I have a channel with 800 subs and I get between a few hundred and a couple of thousand views on the videos, which are about functional programming and category theory. I don't really optimize for views or subscribers though. My reason for making these videos is primarily for the enjoyment of immersing myself in a topic deeply for weeks, then telling a story about it every time I walk my dog until I get to the point I think it will be worth making a video.
It doesn't hurt your career, often someone asks me something in an interview and as well as answering I can point to an hour long in depth video about it. It helps to get your name out in a programming community.
It also lead to being invited to speak at local meetups and then international conferences.
I would say don't try to succeed in a vacuum. If you're already part of a community make sure to use them to get the word out about your content and help you improve it. Do the same for others. Discord communities are great for this.
Finally be aware that to get an audience you can pick a niche where there are less people interested in the thing but more likely to watch your video because there is so little content for them. If, on the other hand, you want to do big numbers, you need to cover mainstream topics. An example would be building something with the latest web framework. Now the potential audience is much bigger but you are competing with established, high quality creators.
It doesn't hurt your career, often someone asks me something in an interview and as well as answering I can point to an hour long in depth video about it. It helps to get your name out in a programming community.
It also lead to being invited to speak at local meetups and then international conferences.
I would say don't try to succeed in a vacuum. If you're already part of a community make sure to use them to get the word out about your content and help you improve it. Do the same for others. Discord communities are great for this.
Finally be aware that to get an audience you can pick a niche where there are less people interested in the thing but more likely to watch your video because there is so little content for them. If, on the other hand, you want to do big numbers, you need to cover mainstream topics. An example would be building something with the latest web framework. Now the potential audience is much bigger but you are competing with established, high quality creators.
https://www.youtube.com/c/functionaljustin