> the long term success for cheating is actually much lower, those who actually learned things will do better in the long term even if they have a lower probabi

> the long term success for cheating is actually much lower, those who actually learned things will do better in the long term even if they have a lower probability of short term success I want to believe this, but I'm not sure it's always true. Timing of opportunities matters a lot. Someone who is not as skilled in programming probably cheated their way into a FAANG job during the height of the pandemic and made absolute bank, perhaps being able to sock away $200k-$300k since then. That money could then be invested and start compounding, leading to a materially different outcome from someone else who played it by the rules and was better. The long-term for the cheater might be to simply find a less demanding job and continue riding the prestige hike they got when they snuck into the FAANG job.