>The person next to you, who is willing to fake the demo and declare victory on LinkedIn even before the launch, is going to look more successful than you.

This is not new, sadly. At least in USA schools, cheating is quite prevalent, as is faking disability to unfairly get more time on tests (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/01/elite-universit...), so anyone being honest is at a disadvantage.