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Showing posts from April, 2020

Interview: The Promise of Intel oneAPI and Direct Parallel C++

What if developers could use the same code, tools, and libraries on a CPU, GPU, or an AI accelerator? Intel's oneAPI initiative aims to do just that by offering a unified programming model across multiple hardware architectures. Toptal Technical Editor Nermin Hajdarbegovic discusses oneAPI’s genesis and future with Sanjiv M. Shah, VP of Intel’s Architecture, Graphics and Software Group.

Small Business Resources for COVID-19: Loans, Grants, and Credits

Many American businesses have been forced to close or drastically cut back operations due to an unprecedented pandemic affecting the entire globe. Thankfully, the government, communities, and even private business have stepped up to aid in these times of struggle. Here’s a list of the top resources.

How to Perfect and Leverage Remote UX Workshops

Conducting a remote UX workshop can be extremely challenging. To avoid disaster, it’s important that facilitators follow best practices, observe proven techniques and prepare thoroughly.

Project Management Cheat Sheet

There is no perfect framework that can be applied universally. Project managers should tailor processes to work best with their teams and develop skills that will serve them well throughout their career.

How to Make the Remote Work Transition with Ease

A sudden transition to remote work can be challenging. Adopting an iterative approach, maintaining strong communities, and setting up a home office that’s built for productivity are keys to success.

Financial Distress in a Crisis: You Can’t Predict, You Can Prepare

Financial distress can quickly escalate during times of economic stress. What are the steps to take to protect against downside risks while preserving upside optionality?

COVID-19: The Ultimate Design Thinking Use Case

We are living in extraordinary times as COVID-19 continues to cause crises across the world. Could designers make use of design thinking to solve urgent problems and come up with innovative solutions?

Making Change Stick: How to Get Change Management Right

Change management is critical to project success. Studies report that about three-quarters of change efforts flop if they are not managed well. Learn how to get change management right.

Cabin Fever Coding: A Node.js Back-end Tutorial

Missing the luxury of a good, old-fashioned remote control when the laptop is beyond easy reach? Transform your old smartphone into a remote and learn some basic Node.js/Express/Pug along the way.

The Importance of UX and Design Thinking

There’s significant overlap between UX and Design Thinking. Like UX, Design Thinking is an iterative process where ideas breathe life based on the needs, thoughts, and behaviors of real users.

The Suddenly Remote Playbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Working Remotely

The future of work arrived overnight. Now, companies and their workers are asking: “How do you do distributed work the right way?” For over a decade, Toptal has thrived to become the world’s largest fully remote company. To share how we do it, we decided to create a comprehensive guide—an invaluable tool for individuals and organizations who’ve been thrust into this new reality.

Turn Chaos Into Profit: Understanding the ETL Process

ETL can consolidate data from various sources into an organized, reliable, and usable database. This allows businesses to employ previously unused or underused data to improve their performance. In this article, Toptal Data Modeling Developer Alexandre Wanderer demonstrates all stages of the ETL process in building a data warehouse.

Inclusive Design vs Accessible Design (with Infographic)

Stepping away from preconceived notions about “typical” users through an inclusive design process allows designers to create digital products that are user-friendly to the widest range of people.

Product Teams at Toptal: Strategies for Remote Success

Toptal’s product teams have embraced the nature of remote work from day one. The sky isn't the limit for Toptalers, who tell an exceptional story about the success of remote work.

Strategies for Raising Startup Capital in Small Markets

Raising startup capital in smaller cities is harder than in prominent areas, like Silicon Valley. Strategies for fundraising must be tweaked to account for the different blend of investors on offer.

Working with React Hooks and TypeScript

Hooks have already changed the way we use React for the better. Add TypeScript to the mix, and developers can leverage static typing and type transformations to reduce the noise of many interface descriptions. In this article, Toptal Software Developer Nicolas Zozol demonstrates hooks and TypeScript in React and explains how this powerful combo can save time and streamline your code.

Move in Unison – How to Conduct a Remote Design Sprint

It’s difficult enough running a multi-day Design Sprint with everyone in the same room. Doing it remotely is even trickier. These tips help designers overcome the challenges of running a remote Sprint.

A Century of Pandemics - Counting the Economic Costs

What are the real financial impacts of a pandemic like COVID-19? Using data from past pandemics and recent research, we estimate the current and projected costs.

Getting the Most Out of Pre-trained Models

Pre-trained models are making waves in the deep learning world. Using massive pre-training datasets, these NLP models bring previously unheard-of feats of AI within the reach of app developers.

COVID-19 Lessons Part 1: Organizational Adaptability and Black Swans

The COVID-19 tragedy demonstrates our exposure to rare, high-impact events and offers lessons for the next disruptive occurrences. Standard business practices exacerbate these events—here’s how businesses can position themselves for positive, seamless responses in the future.

How to Lead Remote Product Teams: Key Traits for Success

As more organizations embrace distributed teams, how can product managers adapt? Kleanthis Georgaris, VP of Product at Toptal, provides strategies for success as a remote product leader.

How to Work Remotely When It Matters Most

Remote work isn't a novelty, it's the natural progression of our tech-driven world. We're sharing nine timely tips for working remotely. Done right, there's no better way to design.

The History of Remote Work, 1560 - Present (with Infographic)

Around the world, more people than ever are engaging in remote work. While the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive migration away from the traditional workplace, the evolution of remote work began long before. From the world’s first offices to the social and technological shifts that spawned a remote revolution, this infographic tells the story.

Making Remote Work, Part 2: The Secret to Success Is to Act as a Mentor

Remote teams require a different type of leadership. A study of culturally diverse, fully remote, global teams offers insight into how to manage remote teams.

Making Remote Work Part 1: Why Do Blended Teams Really Fail?

For managers of remote teams, unique challenges arise and success hinges on how these are addressed. This article examines the specific challenges that remote work creates for teams and their managers.

How to Work Remotely When It Matters Most

Remote work isn’t a novelty, it’s the natural progression of our tech-driven world. We’re sharing nine timely tips for working remotely. Done right, there’s no better way to design.

What to Consider in a Pandemic Business Continuity Plan

How can businesses and shareholders think about ensuring their survival in an evolving pandemic? Business continuity plans have gone out of the window. How can they be adapted to survive the current situation?

All Perks, No Hassle: An Angular 9 Tutorial

"Every year the internet breaks," goes the saying, and developers usually have to go and fix it. Is this true when it comes to the long-awaited Angular version 9?

Remote Work Tools of the Remote Work Trade

Working from home is no longer a business decision or a lifestyle choice. During the biggest public health crisis in a century, it’s a necessity: not to save time or money, but to save lives. In this article, Toptal Technical Editor Nermin Hajdarbegovic introduces newcomers to essential tools used by remote workers.

Suddenly Remote: Product Managers in Transition

Everything product managers need to know about shifting to remote work amid the global COVID-19 outbreak. Experienced remote product managers share their best practices on how leaders make the most of remote working.

Remote Reinvention: Finding Your Finance Consultant Niche

How do you get started as a remote finance consultant? Finding your niche is the first step toward building a brand for a consulting venture.