I think that companies prefer that candidates have a college degree.
As for ethics, people get sued for subterfuge.
Cheating or not learning correct code means that something doesn't work efficiently or optimally. It means that someone could get hurt because someone doesn't understand electronics or code. It means that you can't add a feature for a customer because you don't know enough. I was reading an article that being average isn't good enough because your competitor is going to offer something that you can't and they will get the customer and not you. It means using an Arduino mega instead of an Arduino Uno because you couldn't compress the code enough to use a cheaper part costing your employer big bucks.
Its like people who code badly. They write code that looks like sphaghetti so the next person that has to fix it spends hours which costs the employer hours and pays employees $$$ for which employer can't afford.
You were thought to be smart until the customer saw the code... It was sort of like the fool was thought to be smart until he opened his mouth...