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Showing posts from May, 2020

Using Kotlin for Back-end Development: A Quick Overview

Kotlin has features that make it an ideal language for back-end development. Learn what these features are and how you can use them to create high-performing systems.

Living His Best Life – David Nuff's Inspiring Freelance Success Story

If we could design our best life, what would it entail? What would our freelance success story look like? Hear firsthand and get advice from someone who has designed their career and thrived.

The Art of the Fundraising Pitch Deck

The flow of a fundraising pitch deck is vital for striking a chord with investors and clearly displaying the narrative of the business. Going through a successful pitch deck slide by slide is one of the most effective ways to learn how to build a flow.

Design a Better Homepage with the StoryBrand Framework

Adhering to the StoryBrand framework to create a homepage with a compelling narrative that focuses on the customer’s needs is one of the best ways to build trust with website visitors.

Inside Toptal’s Product Team

VP of Product Kleanthis shares the internal workings of a world-class remote product team and what it takes to work at Toptal.

Trusting a Remote Workforce: A Q&A with Michelle Labbe

Michelle Labbe, VP of people at Toptal, leads the people and recruiting teams. Paul Estes recently sat down with Labbe to discuss the culture of a fully remote organization and how it differs from a central office.

Give Them Incentive – How to Leverage a Loyalty Program Design Framework

In 2019, India’s largest airline went bankrupt, and its frequent flyers switched to a new platform. We examine the loyalty program design for InterMiles, a rewards platform focused on lifestyles.

Healing Broken Supply Chains: Manufacturing Outside China

Given the outbreak of COVID-19 and its disruptive impact on supply chains, many are looking to diversify their manufacturing locations. We provide an analysis of the pros and cons, current state, and outlook for major markets outside of China.

Modern Web Scraping with Python and Selenium

Web scraping has been around since the early days of the World Wide Web, but scraping modern sites that heavily rely on new technologies is anything but straightforward. In this article, Toptal Software Developer Neal Barnett demonstrates how you can use Python and Selenium to scrape sites that employ a lot of JavaScript, iframes, and certificates.

How to Conduct Remote User Interviews

Remote user interviews can be more informative than face-to-face meetings. Follow this four-step method to conduct effective remote interviews that lead to valuable user research insights.

SQL Indexes Explained, Pt. 1

Properly used, an SQL database index can be so effective that it might seem like magic. But the following series of exercises will show that underneath, the logic of most SQL indexes---and wielding them correctly---is quite straightforward.

The Power of Optionality, Part 2: Volatility to Opportunity with Distributed Teams

Optionality is critical as we confront economic dislocation due to COVID-19. Learn how to identify options, rapidly test hypotheses and prototypes, scale options, and create ongoing learning for your organization with the aid of remote, on-demand talent.

The Mind's Eye – A Look at Data Visualization Psychology

Data visualization is an excellent way to tell a story about data. But are there best practices? When designing with data, there is much to be gained from exploring data visualization psychology.

Remote Reinvention: How to Find Freelance Work

Building up a pipeline of work as a finance consultant requires a portfolio approach to the various inbound and outbound options for lead generation.

Lines of Communication – A Typeface History (with Infographic)

Typeface evolution has been slower than other areas of design but looking back over the past 500+ years shows staggering advancements, from the invention of the printing press to variable web fonts.

Remote Work and the Globalization of Services

Until recently, globalization has been about the trade of goods, not services. The ability of companies to hire remote workers allows—for the first time—the global trade of services. This will have major implications for the global economy.

Managing Performance with Distributed Teams: A Q&A with Kleanthis Georgaris

Kleanthis Georgaris is responsible for the evolution of Toptal's platform and associated products. He discusses how companies and employees can successfully transition to a remote environment, based on The Suddenly Remote Playbook, published by Toptal.

The Power of Optionality, Part 1: Tech & Talent

The greatest risks can be systematically converted into valuable opportunities via optionality. This three-part series offers a framework for evaluating risk and reward in extreme contexts while utilizing on-demand talent to leverage these opportunities fast.

Don't Build, Integrate – A Guide to CRM Integration

Customer Relationship Management systems provide businesses with more clarity and information about customer behavior, helping boost sales, retain existing customers, and attract new ones. In this article, Toptal Software Developer Leif Gensert outlines the basic challenges of CRM integration and explains what you can do to make the process as efficient and frictionless as possible.

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 more than 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.

Creating a Narrative from Numbers

The key to a successful business plan is a coherent story built around financial projections and external context.

Navigating Global Talent Management: A Q&A with Christy Schumann

Christy Schumann is Vice President of Talent Operations at Toptal, the world’s largest fully distributed company. Paul Estes recently sat down with Schumann to discuss the future of remote work and how to pair a global pool of talented freelancers with companies worldwide.

How to Scale Internationally: Global Product Design

Companies rolling out international products tend to focus primarily on proper language translation. However, a host of other essential components should not be missed in order to make your product a global success.

Create a WhatsApp Chatbot, Not an App

Feedback on an enterprise web app prompted an experiment. Could a WhatsApp chatbot replace it? Would people like it better? Would it be more useful?

Black Swans and the Paradigm Shift of Remote Work – COVID-19 Lessons, Part 2

Remote work is a paradigm shift with profound implications. Here, Toptal’s Chief Economist identifies the main challenges of the traditional work paradigm. In doing so, he reveals how breaking these constraints leads to closer collaboration and more innovation than ever before.

The Past Is Still Present – An Overview of Timeless Design

Will there ever be a digital equivalent to the ageless wonders of industrial design? We share examples of timeless design and detail how designers can ensure digital relevancy for decades to come.

Strategies for Leading a Fully Distributed Team: Q&A with Toptal CEO Taso Du Val

Taso Du Val is the CEO of Toptal, the world’s largest fully distributed company. Paul Estes sat down with Du Val to discuss Toptal’s recently published “The Suddenly Remote Playbook,” a guide for building and sustaining an enterprise-grade remote work environment.