Accomplishments matter, along with evidence of increasing responsibilities and steady job growth in one’s chosen field. Degrees are nice to have but they’re no substitute for demonstrated skills and experience.
My uncle was a nuclear engineer in nuclear weapons testing for LLNL 20 years ago. He told me that when hiring, he went exclusively to the upper Midwest, where candidates were known to have a strong work ethic. Made sense to me (being from the upper Midwest) :-)