I dont really see it as a win win. OP ends up with no pay for half a month which he may need.

I dont see how it would be a bluff, from what @BenTels posted it looks to be enough for a very junior position in a company that understands you will need training. It's not like everyone needs a masters degree in order to work in the industry. Also I very much doubt if anyone would care if they saw OP asking this question.

Falsifying the report should in no way be an option here and I dont see how any decent professional would even consider it. Just look at what happened to those developers in the BMW emmisions scandal.

You cant just assume that everyone has the skill needed to make the changes. It's not just a matter of installing software.

if the product manager doesnt consider improving code quality useful then OP is better off not working there. Sounds to me like OP just hurt people's egos by writing nicer code.

@solarflare I very much doubt if HR will open the guys github as they wont have a clue what it is. It's far more likely to be other developers who are less likely to care.

Your example is totally different situation. Merely suggesting/ recomending someone spends a little free time to learn some technology isnt forcing them to do it and there are no implied repercussions if you do not. Unless you are being forced then the only downside is you fall behind a little or have to work harder to find time to learn during work.

Not to sound insensitive, but I'm willing to bet he will still eat the cake even with some fruit next to it. He is still going to have the lack of self control to stop him chosing the cake.

Why do you want to become a freelancer? It would be far more beneficial for you to get a normal development job where you can learn from other people for the first few years.

Your just assuming that because someone is 'smarter' that that means they are automatically an a-whole. There could be a lot more reasons why OPs friend doesnt get through interviews other than that.

@bharal You can hardly compare a programmer to a doctor or lawyer. It's a fact of life that the internet is a useful tool in modern programming and you would be daft to not use it so people can see how 'good' you are. It's like saying a programmer from the 80's is bad just because they keep a C reference book next to their desk so they can look up functions they dont often use.

@SaggingRufus What part, my view on commenting code? Code thats littered with comments just because the developer could not make it easy to understand by itself is just bad.

"to take revenge I did not put any comment to the code", well commenting code is generally a bad idea anyway, you should be writing code that is easy to understand without them. If your writing code that nobody can understand then it's no suprise he has no trust in you and starting to do improve your code quality will slowly help.

Why do you think you need to even tell them? It's unlikely that they would ever find out that you are interviewing elsewhere unless you tell them. Telling them is going to be of no benefit to you at all and is likely to make them suspicious no matter what you say your reasoning is.

It's a massive stretch to say that OP does not want his job just because he wants to eat lunch in peace so he is able to continue working effeciently after his break.

Forcing your employer to give you a raise by getting another job offer is not the best solution. It's just going to highlight you as someone that will possibly leave soon and could effect your career there. Also OP may not want to move jobs.

@Joshu'sMu it doenst really exclude the family man from anything, they can still do programming in their (reduced) free time or just answer that they dont have the free time to do it anymore. I dont think many employers would care if you chose your kids over contributing to some github project.

I dont see what it has to do at all with gender. There are plenty of women that chose to program in their free time and if they chose not too then thats their personal choice and has nothing to do with their gender. Likewise most men are also just as busy looking after kids or parents.