> I very much doubt you can actually do a PhD in "doing cool stuff with a 
> computer".

Of course you can, just substitute "cool stuff" for a subject that you 
actually find cool.

> Besides, don't you have to, like, spend years searching through the 
> library to find every piece of work that has ever been written about your 
> subject, read and memorise it all, and then present a giant summary of it? 
> Don't you have to trudge across the plains of Tibet to find an ancient 
> sage to consult on the works on the Ancient Masters to see if they have 
> anything relevant to add? I don't think I could do that from my desk at 
> work.

Depends on the subject of course, but nowadays I think most journals and 
other academic resources are available online.  For a computing related PhD 
I would imagine most of your time will be spent at the computer.

> Meh. I doubt it. It seems everybody just asks "how many years' coding 
> experience do you have?" and "what are your customer service skills like?"

If you have a PhD you are not going to be applying for those sorts of jobs, 
and more importantly companies are not going to expect you to be a code 
monkey 24/7 when you are much more capable than that.

Here's an interesting CV:

http://www.geisswerks.com/ryan/resume_ryan_geiss.doc

See, just write something cool *and actually finish it* and then everyone 
wants to employ you!

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