Wow this has been a very humerous thread
.. However, In california
you dont even need to have a contractors license when doing work totalling $500 or less let alone a permit.. So, ofcourse all of us licensed contractors have done work without permits when not necessary, But when required we should definitely be pulling permits and having our work inspected...which by the way doesnt mean very much anyways when you get the inspector that doesnt know what hes looking for..
It is our jobs as professional electricians to do the work correctly. An inspection is simply that. So, regardless of inspection or not, \ YOUR work should always be done as if it were being inspected..