Where geographically the coder works is not a requirement.
Yes, it is a paid gig.
Quality, costs, timing, and confidentiality are the only strict requirements. A coder should be eligible to pass the investigation to receive at minimum a DOD Top Secret clearance if required.
Most folks in High Achiever Academic Communities lean more toward feeling free to share and discuss their very interesting work than folks working in military communities.
I attended Jr. College in ultra conservative Orange County California and then did upper division at ultra liberal UC Berkeley - both cultural extremes. I spent years working in basic neuroscience research, man-machine interfaces, and modeling biological systems at UCSD & its associated hospitals. And, I spent several years working on Top Secret military & space projects.
My current assessment is organic humans are regressing intellectually while synthetic software is advancing intellectually. Organic humans socially/politically are manifesting as predicted by J. Calhoun and E. Ramsden experiments & studies.
My project is to accelerate producing Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) to help the human species survive & thrive in celestial environments by taking advantage of my advanced biology knowledge and complete theory for how to simulate (and exceed) organic human intelligence.
While there certainly are many financially profitable byproducts that will emerge from this work the primary ambition, health, and commitment I am looking for in the individual(s) needed to code this simulation has to be love, appreciation, and respect for human life along with the capacity, tenacity, self-confidence, and creative visionary ability to let go of their securities based on historical knowledge & experiences.
This a life commitment of self for the greater good of self, family, friends, neighbors, and future humans. Artificial Super Intelligence must be programmed with the understanding that failure is not an option!
Please let me know of any gifted individuals who want to achieve this goal. I am already working on it every day.