In college I was working on a programming assignment. The project was to make a framework for online banking portals. The expectation is that we would design the framework on our own using patterns and things described by the professor. The professor assigned us into groups of 3.
We were assigned a project to outline what we thought the frameworks architecture would look like. I went home and worked on it. My class mates did not. The next day I am meeting with my small group and one of my class mates who didn’t do the work. He showed me a piece of paper with the perfect solution to the problem.
It was a students work from years ago who got an A+ in the class. He had gotten this from his class mates. I looked at him like he was about to die. I told him. Get rid of that thing, never bring it back. If I see it again I will tell the professor and were done.
I had standards about my work. I wanted it to be my genuine effort. I was working hard at my masters program and the other students were stealing work. It turned out most of that class was plagiarizing.
What I gained by working hard in that class has served me my entire career. The other students who cheated. They didn’t learn how to design with their mind. They will have to struggle on the job to obtain this skill. They slowed themselves down.
Everything has a price. Do the work.