Do you cheat skills?

Most of the times increasing a sim's skill is part of the goals i set for my gameplay, but i might cheat the level of a skill if it was not.

I usually don't do it because I don't want to look up the cheat codes. I wouldn't feel bad though if I started an adult sim with some skill points in standard things down, or if they have a backstory of being ... whatever.. an athlete maybe. Having no fitness skill points would seem weird then.
Usually though it's pretty easy to get them so I just put some good lot traits in and do it.

For stories yes and no. If the Sim in my imagination would be especially skilled at something, I give it to them. I play a lot of large households and micromanaging everyone to relearn every skill each time I start a new game with that household is just too much busy work.

Growing with a Sim, though? No need then. It just depends on what kind of game I feel like playing that day, and there is more to it than just grinding up the skills. (Much of my Sims 3 play would beg to differ, but I would be too busy grinding out the skill challenges on my fav sims to pay much attention to the rest of the household. Now I have time to actually kind of care about the characters I do not micromanage so much.)

I have done for a few sims I've added in as townies. I didn't do it for all though. I actually forget a lot of the time! I don't cheat on the house I'm playing, I like them to level "naturally". Gives me something to do and some goals to reach.

Yep! I wished even back in TS1 days that CAS allowed us to distribute a few points - 5 to 10, say -- to get Sims off to a start. In Sims 2, I used the CollegeAdjuster object to do this, and now I use MCC center. The latter mod I like the more I use it..I'm forever finding unexpected features.

It depends. I've been doing a playthrough where I set up the family using some random parameters, and the mom started out as a single adult (not YA) with a toddler and a baby. I gave her some handiness, cooking, charisma, and a few other things I forget, because I wanted her story to be about working long hours while raising the kids and not about setting the stove on fire because she couldn't make macaroni and cheese. I didn't cheat anything for the kids though because they were just, well, kids.

I'm more of a grind it out player because I like feeling like I made and customized my sims. I like seeing them go through the skills and development. I wouldn't feel very attached if I were to cheat skills.

I would use the story mode but haven't needed it yet. I already have enough sims largely in my own game. I do add them but they are often edited townies actually. I have not cheated skills for those though.

Absolutely - learning skills is not part of my game - if i create a family or a couple - they must be able to cook/bake, have logic and charisma as any adult should IRL. So I give them those skills in cheats. As soon as a baby becomes a toddler i cheat their skills in so they are maxed out, happy toddlers! It takes too long to skill them up and interferes with the story.

I think the only time I cheat skills is when I download an interesting looking Sim from the gallery, and I find out that the Sim has maxed skills already. I enjoy building my Sims up, so I often cheat them back to level one skills.

I do many times, especially with Elders. Makes no sense for them not to have skills