You can oftentimes just walk into homes and take the things lying around in that home, and if you pick the right homes and the right times, you will avoid the negative consequences that come with getting caught.
The premise here is that you can stand to benefit from lying and stealing. What is there to engage with about that? Of course it’s true, but you weigh that against the negative consequences of your deception being discovered.
Who said anything about stealing anything? It's not lying if I don't reveal to my employer what I do when I'm not working for them generally speaking, so, why is it lying to not reveal I'm doing another job on my off hours (provided it's legal and doesn't break any other prior agreements to do so)?
It's lying to represent yourself as working solely for one employer, while actually working for two. It's stealing to accept pay for work you haven't done.
If you're not doing these two things, you may not be lying or stealing, but this submission advocates for doing these two things.
Who says anybody's doing that? If I come to work for you, that doesn't imply I'm not doing anything else for money. And, nobody's saying to accept pay for work you haven't done. The article is simply saying to set expectations low. If expectations are met, then, by definition, the agreed upon work is being done.
I say most people would be doing that, and the article suggests you do that, because the majority of FTE software development positions require you work exclusively for that company. Most even have IP control over everything you do, work or not.
Further, if you set expectations low and you work for me, you will be fired. I expect it’s similar many other places. I’m an engineer, I know what 40 hours of effort looks like.
The premise here is that you can stand to benefit from lying and stealing. What is there to engage with about that? Of course it’s true, but you weigh that against the negative consequences of your deception being discovered.