Example: an information technology manager who had gone on a poker weekend with his old high school buddies.

FORBES: The Other Kind Of Job Interview You Have To Know About

Now an information technology manager at defense contractor Raytheon, Manuel nonetheless still craves the credential he was too busy to pick up along the way.

WSJ: Colleges track former students to boost degrees

At Remedy Health Media, a health information and technology company just outside Washington, social media manager Stuart Perkins has another theory about why play is critical.

CNN: Goofing off on company time? Go for it

The company sees this as the area of "strongest absolute growth, " in terms of information technology spending by corporations, said Tom Yeates, Digital's business development manager for OpenVMS in Europe.

CNN: Compaq wants in on the Unix market