What are other benefits and incentives like at Toptal?

Pros

- Good for people that have just started their careers - Remote, but who isn't remote nowadays

Cons

- Leadership So let's start here. I'm not going to waste too much time on the CEO. Lots of horror stories about him online. One thing to note is that he has a nickname "psycho" among the execs in the industry which is actually quite funny. The self-proclaimed "genius" leads the self-proclaimed "greatest talent company in the world" . But enough about the guy who fires people on a whim, openly threatens his employees, condones racism and sexism and calls people retards on team calls with 500+ attendees. The People Operations team is the biggest reason why Toptal has so many bad reviews and why it's such a terrible place to be at. What stands out about that team is its leadership and how they fabricate stories about other people, their sex lives, gossips openly in team calls, and shares personal and private information that were shared with them, only to make them look bad. They've proven time and time again that they can't be trusted, that the sole purpose of this team is to eliminate any threat from within at any sign of trouble no matter the cost. A whole lot of nepotism happens there as friends and acquaintances get hired regularly and are tasked them to run errands, seemingly wanting to help people, but really wanting to remove anyone who is in the slightest way unhappy. People that have built the place that it is today have been backstabbed, sabotaged and removed by them. - Culture Reeeeaaallly doesn't exist. It's great when things are great, but at first sign of issues, whether internally, or externally -- people get thrown under a bus at first chance. The culture isn't terrible everywhere, there are smaller teams that have different dynamics which helps, but cross-team collaboration is non-existent 90% of the time. Toptal cares about revenue, and definitely not about it's employees. What's funny here is that they've implemented a "cultural interview" as a step in every interview process, and it's hilarious that some of the people that are "culture ambassadors" don't know a thing about the company history, and if you ask them questions about bad reviews here -- they will of course blame the people that posted them, and label them as traitors, spineless dirtbags that have nothing better to do, than being jealous. You see, Toptal can't be wrong in anything. =D If you are this far in the interview process, and you get turned down, trust me -- You've just exhibited traits that make you a normal person, so anyone who wants to know how they fare on the "psycho-meter", they should try this out. By the way, we have a chat for culture ambassadors and it's hilarious to see how much they like praising each other and pat each other on the back. Seems like group therapy more than anything else. As an example of how screwed up this company is, they refused to comment or issue a statement (lost a couple of employees because of this) on the BLM movement. And while they're within rights to do so, it's the reasons why they refused to do it that are terrible, and apparently, that's because they might upset some larger (Fortune 50) clients and lose business (since decision makers are white). A word on leaving Toptal? You signed your death penalty. Prepare to get threatened, asked weird questions and reasons for leaving. Prepare to get terminated from Slack immediately in case you wanted to say BYE to people. - Growth I heard the Toptal didn't have career paths designed for most of the organization for years. People worked in the same roles for ages, without promotion, bonuses or raises. That hasn't changed much because if you do get promoted, the raise is barely noticeable, but, you get a lot more responsibility in your role, and more things that you can get fired for. - Compensation You'll probably climb the Himalayas before you get a raise or a bonus here. At least it rarely happened in 2020 and it slightly improved as decent talented people started leaving. The only people that do get it are those in leadership positions where their comp is attached to the "$1B goal by end of 2022". As mentioned, when people started leaving, they realized they might lose those that they have trained for months, and started throwing money at them. Mentioning you're considering leaving is the only way to get paid more. - Diversity and inclusion People are neither trained nor aware of what these terms mean. Oh yeah, and take a look at the leadership roles, that should tell you how diverse this company is. - Strategy & Mission Statement " Let's get to $1B. " You see, this company used to care about the "talent" around the world, but it no longer does. They've made some really good hires in leadership that could get them there, but they also made some poor choices as well. And while it's OK to have great growth goals, it should not come at the expense of its talent. Talent frequently gets the short end of the stick, when working with clients, and if clients complain and threaten to take it public, the talent ends up not getting paid, threatened with expulsion if they complain etc. - Reviews Online Most of the reviews here are posted by people that have been at the company less than a month. What Toptal did is hilarious, given they knew Glassdoor is like cancer, and it will continue to spread the more people leave. They included swag as part of the interview process, and made it necessary for people to post about it on social media on how great the company is. They also often run NPS surveys and brag how the score is very high. That is very much true except that there's fear of retaliation and termination if you score as anything less than 8 because every concern, and conversation you have about anything will result in you being blamed for how you feel. Again, Toptal can do no wrong. And people were bullied, harassed and ultimately fired for feeling anything but GREAT at the GREATEST TALENT COMPANY IN THE WORLD. Read the reviews on other sites, and you'll notice a very odd pattern. A massive amount of 5 Stars (barely any 2 - 3 - 4) and then a considerable amount of 1 Star reviews. Seems selective, doesn't it? - Business Model There is really not much "genius" here. We vet talent, and it's not that difficult. This is obviously visible from the slow growth, and poor retention from clients since quality has gone down. Our proprietary platform is a decent tool, but probably obsolete and too complicated for what it was designed. We hear Taso talk about it as it was invented to cure cancer, but it's really a bunch of legacy code that nobody can't touch because it would stop working. On the flipside though, Toptal is really not afraid to charge clients exorbitant rates. There's an insane markup to the rates engineers ask for. For an example, an engineer would ask $25/hr and Toptal would mark it up to $80/hr while they mark it up even more for larger clients (they would add in excess of $100+ per hour). We're pricing ourselves out, but I guess getting to $1B justifies the price. Oh yeah, good luck managing our talent and being responsible for failures. Toptal will only ever admit anything if you take it to court! =D

Advice to Management

Get rid of the people team

Pros

Flexible working hours Exposure to new projects and technologies Good compensation package

Cons

None- this is a really great environment to be in

Advice to Management

Keep it up!!!

Pros

work life balance / culture is great

Cons

pay is well below industry average with very little room for advancement

Pros

Remote work. No traveling. Potential for quick promotion given high turnover rate. Some friendly junior people. Not too much else.

Cons

This place is embarrassingly bad. It's not so much that it's just a poorly run company. It's that some of the execs and recruiting team think this is actually a good place to work. I've seen recruiters tell candidates that Toptal is the best talent company in the world without a hint of irony. That's right, Toptal, a company with crazy turnover, no name recognition, below average pay, and managers who are now resorting to openly begging people on LinkedIn to apply here is trying to market itself as the best talent company in the world. No wonder it's lost 3 CMOs in 2 years.  Here's the truth about Toptal: Toptal does not have elite talent since its pay is not competitive against top companies.  Toptal has sued more employees than given them equity. You can look it up and confirm if you think I'm exaggerating.  Toptal isn't a unique company. There are countless places that basically have the exact same business model including 100% remote work.  There are no company holidays here. You need to be approved for any day you take off. A lot of people end up working major holidays.  HR mainly exists to protect the CEO's ego. Internally, any negative feedback is followed by a meeting with an HR rep to discuss how you're wrong. Externally, HR focuses on inflating its ratings. Just look at how many one sentence 5 star reviews here consist of everything is great and there are no cons.

Advice to Management

Toptal desperately needs a board of directors to oversee the CEO. But since the CEO owns essentially 100% of the equity that will never happen. This company will continue to be in a constant cycle of replacing execs every few months until the CEO quits (unlikely) or the company implodes (only a matter of time).

Pros

Base salary pay is competitive for the industry if you're based in US.

Cons

Toxic and dysfunctional company culture fueled by lack of stability, very low job security, employees and/or managers are punished for low scores in company satisfaction surveys. At first glance things seem very well organized, but once you start to get to know the inner workings you realized how messed up and toxic it is.

Advice to Management

Address the lack of psychological safety.

Pros

- Very good compensation - Almost unlimited personal day offs - 35 days of vacation - Very knowledgeable co-workers - Very well layed out processes and flows

Cons

Nothing of major significance to be honest

Pros

flexible work schedule and good time off

Cons

pay compensation not great, growth is less almost none

Pros

Great conditions, Toptal guarantee of compensation, friendly matchers, great communication

Cons

Work gaps in between engagements

Pros

remote, good compensation, good working processes

Cons

sometimes it is hard to find clients

Pros

Quality Projects: Toptal connects freelancers with top-tier clients and projects. The quality of projects I've worked on has been outstanding, allowing me to continuously enhance my skills and portfolio. Transparent Processes: Toptal's onboarding and project-matching processes are transparent and efficient. I felt well-supported from day one, and their team consistently ensures a smooth working experience. Great Compensation: Toptal pays competitive rates for freelancers, ensuring that hard work is rewarded appropriately. The timely and reliable payments have been a big plus for me. Flexibility: As a freelancer, flexibility is key, and Toptal understands that. I have the autonomy to choose projects that align with my expertise and schedule. Strong Community: Toptal fosters a sense of community among its freelancers. There are opportunities to connect with peers, share knowledge, and grow professionally. Excellent Support: Toptal's support team is responsive and helpful. Any issues or questions I've had were addressed promptly, demonstrating their commitment to freelancer satisfaction.

Cons

To some, this might be a con but I believe it's necessary for them to maintain the highest quality of developers base. Competitive Selection Process: Toptal's rigorous screening and onboarding process, while ensuring quality, can be challenging to navigate. Some freelancers may find it difficult to get accepted initially.