It's an age old question/dilemma that there's no right ordefinitive answer to, end of the day it comes down to the position, company and individual as to what matters most.
I would not have got my first IT role if I didn't have a degree, I wouldn't have been brought into my current position at the level I am without my 'professional' certification and experience.
Whilst the latter is a far better position than the former, who is to say if I'd be here without that first position, which lead to other roles before landing here.
Playing devil's advocate if I had experienced candidates going for entry level roles it would ring a small alarm bell in my head, why are they going for an entry role with x years of experience.
As has been said though a lot of it is luck, being in the right place at the right time.
I know IBM run a pretty decent apprenticeship scheme so maybe take a look on their website, not sure of any of the other large IT companies also run apprenticeship schemes or not.