There is a diff between what the parent said and what you said. They aren't opposites, hence they can both can be true. IMHO.

What I understood from parent was: good college + good GPA => meets minimum hiring criteria, so make them an offer.

What you are saying is: (good college, good GPA) is not correlated with magnitude of performance among PEOPLE ALREADY HIRED INTO GOOGLE.

I bet height correlates very weakly with basketball ability among top NBA players, too.

I'm glad to know that somehow being at a good college makes learning about linked lists somehow more relevant to employers.

google are a notoriously selective employer, so it's hardly surprising that GPA has limited predictive power within the sample of people who were successful applicants.

Actually I really like the way Google gets their best employees -- they get them in acquisition after they've build something useful

That could go the other way too - if they don't hire people based on their GPA they might be weeding out bad developers even if they did well in school.

Have you considered that Google might be lying?

Many larger firms with technical employees are worried about their lack of diversity, and the relevant legal risks. They may have to bend their effective practices to mitigate this risk.

Beyond making this claim as an ulterior rationalization, mendaciously spreading it might help trip up competitors.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering the general make-up of Tech-employees in the Bay Area, by following your logic to conclusion leads me to think hiring outside of white males is a negative... if you think diversity = tripping up companies.