watching The Social Network, i saw some wordless hackers that were happy to work for early facebook when they only had $1000 in bank to pay for servers.
is it something different in American climate?.. :)
If I'm going to work for nothing, I'll work for myself, or as a fully-vested partner.
If I'm going to work for a salary, I'll work for at least the going market rate for my skills. I don't care if you're Joe McStartup or IBM. It's your dream, not mine.
i meant that - is that true that in America there are more risky, romantic hackers that would be happy to work for a promising startup for nothing, than in Europe, where too much people want to be full time employees?
I suspect most Americans have annoying personal requirements like bills and mortgages to pay same as Europeans.
College students don't have these overheads, but they don't have experience either - so coding for next to nothing is a good exchange for experience and resume padding.
However, if you're an experienced developer and you work for nothing without a huge chunk of equity or ownership in the business then you're a fool. Look up some of the job offers on Craigslist - you'll be very much in demand.
Scotland would probably be one of the worst places to try living in a cardboard box - cold enough to be dangerous if you are outdoors but not cold enough to be dry. Combine that with rather unpredictable weather and rapid temperature changes (we've had temperatures changing 20C in a few days recently) and you would have a pretty miserable time in a cardboard box.
Unfortunately there are a lot of kids living on the street in scotland. It really surprised me the first time I went to Edinburgh, how many young people there were sitting in doorways. A lot of them didn't look like they'd been there long either.
There is no doubt there are "real" homeless people in Edinburgh (probably poor souls who've been thrown out of long term care) - but a lot (not all) of the younger people you see in Edinburgh are doing it because a) there are plenty tourists who will hand over some cash b) people who have traveled in from outlying towns/villages, spent all of their cash on booze and don't have enough to get home.
[NB I've helped a few people in the latter category get home, so I know it happens]
is it something different in American climate?.. :)