Quite the contrary. Having an education and relevant technical experience are all good, but what separates the merely good candidates from the excellent is that

Quite the contrary. Having an education and relevant technical experience are all good, but what separates the merely good candidates from the excellent is that the latter have proven that they can get stuff done by their own initiative, that they've actually used their skills for something real. Contributing to an open source project? Excellent. Writing your own research papers and contributing to a standards organization? Wonderful. Running your own business? Perfect.