I read a thread on the Juce forums yesterday around Indie VST Developer Expectations; created back in January 2017 by a cat thinking about trying their hand at VST development.
I read it back then; but fast forward a year; and they have returned with their experiences (Especially Post #21)
For those who aren’t aware; Juce is a C++ library focused on audio/VST development; and is used by the likes of Elektron, Akai, Arturia, Korg etc. and of course OctaEdit.
I thought some cats mind find it an interesting read; and an interesting discussion point around what it is like on the other side of the fence. The effort, hours and skills required the challenges faced, the commercial realities involved and so forth.