The effects of gain distribution on self-similar amplification of picosecond pulses in a Yb-doped fiber laser system were studied by numerical simulation. Ultrashort laser pulses amplified in self-similar amplification theoretical model was established to analyze the impact of pump configuration, fiber length and total gain coefficient on the self-similar amplification evolution and laser output performance. Detailed numerical simulation reveals that the best self-similar amplification result can be found for different cases, where high-quality self-similar pulses with ~100 fs transform-limited pulse duration are obtained. It is demonstrated that the self-similar evolution speed in a forward-pumping scheme is faster than that in a backward-pumping scheme for a fixed seed pulse. Furthermore, the results indicate that for the self-similar amplifier with different fiber lengths and gain coefficients, the forward-pumping scheme shows better evolution results in lower seed energy and longer wavelength range, while the backward-pumping scheme is more suitable for the higher seed energy and shorter wavelength range.