I was not around in those days, but from speaking to folks who were, it was mostly the garage developer rock star attitude. People looking at a potential employee would literally say, "This guy must be pretty dumb to have wasted his time on a college degree." Like, LITERALLY THOSE WORDS. Those prejudices lasted all the way to about 2003 I'd say.

There are still people who look down on those with degrees, but they are rare and they mostly have learned to swallow their own prejudices.