearing works.