Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just goes to show you how small the top is in streaming. Based on this data, and assuming twitch payouts are about a quarter the average streamer's income, about 300-400 twitch streamers get paid more than the total comp of senior staff engineers where I work. Let's be generous and say that these people have no staff to pay (false assumption, e.g. Pestily has stated that he pays hundreds of thousands on salaries for…
Getting paid 7 figures for writing code? That is an anomaly and is not in line with reality. Just doing a cursory Google search for Senior Software Engineer salaries puts the average at ~122k [0], nowhere close to the amount one of those Twitch streamers makes. I wouldn't call it rich either, maybe middle class or upper-middle class at best. [0] https://www.indeed.com/career/senior-software-engineer/salar...
1. Indeed, Glassdoor and other mainstream sites are useless and at best report outdated base salaries. Use levels.fyi or teamblind.com for more realistic data.
2. 50% or more or the compensation at these companies is in RSUs. These companies have performed remarkably well over the past decade. Folks who have had exposure to their stocks as employees have done very well.
3. Half a million dollars a year (before refreshers, etc.) is entirely realistic at the Staff level and at Senior Staff, you're often looking at anything from $700K to low $1MM.
For these companies, the scope and weight of someone at that level of work if impact across millions/billions of users and their actions can make or lose you similar amounts of money.