But the criticism was that the job ad was not requiring knowledge of how to write code, and I was pointing out that the degree requirement (strict or not) indicates that that's not true.
If you don't have the required degree but can demonstrate equivalent skills, then that's fine. Kudos to the company about being flexible on the formalities side.
There is a line that is universally ignored in job ads. This is that line.
if I showed no ability to write a for loop or a linkedlist. I could still get that job.
I see it time and time again, it's like we must add that line to job descriptions, but it's never checked, never verified and ultimately it serves no purpose. There will be no difference between someone with a BSc in CompSci, an MSc in CompSci or no degree at all.
The thing that will get you that job, likely, is discussing how http works, how tcp works and perhaps something to do with exit codes.
Might not be true for this particular posting.