According to TechFlow, the Financial Times reported that Telegram founder Pavel Durov said the company has only about 50 employees, including 30 engineers who have been strictly reviewed. Its team members are selected by holding programming competitions and the winners are recruited to join. The programmers in the team are mainly from Ukraine.
Telegram employees are typically "super young Eastern Europeans" and earn $500,000 a year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Pavel Durov told the Financial Times earlier this year that his employee turnover rate is almost zero. Because they share the same values and believe in the company's mission. Durov himself is the core figure in decision-making, and despite having nearly 1 billion users, the speed of innovation is closer to that of a startup. He personally does not like to see himself as a co-director or boss, but prefers to see himself as a product leader. Without his deep involvement, no new features will be launched.