The question of how this works at the hiring level is interesting. We have to do something to filter out the small set called "people we hire" from the larger set called "people we don't hire".
Github as the only filter will select a certain group of people. Maybe they have "the most" merit, maybe not.
An on-the-spot programming test will select some other group of people.
A set of puzzles and math problems will select some other group of people.
A take-home problem to be submitted in a few hours or days will select some other group of people.
A culture-fit interview will select yet another group of people.
None of those tests by themselves is perfect, but by using a suitably weighted average, you can determine whether someone js smart enough to do the work, able to work with people in your company, and actually interested in working hard and making a contribution. The person who scores highly on most or all of the metrics will probably fit in well and work well.
Requiring a person to have a public github repository is perhaps a higher bar to set than requiring a person to write some code or pair program in an interview. It doesn't necessarily make it wrong, but it does mean that you will be filtering in a different way if you make it a requirement.
Github as the only filter will select a certain group of people. Maybe they have "the most" merit, maybe not.
An on-the-spot programming test will select some other group of people.
A set of puzzles and math problems will select some other group of people.
A take-home problem to be submitted in a few hours or days will select some other group of people.
A culture-fit interview will select yet another group of people.
None of those tests by themselves is perfect, but by using a suitably weighted average, you can determine whether someone js smart enough to do the work, able to work with people in your company, and actually interested in working hard and making a contribution. The person who scores highly on most or all of the metrics will probably fit in well and work well.
Requiring a person to have a public github repository is perhaps a higher bar to set than requiring a person to write some code or pair program in an interview. It doesn't necessarily make it wrong, but it does mean that you will be filtering in a different way if you make it a requirement.