There is a reason why Toptal currently has a 56% negative rating for interviews. Although they recruited me, I was treated like a second class citizen. There is gender discrimination and age discrimination here. The recruiter flat out told me that 'women think different' and that why I give a team credit, It's not enough "me" in that statement..which of course is the opposite advice given by grown ups and professionals. Although I was qualified, they wouldn't put me through the process with no reason given other than that weird sentence.

I recently went through the interview process at Toptal to join the core team. I must commend the recruiting lead for her professionalism and transparency. Despite not securing the position, she offered to provide me feedback from the team and it was delivered with tact and understanding specifically after I invested significant time and effort over the holidays to complete a comprehensive project and video submission. While I know my strategic and technical expertise are excellent and the JD basically describes me to the T, there were some assumptions and recommendations I made that conveyed otherwise as part of the asynch project I wasn’t able to discuss live with anyone. The video had to be <12 mins and there were a lot of asks to tackle which I guess is the point to see what you can handle. Considering Toptal’s high standard of accepting only the top 3% of applicants who serve their client network, I expected no less for the core team and accept and respect their decision. Of course I can’t help but feeling disappointed I won’t be moving forward. The thoroughness of the process is undeniable, showcasing the company’s commitment to excellence. Although I won’t be moving forward this time, I genuinely enjoyed the experience and would welcome another opportunity in the future.