I don't think competitive pay is possible yet because of the limited funds, low capitalization at the moment and the possibility that withdrawing large amounts of $Fiat would hurt NEM capitalization. Maybe this could change years later?
What if you all relocated to place like Soukanville and you could get your living expenses or compensation down to $500 a month? I bet you are already all saying NO but that's an option. There's already many western expats and even some IT people in Cambodia as you can live for under $10 a day and still eat and drink out. Maybe you could all get apartments nearby or live in a big party house with a private chef.
If I recall those Bitcoin dark wallet people are living in an illegal squat in Spain and are dumpster diving for food, so it could be worse. Not even sure how they intend on making any money from that wallet so I guess it's some lifestyle choice.
We should start a NEM commune and all of us devs can live together
I remember I met someone, a canadian, who was married to a cambodian living in Cambodia recounting this story to me.
There was trouble recently and he went back to his wife's village to sit out for a couple of weeks. He could hear gun shots from a distance and was quite worried and frightened at first. After a while he got used to it. ;-)
I have lived all over nice places and bad ones. You get use to the gun shots.