I believe they did -- from what I've read back in the day it was quite common for Google to demand college transcripts from all applicants, even seasoned professionals.
That would be to check that the degree is real. There are people who pretend to have one while they don't. It's normal due diligence, assuming it's after you are hired.
I never gave my high school transcripts to my Google recruiter. I worked there for four years as an SRE (2010-2014), without having graduated college.
I'll admit I was an outlier - Most people around me had fantastic college resumes (And I was very lucky to have them to learn from to shore up places where I had weaknesses). There may also have been a different hiring track and bar for SREs. I didn't find it a problem then - But, given the known fickleness of HR (At my office, our best recruiter was forced out because she spent too much time hanging out with engineers outside after-hours) and the way Google has gone downhill since then, I'd not be surprised if this was now the case
...our best recruiter was forced out because she spent too much time hanging out with engineers outside after-hours...
What might be the rationale for that? At every company I've worked at, the best results came when people worked across divisions between boundaries. I once asked a VC what grassroots indicators they looked at inside of companies, and they said a collaborative environment without a lot of silos. I'd never heard of companies actively punishing this kind of thing, but I totally believe you that it happens. Why would they do that?
Politics. The HR Lead didn't like that she was technically competent and friendly with engineers. This was even cited - She was written up for taking up engineers time.
I know it's water under the bridge in your case, but if anybody else happens to read this, there are some protections in place for employees. Coordinating with other employees might be protected by your local labor laws, so talk to a local labor agency office. I know someone who was fired illegally for talking to other employees about things like their employment conditions, and the employer was required to compensate them.
