Toptal Blog

The Toptal Blog is the top hub for developers, designers, management consultants, executives, and entrepreneurs, featuring key technology updates, tutorials, freelancer resources, and management insights.

Toptal core team members share their experience, expertise, and perspectives on the Toptal Edge Blog

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Can Designers Make the Metaverse Less Awkward?

UX designer Pam Nicholls has created video games and augmented reality experiences for companies like Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and DreamWorks Animation. Here she explores designing for the metaverse and reveals innovative ways to make the user experience more intuitive and accessible.

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Pam Nicholls

Pam is a UX designer who specializes in video games, augmented reality, SaaS, and web applications. She has worked on projects for high-profile clients such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, DreamWorks Animation, Scrabble, the NBA, and the NHL.

SolidJS vs. React: The Go-to Guide

SolidJS is a blazing-fast framework that dodges virtual DOM manipulation. Let’s see how it compares to React, the industry standard, when it comes to components, performance, and developer productivity.

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Nathan Babcock

Nathan is a senior React engineer and an expert in streamlining UI/UX with React. As the lead design engineer at Motorola Solutions, he marshaled a product combining React, Angular, and Svelte to company-wide deployment, garnering more than 100,000 downloads. Nathan also developed Hypetrigger, a popular machine vision system for use with streaming services and that is built with React and SolidJS for the front end.

Big Data Architecture for the Masses: A ksqlDB and Kubernetes Tutorial

Today’s cloud building blocks empower any size team—even a lone engineer—to build big data solutions. Learn how to use open-source tools to create scalable architecture for your next project.

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Dmitrii Bolotov

Dmitrii is a solution architect and developer with more than 11 years of experience and expertise in SQL, NoSQL, and Kubernetes. He built big data architecture at Videoland, founded and acted as CTO for Deetask, a Vietnamese marketplace app similar to Thumbtack, and holds a master’s degree in computer science from Izhevsk State Technical University.

Push Notification Best Practices: 7 Questions Designers Should Ask

Mobile app push notifications are powerful engagement tools, but they can be intrusive if not handled correctly. Don’t hit send on your push notification strategy before asking yourself these questions.

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Shoaib Mahmud

Shoaib is a product designer with seven years of experience in mobile UX design for products in the freight and transportation sector, HR solutions, edtech, and logistics. He has worked with numerous startups in the US, Bangladesh, and Singapore overseeing project life cycles, including user research, wireframes, UIs, and prototypes.

The PRD Isn’t Dead: New Best Practices for Digital Product Development

For many years, there has been debate around the value of a PRD in digital product development. The issue is not whether one should be used but how.

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Milos Belcevic

Milos is a digital product specialist who has built and shaped cutting-edge products in education, HR, e-commerce, and healthcare, and is currently product and operations lead for sport tech startup Feldspar. His creative solutions span numerous international companies and innovative startups, including MIT Startup Nanoramic Laboratories. Milos is a Certified ScrumMaster and Certified Scrum Professional-Product Owner.

3 Essential Project Manager Skills and How to Hone Them

Managing projects is largely about managing people. These three soft skills can help project managers build a strong team, gain trust, and create a positive culture.

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Kata Török-Pál

Kata is a project management expert who has consulted for Fortune 500 companies, including Disney and Mercedes-Benz, and Global 500 telecommunications company Telefónica. She has been a servant-leader for international and cross-functional teams, and is an advocate for mentorship and continuous improvement.

Expert Designers Leading Healthcare Product Innovation

Modern medical products unburden healthcare providers, improve the patient experience, and save lives. What can we learn from the designers leading this surge in healthcare product innovation?

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Micah Bowers

Micah Bowers is a designer and writer whose work has been featured in Fast Company, TNW, and other notable publications. He is a Lead Editor at Toptal.

Better Digital Banking Through Data Analytics

Banks haven’t seen the savings expected from the transition to digital products and services. A leading consultant for some of the largest US banks shares his step-by-step plan for using smarter customer data analytics to slash costs and improve customer satisfaction.

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Mohamed Zarrugh

Mohamed is a management consultant who has held executive internal consulting roles at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, transforming operations and saving the companies as much as $180 million yearly. He specializes in strategic planning, performance management, and process improvement initiatives.

Demystifying Debugging With React Developer Tools

Bugs are often buried deep within the code and software developers spend a great deal of time hunting them down. Many software developers debug front-end code using the browser’s console logging, but this is cumbersome and inefficient. Discover how React Developer Tools can speed up the debugging process by providing powerful tools to inspect components, monitor state and props, and track rendering and performance.

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Teimur Gasanov

Teimur is a software developer specializing in web application development. He has extensive experience developing with front-end technologies, such as React, TypeScript, and JavaScript, and has implemented applications for innovative companies such as Klarna, where he designed interfaces for interacting with digital wallets from Apple, Google, and Samsung.