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A very good example on this is Vue.js. While it is very popular, a quick look at the donation amounts on Evan's patreon page gives a good reality check for thos

A very good example on this is Vue.js. While it is very popular, a quick look at the donation amounts on Evan's patreon page gives a good reality check for those who are dreaming of living off donations.

cryptica 7y ago
His donation amount is not bad but if you think about it like a salary; it's kind of low considering how well known he is in the industry.
- epicide 7y ago
  > how well known he is in the industry. That is also part of his compensation.
  - alex_anglin 7y ago
    But you can’t eat goodwill.
    - dexterdog 7y ago
      You can eat the food that is bought with the fees that can be easily gained from speaking and consulting.
      - AWebOfBrown 7y ago
        Or, phrased differently, from working another job.
        lliamander 7y ago
        A job you could only get by having the reputation in the first place.
        CydeWeys 7y ago
        Or, phrased differently, he's already doing whatever he's doing, and $20k/month is just one income stream. I'm a developer who's presented at conferences. I don't consider that "another" job, but rather, part of this job. And I don't have any monthly donation income coming in at all.
        dexterdog 7y ago
        That's hardly another job. It's completely based on Vue. I know if I needed an expert on it and he was available that he'd probably be my first choice.
dyeje 7y ago
I'm not sure what you're implying. He makes $20k a month from Patreon. That is an extremely comfortable amount of income.
- starbugs 7y ago
  Vue.js is one of the most used JavaScript frameworks out there. If this was a commercial project, his income would be magnitudes higher. Yes, $20k a month is comfortable. But is it appropriate given the popularity of Vue and considering how many organizations profit from it? Now, if you scale this down to a framework that has half or a quarter of that popularity. When do you reach the point where it isn't comfortable at all anymore? And does that still seem appropriate?
  - scarface74 7y ago
    If this were a commercial product, he owned the company and wasn’t an employee, and he could still get the widespread adoption that open source can bring. I might suggest for a company to use VueJS since it is open source and donate but I’m never going to suggest that a company bases its product on Telerik components.
  - epicide 7y ago
    > If this was a commercial project, his income would be magnitudes higher. Not necessarily. I would expect part of the reason it's one of the most used is because it's non-commercial. I do agree it's not fair compensation, though.
  - kbenson 7y ago
    > If this was a commercial project, his income would be magnitudes higher. If it was a commercial project I imagine there would likely need to be other staff involved, and adoption would be lesser. Whether that ends up being more or less money for him in specific in the end (or whether the project/company would survive) is not without question, in my mind.
    - starbugs 7y ago

cryptica 7y ago

His donation amount is not bad but if you think about it like a salary; it's kind of low considering how well known he is in the industry.

epicide 7y ago
> how well known he is in the industry. That is also part of his compensation.
- alex_anglin 7y ago
  But you can’t eat goodwill.
  - dexterdog 7y ago
    You can eat the food that is bought with the fees that can be easily gained from speaking and consulting.
    - AWebOfBrown 7y ago
      Or, phrased differently, from working another job.
      - lliamander 7y ago
        A job you could only get by having the reputation in the first place.
      - CydeWeys 7y ago
        Or, phrased differently, he's already doing whatever he's doing, and $20k/month is just one income stream. I'm a developer who's presented at conferences. I don't consider that "another" job, but rather, part of this job. And I don't have any monthly donation income coming in at all.
      - dexterdog 7y ago
        That's hardly another job. It's completely based on Vue. I know if I needed an expert on it and he was available that he'd probably be my first choice.

dyeje 7y ago

I'm not sure what you're implying. He makes $20k a month from Patreon. That is an extremely comfortable amount of income.

starbugs 7y ago
Vue.js is one of the most used JavaScript frameworks out there. If this was a commercial project, his income would be magnitudes higher. Yes, $20k a month is comfortable. But is it appropriate given the popularity of Vue and considering how many organizations profit from it? Now, if you scale this down to a framework that has half or a quarter of that popularity. When do you reach the point where it isn't comfortable at all anymore? And does that still seem appropriate?
- scarface74 7y ago
  If this were a commercial product, he owned the company and wasn’t an employee, and he could still get the widespread adoption that open source can bring. I might suggest for a company to use VueJS since it is open source and donate but I’m never going to suggest that a company bases its product on Telerik components.
- epicide 7y ago
  > If this was a commercial project, his income would be magnitudes higher. Not necessarily. I would expect part of the reason it's one of the most used is because it's non-commercial. I do agree it's not fair compensation, though.
- kbenson 7y ago
  > If this was a commercial project, his income would be magnitudes higher. If it was a commercial project I imagine there would likely need to be other staff involved, and adoption would be lesser. Whether that ends up being more or less money for him in specific in the end (or whether the project/company would survive) is not without question, in my mind.
  - starbugs 7y ago