Is it worth it to be an App developer? How about versus working at Google or Apple?
From their perspective, the purpose of your work is to enrich their platform. The difference is in the distribution of payout and work conditions. Rather than having a stable 100k salary at said company, you have the chance to earn absolutely nothing, or be an outlier and beat the 100k. Is it worth it, by expected value? Well, according to the article numbers,
Expected Monthy Payout = 24%0 + 23%50 (using half of max of ranges) + 22%500 + 19%5000 + 9%50K + 3%200K (using double the greatest lower limit)
Which gives an expected monthly payout of $11,600. Not bad! I think 30% of this goes to the respective platforms, so an expected yearly salary for an app developer might be something like $97,500. And I believe this matches up fairly well with what companies are willing to pay app developers (on average it seems higher, aside from maybe in the Valley).
What's interesting is the distribution of payoffs into the "haves" and "have nots". There are few app developers pulling that $100K or so salary. Instead, two thirds of everyone is below poverty, and a select group are killing it. This seems to be the new modus operandus of the tech economy. The implication is obvious: extreme economic inequality (especially as non-tech jobs become less relevant), which by necessity will increase social inequality.
> There are few app developers pulling that $100K or so salary.
The article and report (which admittedly are not very clear) says there are very few app developers pulling in over $100k per app. Someone with an app making $250k a year and two more apps making $10k a year each would not be in the $100k-per-app bin as this report lays out the data,
I think you are underestimating what the really big guys are pulling in. I doubt twice is high enough for the tail end, three or four times is likely better.
I also think we underestimate just how many apps are being created with the intention or desire of generating revenue that fail to do so.
It's a fairly arbitrary calculation anyways, the point is the expected value is on the same order of magnitude as that of a stable company man. The big question is what implications this new "career salary distribution" will have as it becomes more popular.
This 10000x. It is incredibly hard to compete today when there are 10 apps for every idea. Most of them suck - but it is damn near impossible to charge from day one and be successful unless you have a very large platform to advertise or are a prominent figure (something like Vesper from John Gruber). We're in it for the long haul with PaperBox (gopaperbox.com) - we intend to be the best app and continue to iterate for 3 years or so, and then figure out how to make money when we hopefully have a million or so users. Having said that, it is very hard to project out and keep growth going without a significant advertising budget.
From their perspective, the purpose of your work is to enrich their platform. The difference is in the distribution of payout and work conditions. Rather than having a stable 100k salary at said company, you have the chance to earn absolutely nothing, or be an outlier and beat the 100k. Is it worth it, by expected value? Well, according to the article numbers,
Expected Monthy Payout = 24%0 + 23%50 (using half of max of ranges) + 22%500 + 19%5000 + 9%50K + 3%200K (using double the greatest lower limit)
Which gives an expected monthly payout of $11,600. Not bad! I think 30% of this goes to the respective platforms, so an expected yearly salary for an app developer might be something like $97,500. And I believe this matches up fairly well with what companies are willing to pay app developers (on average it seems higher, aside from maybe in the Valley).
What's interesting is the distribution of payoffs into the "haves" and "have nots". There are few app developers pulling that $100K or so salary. Instead, two thirds of everyone is below poverty, and a select group are killing it. This seems to be the new modus operandus of the tech economy. The implication is obvious: extreme economic inequality (especially as non-tech jobs become less relevant), which by necessity will increase social inequality.