But doesn't finishing college at all prove the discipline thing? How about an Eagle Scout award, does that mean anything to you?
It makes sense in theory, and I'm sure there are examples of it. Hiring a student who enjoys coding so much that they s/he is cripplingly unmotivated by doing the tedious/boring stuff may have considerable repercussions.
That being said, I think that this policy should give exceptions to people with proven industry experience, like you. It shows that they can live through the parts of the job that they don't like without being fired.
on the one side, someone who hops from job to job every 6 months has a stability issue [prove to me that you can stick through this venture, long enough for it to reach critical mass].
on the other side, someone who stays at a job for many years may expect a senior role [i.e. must manage a team of coders], possibly rendering them ineffective.
as someone in finance, i can assert that most CS guys in finance fall in one of those two categories.