You might be forgetting one of the purposes of such requirements - first stage weeding.

Maybe this isn't true specifically for software engineering in Boston right now, but in general, we are still working with 9%+ unemployment, so the market is still flooded with folks looking for work. While those requirements aren't technically necessary for the position, they are usually required for the person who is dong a first pass on the resumes. When you have hundreds of resumes, you need *some* criteria to cut down the list of applicants to a reasonable size.