Toptal Blog

The Toptal Blog is the top hub for developers, designers, finance experts, 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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Design Sprints: Fostering Creativity Through Constraints

How can creativity thrive in an environment of rules and set processes? The creative constraints introduced by design sprints can help product managers find the midpoint between structure and chaos.

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Daniel Hatton

Daniel is an innovation and product manager with seven years of experience at PwC, and a track record of working creatively and entrepreneurially to bring ideas to life and generate new value streams.

Harness the Power of WordPress Hooks: Actions and Filters Explained

WordPress developers might be tempted to customize this popular website builder directly, but that approach creates ongoing maintenance headaches. Fortunately, there’s a clean way to extend functionality: via WordPress hooks, actions, and filters.

11 minute readContinue Reading

Tahir Shahzad

Tahir is a full-stack web developer specializing in WordPress and AI. He has been featured as a speaker at several WordPress Meetups and WordCamps.

Communicating With Investors: Best Practices for Startups

Investors aren’t patrons—they’re business partners, and startups should treat them as such. Regular updates and the occasional call for advice go a long way toward optimizing the relationship.

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Christopher Holloway

Christopher is an award-winning journalist covering how technology transforms sectors like banking, manufacturing, and healthcare. Based in Latin America, he previously worked at AmericaEconomia, La Tercera, and Netmedia. He is a Senior Writer for Technology at Toptal.

How to Choose the Best Colors for Industry Events

Color in industry event design informs, inspires, and builds lasting brand awareness. Discover color strategies that delight attendees and set your event apart.

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Charlotte Miller

Charlotte has more than 10 years of experience in visual design, UI design, and user research. She excels at creating captivating visuals that delight users and enhance digital and in-person experiences. Her past clients include Virgin Media, Disney Pixar, Nissan, Vauxhall, and Clinique.

Refining Your Middle-market Merger Strategy: From Acquisition to Integration

The M&A failure rate runs as high as 90%, and middle-market companies tend to fare worse than larger ones due to more limited resources. Here’s how to ensure that your next acquisition succeeds.

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Michael J. McDonald

Michael is an award-winning journalist who has worked at Bloomberg News and Thomson Financial. He is the Senior Writer for Toptal’s Finance Blog.

Code Writing Code: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Modern Metaprogramming

With a tour that includes Julia, Rust, and more, dive into the fascinating world of metaprogramming and get a taste for its history, common forms (such as macros), importance, and potential future.

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Will Beddow

Will is a full-stack developer specializing in the design of complex performant systems. His recent work includes fintech systems design, cloud orchestration programs, and large corporate software systems.

Using Agile Spreadsheets for Discovery Estimation

Estimation tools abound but none is as flexible and accessible as the humble Agile spreadsheet. Here’s why you should consider customizing your own to calculate discovery estimates.

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Mauricio Silva

Mauricio is a seasoned project manager who specializes in software and infrastructure projects. During his 30-year career, he has led complex IT projects at multinational companies including IBM and Kyndryl.

gRPC vs. REST: Getting Started With the Best API Protocol

gRPC, REST’s up-and-coming competitor, approaches synchronous communication from another angle, offering protocol buffers and typed contracts. What does that mean for your project?

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Laszlo Gyori

Laszlo is a solution architect, software developer, and expert on microservices architecture, gRPC, and REST. He has a master’s degree in IT from Budapest Institute of Technology.

NFTs for Designers: An Introduction

The global NFT market relies on designers to support artists, Web3 platforms and marketplaces, and major global brands. Toptal designer Gabor Molnar offers insights from his experience breaking into this emerging field.

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Gabor Molnar

Gabor is a 3D generalist and designer in the fast-paced world of crypto and NFTs. He is a creator of the NFT collection Omnimorphs and a consultant for other NFT brands. He is also a product designer with a background in business economics, user experience design, user interface design, and branding.

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