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.

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

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How to Build a Role-based API with Firebase Authentication

Nearly every app requires an authorization system on top of an authentication system. We often need a fine-grained permissions model to allow only specific users to access certain resources while simultaneously restricting access for everyone else.

In this tutorial, Toptal Freelance Firebase Developer Joaquin Cid teaches how to build just such a system. Called role-based authentication, we’ll learn how to implement this system in an API using Node.js and Firebase.

15-minute readContinue Reading
Joaquin Cid

Joaquin Cid

Joaquin is a full-stack developer with over 12 years of experience working for companies like WebMD and Getty Images.

Looks That Thrill: Inside the Booming Beauty Industry

How has the beauty industry become extremely innovative? How did Glossier and The Ordinary approach (and crack) the problem of enticing consumers, building brand loyalty and creating unique experiences? The lessons are relevant for all DTC companies.

10-minute readContinue Reading
Natasha Ketabchi

Natasha Ketabchi

Natasha is a management consultant with experience in capital markets, government, financial restructuring, and venture investments. She has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and transitioned to venture capital after a career in banking at JPMorgan, HSBC, and Alvarez & Marsal.

Home Smart IoT Home: Domesticating the Internet of Things

By adopting the smart home, are we forfeiting the security and intimacy our home—our most personal space—has given us over millennia?

8-minute readContinue Reading
Kent Mundle

Kent Mundle

Kent is a globally recognized environmental designer who uses design to create innovative and transformative experiences.

Make Your App Profitable, Part 2 – Harnessing the Mobile Funnel

Subscription-based apps need a special approach when it comes to analytics. Learn how a variation on the traditional sales funnel helps you work with LTV, subscriber retention, and churn rates to make your app better—and more profitable.

10-minute readContinue Reading
Matthew Knippen

Matthew Knippen

Having built 60+ iOS apps since 2008 using Swift and Objective-C, Matthew is most known for going from idea to App Store within eight weeks.

Branding Is Dead, CX Design Is King

CX design encompasses EVERY interaction that a customer has with a business. By adopting a CX mindset, brand designers will learn to meaningfully engage customers at multiple touchpoints.

6-minute readContinue Reading
Micah Bowers

Micah Bowers

Micah helps businesses craft meaningful engagement through branding, illustration, and design.

Creating Your First GraphQL API

GraphQL is a domain-specific language for data query and manipulation by Facebook. It is meant to replace the de facto REST standard in API creation.

In this article, Toptal Freelance GraphQL Developer Ioram Gordadze creates a GraphQL API from scratch, summarizing problems new GraphQL developers face. He also teaches us to rethink the standard methods used in REST APIs in a more GraphQL-friendly manner.

16-minute readContinue Reading
Ioram Gordadze

Ioram Gordadze

Ioram has designed and developed databases, API services, and more for both private and government organizations.

Mini Tutorial: A Guide to Font Combinations

Effective font combinations are a hallmark of good design. It’s vital that designers master this skill if they want to create exceptional designs that set them apart from their contemporaries.

8-minute readContinue Reading
Cameron Chapman

Cameron Chapman

Cameron comes from a design background and is the author of two web design books: Color for Web Design and The Smashing Idea Book.

Equity Levels of Value: The Logic Behind Premiums and Discounts

Business value is much more than just the sum of discounted future cash flows. There are strategic elements related to equity control that also determine true worth. These factors manifest through control, liquidity, marketability, and synergistic discounts and premiums.

10-minute readContinue Reading
Nathan Krishnan S

Nathan Krishnan S

During his two-decade career in Asia and the US, Nathan has consulted in strategy, valuations, corporate finance and financial planning.

Increase Code Maintainability With React Integration Testing

Integration tests provide a lot of value considering the time and effort required for testing. React integration tests improve code maintainability, yet they don’t slow down development.

In this article, Toptal Software Developer Anton Rublev demonstrates how you can harness the power of react-testing-library to create superior code without wasting time.

7-minute readContinue Reading
Anton Rublev

Anton Rublev

Anton is a full-stack developer with a strong technical background. He specializes in JavaScript and he’s a fan of test-driven development.

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