My lord, programmers really are brainwashed by money! You proved his point. But I'm not trying to be rude; it's the industry and shitty circumstances that are at fault for giving newer programmers the impression that it's all about high paying jobs for employers. Maybe you're newer to the craft--allow me to explain the purest mindset of a programmer in terms of who I'm guessing this guy to be:

They can't afford him because nobody can. He's already financially self-sufficient, probably maintains a low burn rate, has money saved, and makes enough money to live off of maintenance projects or easy returning clients he's collected over the years. And just maybe has a minor PRODUCT of his own already that prints him money monthly! Which is exactly what we are supposed to be doing as programmers.

If you're not in programming to invent stuff, but just to put food in your mouth (or if you're not hot on the trail of making this happen), you completely missed the boat in terms of why you became a programmer!! It's NEVER TO WORK FOR ANYONE ELSE. It's to invent a situation of complete freedom for yourself, while experiencing the joy of being able to create things as fast as you think it.

In essence, nobody can afford him because he works for himself. He's simply saying: "any other bad ass programmers out there wanna build something dope together because we are self-made DIY programmers that don't need any form of 'daddy' telling us what to do, and because we wanna build something great for the right reasons, to make the world a better place--ANYONE OUT THERE?"

Me. hit me at james@faceyspacey.com

If you're a newer programmer, look at current jobs and whatever you must do to make ends meet as stepping stones. And get out early. Don't build a family while employed for Google and Facebook or whoever or you'll struggle to get off the teet. While you have minimal responsibilities go independent and create truer financial self-sufficiency for yourself.

If it's already too late for you and you have already created too much financial burden for yourself in the form of family, mortgages, etc, well, you messed up. Sorry Jack. If you're good at your craft you will engineer your way out of this situation. As long as you're still dependent on large salaries from Facebook et al, you're not truly the captain of your vessel, and it can be tipped at any time.

I'm not saying doing stints at these employers is a bad thing. But just make sure they are stepping stones. That means you learn tons of great technical stuff, you make great contacts, you grow your reputation, and then you use all that to create your own business. Period. Never settle for working for others. When you do, you're essentially oppressed and not truly in control of your own destiny, in relation to how much better things can get. You do what you gotta do while you gotta do it, and you get out and move on up as soon as you can. Everything is relative. So great for you if you just got the job. But shame on you if it's been enough years and you've become complacent.

The hierarchy goes: employed -> contractor (client based, usually a small number) -> creator of a product-based business (no investors, ideally no partners; and no, it doesn't need to be a billion dollar unicorn; a couple mil changes lives forever).

We're still all oppressed by our governments and taxes, but nevertheless you have far more control over your destiny at the top of this ladder.