The best way to get cheap, dedicated employees is to get them when they’re young (before they know any better), have them work on projects they think are cool, and give them lots of free candy and soda. The more sugar the better. 

But why mess around with newly-minted Comp Sci college grads? That’s so 2005. I instead suggest finding kids between 10 and 14 and having them learn the Kid’s Programming Language. It’s based on .NET, but with a simplified IDE and API.

Put your kids (or spouse, or neighbor, or relative) to work building a next-generation tool so that you can retire young and finally have time to enjoy World of Warcraft. 🙂

Note: I am being tongue-in-cheek about “cheap labor.” I don’t advocate child labor or anything. I just thought this tool was cool (especially considering the brain drain & dropping numbers of IT grads) ad might be a good way to bond with youngins or help your local middle school students get into IT. But…I couldn’t resist being flippant.