With this particular iteration of the Sims, I have caved. I use MCCC and cheat up whatever skill(s) I want my Sim to have straight out of CAS. I find it particularly abhorrent when creating an entire family in CAS, that some of the kids can been teens and yet they have no skills, neither do the parents. I would love it were we to add skills, even if by random, to our Sims while still in CAS.
If a Sim does have to increase a skill(s) I still attempt to have them do it without cheats. I purposefully leave my potential celebrity Sim with a skill level below in Professional singing (since I use Road to Fame mod) and a level below in modeling. Most musicians who rise in fame grace the covers of periodicals, after all. So, I make my Sims work at the rest of their skills, despite their boost.
