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Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#61

I always wonder if there is anyone making a living of bounties? I've once considered it, but the public bounties that I could find were so laughably low that I just saw no way to make it work. I guess it could work if there were a lot of bounties for a project that you are familiar with, so that you can fix them quickly, but there are so few bounties available that you probably have nothing to do after a week or so.

I spent a decade or so living life off of bug bounties. Smart Contracts are the only way to go these days.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2 or 4 1k a month puts you either above or way above average salary here in Italy.

You have to compare it to being a self employed business owner instead of to a salary from a job. Half of it is going to go to taxes.

Self employed since 2011. In Italy. I know how this world works. If you get 2 to 4K a month you can easily live an absolutely normal life or even above average.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#63
post #7

Pay successful bounty submissions on a faster than net 180 time frame. A friend was interested in the rather extensive Expensify bug bounty programme [0], but the red tape involved created far too long a turnaround time between claiming a ticket and receiving compensation. [0] https://github.com/Expensify/App/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aiss...

Do they get to claim it and then work on it, or do they need to have a solution already to claim it? net 180 wouldn't be bad if you could reserve several of them to work on at a time. It'd suck to work 'for free' that first few months, but then you'd have consistent income coming in regularly after that.

I think I would prefer whomever fixed the bug first, I know that’s not ideal for people who put the time and effort in.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to compare it to being a self employed business owner instead of to a salary from a job. Half of it is going to go to taxes.

Self employed since 2011. In Italy. I know how this world works. If you get 2 to 4K a month you can easily live an absolutely normal life or even above average.

I suppose it depends on how you are defining normal. Does that mean owning a home and vehicle and supporting a wife and kids, or does that mean sharing an apartment with multiple people and using public transport and not having any savings? I get that the cost of living is lower in Italy, but different people have different ideas about what constitutes comfortable. Just from googling, the 2k seems like it'd be a bit of a struggle but the 4k seems like it'd be pretty nice.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they get to claim it and then work on it, or do they need to have a solution already to claim it? net 180 wouldn't be bad if you could reserve several of them to work on at a time. It'd suck to work 'for free' that first few months, but then you'd have consistent income coming in regularly after that.

I think I would prefer whomever fixed the bug first, I know that’s not ideal for people who put the time and effort in.

I guess it depends if you're the one doing the paying or the one receiving the pay .

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Self employed since 2011. In Italy. I know how this world works. If you get 2 to 4K a month you can easily live an absolutely normal life or even above average.

I suppose it depends on how you are defining normal. Does that mean owning a home and vehicle and supporting a wife and kids, or does that mean sharing an apartment with multiple people and using public transport and not having any savings? I get that the cost of living is lower in Italy, but different people have different ideas about what constitutes comfortable. Just from googling, the 2k seems like it'd be a bit…

2k/mo pre taxes as a self employed would allow you to live a normal life meaning you’d not struggle to get through the month. 4k/mo would allow you to easily buy a house and live an above average life. This is obviously true for most of the country and it’s different if you want to live in one of the big cities but that goes without saying.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose it depends on how you are defining normal. Does that mean owning a home and vehicle and supporting a wife and kids, or does that mean sharing an apartment with multiple people and using public transport and not having any savings? I get that the cost of living is lower in Italy, but different people have different ideas about what constitutes comfortable. Just from googling, the 2k seems like it'd be a bit…

2k/mo pre taxes as a self employed would allow you to live a normal life meaning you’d not struggle to get through the month. 4k/mo would allow you to easily buy a house and live an above average life. This is obviously true for most of the country and it’s different if you want to live in one of the big cities but that goes without saying.

If you happen to be supporting a four-member family on that 2K, it's barely above the poverty line.

Even when you're young and single, it behooves you to think about retirement; it's sooner than you think.

You need a safety net in case something happens, leaving you unable to work for a long time.

If you support a family, you have to think about things like education funds for the kids, and what happens if you suddenly die.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

2k/mo pre taxes as a self employed would allow you to live a normal life meaning you’d not struggle to get through the month. 4k/mo would allow you to easily buy a house and live an above average life. This is obviously true for most of the country and it’s different if you want to live in one of the big cities but that goes without saying.

If you happen to be supporting a four-member family on that 2K, it's barely above the poverty line. Even when you're young and single, it behooves you to think about retirement; it's sooner than you think. You need a safety net in case something happens, leaving you unable to work for a long time. If you support a family, you have to think about things like education funds for the kids, and what happens if you sudden…

Agree on the family but if 2 people are working (which is normal) with two 2k salaries you’re doing just fine.

Retirement is provided by the state here so it’s not something I have to plan for.

Again, just to reiterate, the original post was using 2k/mo as the absolute minimum and the point I was trying to make is that a few Ks a month is a reasonable living in way more places that people realize.

But I suspect a non negligible % of people here on HN have a distorted view of the world and how much living cost.

Re: Ask HN: How do you find developers for open source bug bounties?

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you happen to be supporting a four-member family on that 2K, it's barely above the poverty line. Even when you're young and single, it behooves you to think about retirement; it's sooner than you think. You need a safety net in case something happens, leaving you unable to work for a long time. If you support a family, you have to think about things like education funds for the kids, and what happens if you sudden…

Agree on the family but if 2 people are working (which is normal) with two 2k salaries you’re doing just fine. Retirement is provided by the state here so it’s not something I have to plan for. Again, just to reiterate, the original post was using 2k/mo as the absolute minimum and the point I was trying to make is that a few Ks a month is a reasonable living in way more places that people realize. But I suspect a non…

In Austria, 2k/mo before taxes is roughly what you earn as a part-time employee filling shelves at the supermarket [1].

[1]: Typical supermarket job in Austria: https://jobs.aldi-hofer.com/hofer-karriere-at/job/Linz-BACKB... The advertised salary for 21 hours/week of 1330€ is paid 14 times per year and comes to a total income of ~15.7k€ after taxes. If you make 24k€ a year as a self-employed person, you will have to pay ~400€ taxes + 6.5k€ pension + health insurance leaving a total of ~17k€ after taxes.

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