I’ve been sitting on this decision for a while.

I filed for our 504 tickets to switch a while ago, but this week I pull the trigger.

For those unfamiliar, RocketDevs connects talented developers from low-opportunity countries with founders in North America and Europe.

We vet thousands of candidates each month based on English proficiency and technical skills, selecting the top 5% and shortlisting them on our website. To uphold a high standard, we include recordings of every interview on the website.

Judging from comments on previous posts, it’s clear that many Redditors (and a lot of people) are unaware of conditions in the rest of the world.

As a U.S.-born Egyptian, I can tell you firsthand that for a fresh CS graduate, $700/month in Cairo is considered a Tier 1 salary. By paying well above market rates in these regions, we consistently attract top talent.

We simply here to bridge talented developers with early stage startups. The idea for RocketDevs is far from a novel one. There are hundreds of similar companies. However, we want to be the first to do it as a non-profit on a significant scale.

As such, effective immediately, RocketDevs will operate as a non-profit. I’ve reduced prices even further to just support our operating costs.

To my fellow founders: Being an early stage founder is like eating a shit sandwich every day. I hope this resource is an oasis on an otherwise arduous journey.

To my fellow working programmers in North America/Europe: I’m a programmer and I empathize with the dread around the current job market. I pledge to limit access to the program to small businesses (no startups past the seed stage of funding). These are almost always startups that couldn’t afford to hire otherwise.

It’s hard to execute on a “perfect good” at scale—something that benefits one group without unintended consequences for another. This is the best I can do.

If you’re a qualifying business, click here to get started. Not only are you making a difference, but you’re also hiring talented, full-time developers who are committed to your project’s success.

As for me? I will be building HiveMind AI, the first vertical AI Agent/Recruiter which is for profit.

Despite our 5x YCombinator rejections I am pretty bullish on the idea!