You could be right. I've had internal recruiters at Amazon try to get me on a phone interview; I always assumed that I'd be filtered out once I did the interview though. I've read a lot of anecdotal evidence that Google and the like have high academic requirements but maybe they're more flexible than I thought.

I believe that Google is changing as I read somewhere that they found no correlation between a good degree and good gpa after a few years of work experience. In general, most places have figured out that you don't need a college degree, but you will need to have work experience to show that you have the skills needed.