Is it enough for this project though? I have worked on optimization projects, and have been hired as the Performance person, making well over 5K US a month in a startup working on optimization stuff, in a 3rd world(read: one of the two largest asian) country...
Largely because optimizing the last 10% in such projects is extremely labour intensive and niche work.
Either way this feels like atleast 4-5 months of full time work minimum...
Creating a bounty which is essentially a zero sum competition and not including folks from countries where 20k can be living annual wage...
Means you are essentially excluding most folks who are working full time.
And honestly if someone can wrap this up in a couple months as a side hustle. And if they feel like 20K was more than worth their time..
Then not to argue but they are significantly under paid.
And if I had a company, I would definitely like to hire them. Even at 15-20K a month...
It's a decent bonus in large parts of the US too. Not everyone on HN works for a FAANG company.