If a VC or an angel investor would just give me $10,000 a year as salary, I would work on any idea full time for them, 90 hours a week, fighting fires, everything.

The issue is that the labor demand in this country (VCs, corporations, angels, basically anyone with money) would much rather prefer to spend $120,000 on one "really good" programmer than say $30,000 total on a team of 3 young and hungry programmers.

Something something, "adding programmers = adding delays and complexity to a project". And maybe it's true.

But the result is that the one amazing programmer lives lavishly, and the other 3 starve.

And what is worse, there's no guarantee the project will succeed, no matter who you hire.

This comment is so odd I'm not sure where to begin.

You would work more than 2x full time hours on any idea proposed by some VC for ~$2.25/hour? And you think there is an availability of competent "young and hungry" programmers who would do the same? And the lack of availability of this arrangement is causing these young hungry programmers to starve?

Is this entire comment some kind of joke or satire that went over my head?

No, I promise it isn't satire. There are a lot of us out here who are trying hard to get jobs but can't.

I would rather work for $10,000 with a chance at more responsibility and future promotions than not work at all.

Additionally, where I am currently, $10,000 would more than pay for food and rent and internet!

What are some reasons you can’t find a job? I’d love to be able to tell my AVP that I can hire someone for $2.50/hour. We’ve paid $20/hour for data entry clerks just as a stop-gap measure before we automate things. At such a price we’d stop all our investment in automation and just massively hire people.

Perfect! Then we should be able to get to work together right now. Let me tell you my history, and why the $10,000 year number makes sense to me.

I graduated from a "top ranked" university, UNC Chapel Hill, with a degree in History. Because I knew a thing or two about computers, I got a job as a sales engineer (demonstrate and configure a hw/sw product for a customer) at one of the traditional IT corporations (HP, Dell, Cisco, Oracle, etc).

After 4 years, I was laid off due to extremely political management taking ownership of my manager's organization. This is common knowledge.

I was making about $55,000 a year, with some commission and bonuses. This again is typical for the industry.

I tried quite hard to get a job right back in the same line of work, but was unable to. If you look at unemployment statistics, unemployment is actually growing in the IT industry. Perhaps I am just bad at interviewing, or don't have good connections to get around this process.

The only other work I am qualified to do is retail management at about $45,000 a year. After taxes and living expenses in the North East USA, this is not exactly a profitable undertaking.

However! If I am able to do data entry, or basic web/game programming (think things that don't require "Senior" or "MA/PHD preferred), for $10,000 a year, remotely from my rural property, then I would be more than happy to do this. If I could have a small portion of equity, then great. My expenses would be more than covered, because I wouldn't have to pay city rent or commuting or etc.

This makes very little sense.

If you are willing to work 90 hrs/wk for $10k salary, why not take a regular 40 hr/wk job for $10k salary (or more even, why limit yourself?), and spend the other 50 hours doing whatever you were going to do?

There are plenty of $10k/yr 40-hour-work-week jobs that don't require any mental load after you clock out, and don't pretend like you won't get anything done in those 50 remaining hours. If you can't build anything with 50 hr/wk to use (which is more than enough for a regular full time job), it seems unreasonable to assume that somehow adding more time would solve the problem.

This assumes we take you at your word that you can be productive for 90 hours, and that you live or are willing to move to a country where $10k/year clock-in-clock-out-and-forget-about-it-work can be found relatively easily.

For additional context, please take a look at the other comment I just added in this thread :)!

Right now, my friends and I are unemployed. We would love to be able to work on any project where someone believes in us. $10,000 is more than enough to cover food, rent, internet, etc where we live. And if there is a chance at future promotions and additional responsibility for a bump in pay, then great!

Right now, I would rather work hard and gain connections who trust me as a worker, than not work at all. I am working on my side projects, but those aren't profitable, are still in dev, and generally I haven't found an employer or investor who is interested in the project or translatable skills

Have you tried upwork?

Upwork routinely denies workers from even starting on the platform, sides with the person buying your labor in case of dispute, and you typically compete with freelancers with dubious ethics. It makes for a difficult experience with everyone involved