One of us missed the point -- I don't think he was talking about the rate he had to pay.
Programming is a valuable skill. How much does he get for spending 48 hours of his time?
He gets the satisfaction of knowing that a company probably solved one of their problems for free by running off with his code while flipping him the bird.
That is what is so nice about patio11 - he has effectively thought the rest of us what the value of a good programmer is.
Fuck code sprint and the rest of the guys who think we accept being treated as dirt.