I’m curious how is everyone monetizing three.js? I never broke beyond a typical SE salary, and I feel it was always React that actually made this salary be a little bit higher. For example a FE position could pay at least 50% more than a proper “graphics engineer” one and actually be far less demanding. Graphics experience would maybe help me stand out over other FE engineers, but it wasn’t the thing that was commanding a premium.
I’m under the impression that there is a TON of money to be made in education. Bruno Simon’s course is bringing in millions, and i see other courses popping up, i wonder if there is an opportunity to take a piece of this cake. But as i remember, this is also pretty hard because three changes every month. I remember a book by Tony Parisi that quickly became obsolete. Lewy Blue was also trying to make money with a book, but the effort got abandoned.
No one reads books today right? If going this route, video tutorials are the way to go?
How does freelancing work? Like taking a ton of creative projects for agencies and such, how much money is in that?
I think most people making real money with three.js aren’t doing it as “graphics engineers” in the traditional sense. It’s usually through building 3D web projects for brands, agencies, startups, product launches, interactive landing pages, configurators, that kind of stuff. The money isn’t really in the title, it’s in the fact that you can create something visually impressive that most frontend devs can’t. For example, projects like https://theneoverse.web.app/#threeviewer&&liminal-hall for real estate, https://theneoverse.web.app/#threeviewer&&red-rock for games, or an ecommerce wristwatch try-on demo like https://theneoverse.web.app/#wrist-demo&&daytona show the kind of interactive 3D work that clients actually pay for.
In regular full time jobs, yeah React tends to pay more because it’s directly tied to product development and business needs. Three.js alone rarely commands a premium. But if you position yourself as a frontend engineer who can also build advanced 3D experiences, that can help you land better roles or more interesting projects.
Education definitely makes money, especially video courses. But that’s basically running a business. You have to market, update constantly, build a brand and community. Three changes a lot, so maintaining a course is ongoing work. Books are tough because they go outdated fast. Video plus community support seems to be the winning combo these days.
Freelancing can pay well if you work with creative agencies. They sell the experience to clients and you’re the technical person who makes it real. A single solid 3D campaign project can pay way more than a normal monthly salary if you price it properly. It’s less about being a graphics engineer and more about being someone who can deliver high end interactive web experiences.
So for me it’s not really three.js vs React. It’s how you package the skill and who you sell it to.
Yes @Umbawa_Sarosong summarised it perfectly.
I personally use three for internal use as a flexible visualisation tool. This mean you will never see these projects in the wild, they happen just after conceptual phase and before the production phase.