[jcl]

Many jobs also require college degrees, yet it isn't an unspoken industry solution for first-time job applicants to lie on their resumes because they couldn't afford to go to college. So this "unspoken industry solution" of pirating Photoshop strikes me more as a rationalization for why someone wanted to pirate rather than an explanation of why they needed to pirate.

(Never mind that art schools cost a lot more than Photoshop, teach Photoshop, sell Photoshop at discounted student rates, etc.)