Toptal Blog

The Elastic Stack is constantly releasing new and amazing features, and often delivers two new releases every month. However, even though the Elastic website maintains clear and detailed documentation, every upgrade involves a series of tedious steps. That is why one engineer decided to automate the whole process.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Linux Developer Renato Araujo walks us through a series of Ansible Playbooks he developed to auto-upgrade his Elastic Stack installation.

When does it make sense for a business to consider hiring a part-time CFO? Are there situations in which it doesn’t make sense at all? What attributes and criteria should businesses use to filter and select candidates? This article by Toptal Finance Expert Scott Hoover looks at answers to all three questions, and is intended to be a practical guide based on nearly a decade of experience as a freelance CFO for privately held companies.

We can achieve better user experiences with mobile UX design by following best practices, understanding constraints and facilitating a solid working relationship with developers.

Nielsen’s heuristic principles have stood the test of time and have been revisited to be further integrated with human-centered design for mobile—including clear definitions and design examples.

The role of Agile coach has been gaining popularity in recent years. In this article, we will talk about the different types of Agile coaches and their responsibilities. We will discuss how to effectively work with them as a project manager and give suggestions to PMs who want to become Agile coaches themselves.

Are remote working and freelancing viable options for designers? We interview Toptal designers to discover how they’re forging freelance careers with meaningful work for high-impact global companies.

It’s easy to get entangled in spaghetti code, fuzzy responsibilities, and opaque architecture. It is just as easy to write crisp, clear code that is just as easy to write, maintain, and update with a little forethought.

Join Toptal Android Developer Tomasz Czura as he guides you through the process and the reasoning behind creating clean architecture on Android.

Great features and seamless integration with the Adobe ecosystem makes Adobe XD a powerful design tool that competes with industry favorites like Sketch and Figma.

Using the 2016 Wells Fargo Banking Scandal as an example, this article dissects the situation according to the principles of the three classic ethical theorists: Plato, Kant, and Mill. It then offers some suggestions on how to improve ethics in business.