Twitch is one of the world’s most popular online video streaming platforms for discovering and participating in video games and e-sport competitions. This private company has succeeded in creating a unique community of outstanding gamers, developers, entertainers, enthusiasts, influencers, artists, and business partners who share a common goal of making virtual interactions fun and productive. If you've always considered yourself a person who thinks outside the box, regardless of your background, you should consider launching and scaling your career at Twitch.
Twitch is looking for talented individuals who have yet to have a four-year degree in computer science but are passionate about transforming the tech industry through a software engineering career. Through its paid data science and software engineering apprenticeships, apprentices receive world-class training and mentorships for entry-level roles within and outside Twitch. If you're ready to learn more about Twitch’s apprenticeship program tracks, Twitch apprenticeship salary structure, its apprenticeship interview process, and reviews from past apprentices, read on.
About Twitch
Twitch is a video live-streaming service that allows individuals to chat, watch, or participate in interactive games, music, e-sports, talk shows, and various entertainment events. This live-streaming platform also enables users to discover and connect with a community of gamers, game developers, video content creators, and enthusiasts like themselves. According to data from Statista, Twitch is the most popular game streaming platform in the global gaming video content market. According to the Twitch 2022 recap, the company recorded the highest viewership at 21 billion watch time hours and 788 million streamed hours.
Statista revealed that individuals between 25-34 years of age account for 49.7% of Twitch's viewers. Individuals between 16 and 24 years accounted for 22.3% of viewers. Those aged between 35 and 44 accounted for 17.5% of viewers. According to Twitch Tracker, Twitch had an average of 7.63 million monthly active streamers and 2.58 million concurrent viewers throughout 2022.
As per its last census, Twitch has an average of 1,800 employees worldwide. Its corporate headquarters are in San Francisco, California. However, it has six other offices in North America (New York, Boston, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Seattle), One in South America (São Paulo), five in Europe (Paris, London, Berlin, Hamburg, and Dusseldorf), four in Asia-Pacific (Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, and Seoul), and two in Oceania (Melbourne and Sydney).
Brief History of Twitch
The founding story of Twitch dates as far back as 2005, when Justin Kan launched justin.tv while he was a physics and psychology major at Yale to stream his daily routine on the web. Justin.tv soon became a live-streaming platform allowing individuals to broadcast their lives online. With Emmett Shear, Kyle Vogt, and Michael Seibel, Justin Kan ran the company for a few years but soon realized the company wasn’t making much progress as most people preferred streaming video games to lifestyle videos.
The founders decided to launch Twitch in June 2011 to allow individuals to stream their own gaming and e-sport videos. As of its launch, the site had an average of 3.2 million monthly viewers. By 2012, Twitch’s VP of Marketing, Matthew DiPietro, revealed that the Twitch community had an excess of 20 million gamers. Between September 2012 and September 2013, the company raised $35 million through three funding rounds led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Thrive Capital, according to Crunchbase. In addition, twitch bought GoodGame Agency in 2014 and established a strategic alliance with IGDB.com in 2019.
On the 25th of August, 2014, the company’s CEO, Emmett Shear, announced to the Twitch community that the company, which boasted 55 million viewers per month, was set to be acquired by Amazon. The news surprised some people as there were rumors of Google making a bid for the company. On the 25th of September, 2014, Amazon purchased the outstanding shares of Twitch Interactive, Inc for an impressive $970 million in cash. Its 2015 Annual Report showed that Amazon bought Twitch because of its live streaming experience and user community.
Jeff Bezos noted the partnership would allow Amazon to learn from Twitch and help the company quickly build innovative services for its community. Twitch, whose average number of concurrent viewers was 539,000 in 2015, became 2.58 million at the end of 2022. According to Statista, Twitch realized a combined annual revenue of about $167 million for the year ended December 31st, 2022. The global live video streaming service also generated its highest revenue, $56.1 million, for the period covered during its first quarter of 2022.
Between 2022 and 2023, Twitch was listed among the best companies for employer benefits, compensation, and streaming services by brands like Built In, PC Mag, Influencer Marketing Hub, and Artlist.
What is Twitch’s Mission, Vision, and Values?
Twitch’s mission is to build the future of live, interactive entertainment one community at a time.
These fifteen leadership principles guide Twitch’s actions:
- Community First
- We Play Co-Op
- Ownership
- Invent and Simplify
- Are Right, A Lot
- Learn and Be Curious
- Hire and Develop the Best
- Insights on the Highest Standards
- Think Big
- Bias for Action
- Frugality
- Earn Trust
- Dive Deep
- Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
- Deliver Results
What is Twitch’s business model?
Twitch has a wide range of curated products and services. Viewers can join the fun through chats. Twitch equips developers with tools to build product extensions, APIs, interactive chat experiences, and codebases.
The company generates revenue through advertising, TwitchCon sponsorships, merch sales, and product subscriptions such as Bits, Subs, Turbo, Prime, Extensions, and Gift Cards.
What companies are Twitch’s competitors?
Twitch’s competitors are popular live gaming and entertainment content streaming platforms. Although Twitch has the highest game content streaming market share, its competitors are potent contenders. Twitch's top game and video live-streaming competitors include YouTube gaming, Facebook gaming, Mixer, Azubu, SmashCast TV, Discord, Bigo Live, DLive, Disco MeLee, HitBox, Beam, InstaGib TV, Tango, 17Live, UpLive, and Pococha.
What is the tech stack at Twitch?
According to Stackshare, Twitch has 27 technologies in its tech stack. The company owns ten application and data tools, six utilities, eight DevOps, and three business tools. Twitch’s application and data tools include NGINX, PostgreSQL, Amazon EC2, Ruby, Firebase, C++, Rails, and Golang. Some of its utilities include Mixpanel, Swiftype, Google Analytics, and Authy. Twitch’s DevOps comprise Jenkins, Terraform, Varnish, and Nagios. The business tools include GSuite, Medium, and HackPad.
Twitch Apprenticeship
History of the Twitch Apprenticeship Program: How Did The Twitch Apprenticeship Program Start?
Like most SaaS and Information Technology companies, Twitch launched an apprenticeship program with Onramp, a registered apprenticeship with the US Department of Labor, in 2020 to provide an alternative route into a tech career for U.S. residents without a computer science or related college education. In addition, this engineering apprenticeship program allows the recruits to contribute to advancing the Twitch mobile application.
Although the apprentices are assigned to different engineering groups, they collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve Twitch’s product features. In addition, twitch ensures its apprentices have adequate leadership support. The apprentices have access to career events, dedicated mentors, and managers who make adapting to Twitch’s tech stack and company culture easier. In addition, they receive feedback through surveys.
Program Length: How long is the Twitch apprenticeship program?
The Twitch apprenticeship is a six-month program that starts with four weeks of hands-on training where participants discover Twitch company policies and workplace practices, particularly those on agile development and team collaboration. From the first day, apprentices will be assigned to existing units and mentors. Depending on your performance during the program, you may be offered a full-time position at Twitch. An apprentice at Twitch works for eight or nine hours doing standups, taking meetings, planning sprints, writing codes, reviewing codes, and troubleshooting bugs.
Program Tracks: What career tracks does the Twitch apprenticeship offer?
Data Science Apprenticeship Program
The Twitch x Onramp data science apprenticeship prepares participants for exceptional data science and artificial intelligence careers. The program exposes apprentices to advanced technologies and frameworks like Python/R and SQL using tools and platforms like Git, GitHub, Jupyter Notebook, and Tableau. As a data science apprentice, you'll learn to define KPIs for optimizing product features and initiatives. You'll also discover how to build analytical frameworks, collect and manipulate big data, design A/B experiments, and collaborate with teams to manage product life cycles.
Front-end Apprenticeship Program
Front-end apprentices at Twitch build solutions that optimize user experiences. As an apprentice, you'll develop and implement web applications for Twitch. In addition, you'll partner with product management and design teams to add core components to Twitch’s graphical interfaces. Onramp ensures you work with programming languages and frameworks HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node, React, TypeScript, GraphQL, Apollo, Jest, and Mocha using Git and GitHub systems.
Full Stack Apprenticeship Program
Full Stack apprentices participate in one-month project-based training ahead of the apprenticeship program. During the program, you will work with advanced programming languages such as TypeScript, React, CSS, GoLang, and HTML using Amazon Web Services, Git, and GitHub. Your tasks will include building unique solutions for the company’s backend and front-end needs. You'll also collaborate with the engineering teams to build architectural frameworks for potential products.
Android Apprenticeship Program
Candidates in the android apprenticeship program are exposed to android programming languages and frameworks such as Kotlin, R, Java, GraphQL, Mockito, Robolectric, Expresso, and Dagger 2 using popular version control systems like Git and GitHub. As an android apprentice, you'll collaborate with cross-functional teams in developing, testing, and deploying product features using the best practices and methodologies.
Twitch Apprenticeship Conversion Rate: How Many Twitch Apprentices Become Full-time Employees?
While the company is yet to provide data on its conversion rate since launching its apprenticeship program in 2020, the probability of full-time apprentices converting to full-time employees is favorable. As per data released by Onramp, 95% of apprentices have converted to full-time roles at various partner companies, including Twitch.
Twitch Apprenticeship Compensation: How Much Are Twitch Apprentices Paid?
In previous years, all the apprentices in the various program tracks at Twitch x Onramp have earned within a defined salary range. As a potential Twitch apprentice, you can look forward to an attractive hourly income of $48 full-time. However, should you move on to a full-time role at Twitch, you can look forward to earning $206,439 each year as a software engineer.
Twitch Apprenticeship Benefits: What Benefits Are Offered In the Twitch Apprenticeship Program?
Twitch apprentices have access to medical insurance, a 401k plan, an employee assistance program (EAP), perks, discounts, and the possibility of launching a professional career at the company.
Twitch Apprenticeship Selection: How Are Cohorts Chosen?
Twitch's apprenticeship program is open to individuals from all education and work backgrounds. Individuals applying to the next Twitch apprenticeship can be community college graduates, self-taught programmers, coding bootcamp graduates, or have completed one or two online training programs in a tech-related discipline. Depending on the apprenticeship track you're applying to, you may be required to have a background in math, computer science, or statistics.
Twitch Apprenticeship Program Interview: Is the Twitch Interview Hard?
Interviews at Twitch have a difficulty rate of 2.9, according to Glassdoor. So if you're ready to apply for the Twitch apprenticeship program, you should start by creating an account on Onramp. On-ramp typically recruits candidates who graduated from coding bootcamps such as Fullstack Academy, General Assembly, Hack Reactor, App Academy, and Flatiron. As part of your online application, you must submit a resume highlighting your accomplishments and passion for the role. You don't need to include a cover letter, but if you believe an essay would boost your resume, go ahead.
Once you've submitted your application, wait for a confirmation email. Next, twitch ensures a recruiter appraises each candidate's application and engages them in a 15-30-minute phone screening. If, after the call, the recruiter deems you fit for the role, you'll have to participate in a 30-60-minute discussion with the hiring manager. This meeting is usually followed by a technical assessment and then a series of interviews with Onramp representatives and four or five employees from your prospective team at Twitch. Each session lasts for 45 minutes and will comprise technical and behavioral questions.
The good news is you can prepare for your technical assessment using Onramp’s practice tests. Depending on your program track, these practice tests cover core topics like statistics, Python and R, SQL, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, version control, and machine learning. In addition, as part of Onramp’s hiring requirements, you must complete an assigned technical project. The entire hiring process spans two to eight weeks. Successful candidates will receive offers to begin the preliminary training within these weeks.
Twitch Apprenticeship Cohort Size: How Many Apprentices Join in each Cohort?
Twitch recruits for one or two program tracks each year, and the number of apprentices per cohort differs depending on its business needs. However, Twitch may recruit an average of four apprentices per cohort, judging by the number of apprentices in its 2022 Android cohort.
Twitch Apprenticeship Cohort Frequency: How Often is a Cohort Hired?
Twitch, through Onramp, hires new cohorts once a year. This year, 2023, the company will hire candidates for its fourth apprenticeship cohort. As per the third apprenticeship cohort in 2022, the call for new apprentices usually began in the second week of May and ended in the fourth week.
The interviews and projects were completed between the second week of May and the last week of June. The hands-on training began on the 25th of June and ended on the 19th of August. The apprenticeship proper started on the 22nd of August and ended on the 10th of February, 2023.
Twitch Company Reviews: Is Twitch a Good Company to Work For?
Yes, Twitch is an excellent company to work for if you're for a fun and supportive workspace that encourages innovation and initiative. According to employee reviews from Glassdoor, Twitch has a 4.0 out of five-star rating for having a great culture, flexible hours and autonomy, a fun environment, transparent management, good pay, and a remote work system. Eighty-one percent of reviewers agree to recommend Twitch to a friend, and 84% approve of the CEO.
Twitch Apprenticeship FAQs
Is it hard to get hired at Twitch?
Twitch offers equal opportunities to all apprenticeship candidates regardless of their ethnic, educational, and work backgrounds. However, some might consider the hiring process difficult because of the demand for technical skills and training that align with your role before submitting an application.
Are Twitch interviews hard?
Twitch interviews may be easy, but some might argue they are tedious and overwhelming. According to Glassdoor reviews, Twitch has a 2.9 difficulty rate. In addition, the data indicate that most people consider the interview experience unpleasant because of the series of interviews each candidate must go through and the dispositions of the interviewers. Regardless, you can improve your experience by relying on Onramp's resources or an apprenticeship partner's expertise.
How long is a Twitch apprenticeship?
All Twitch apprenticeship programs span six months. However, the selected candidates must undergo a one-month practical training that combines classroom learning with hands-on projects and is administered through Onramp to brush up their technical skills before resuming their apprenticeship at Twitch.
Stay In Touch with Twitch: Are There Any Company Blogs To Follow?
The Twitch Careers page and the Twitch Blog are the ideal places to learn about Twitch's early career programs, work culture, recruitment policies, employee stories, projects, events, engineering tech stack, developer best practices, and its community news.
You should visit the Twitch DEI page to learn more about Twitch's commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.
Applying to the Twitch Apprenticeship Program: How do I know when to apply?
You can get news about Twitch apprenticeship programs from the Twitch apprenticeship page on Onramp, Instagram, and Twitter.
If you don’t want to track and monitor the Twitch apprenticeship program for yourself or are looking for support in an apprenticeship application, you can join apprenticeship.io to learn more and get support to land an apprenticeship program.
Learn more and sign up today.
