Google: Better to be a CS Grad than English

In a NY Times interview on How to Get a Job at Google with Laszlo Bock, who is in charge of all hiring at Google, the subject of grit-based hiring came up.

Bock explained: "I was on campus speaking to a student who was a computer science and math double major, who was thinking of shifting to an economics major because the computer science courses were too difficult. I told that student they are much better off being a B student in computer science than an A+ student in English because it signals a rigor in your thinking and a more challenging course load.

That student will be one of our interns this summer." Bock also advised, "You need to be very adaptable, so that you have a baseline skill set that allows you to be a call center operator today and tomorrow be able to interpret MRI scans." Hey why not require an I.Q. of 300, two centuries of Unix experience, and a track record of winning Nobel Prizes, too? Oops, wrong HR Director.