Process started out great, with a quick response to my application by the recruiter. We scheduled a 30min screening call for a couple days later. The screening call was your typical background call and essentially making sure you aren’t crazy. I was immediately asked to participate in the next phase, which was basically a PowerPoint presentation, to see how you would construct a project plan on the topic. I was given 3 days or so to put together, and it took about 5 hours when I sat down to do it. Upon submission, I was told about a day later that the hiring manager wanted to schedule an interview, which happened a few days later. The interview was very casual, like a normal conversation. Nothing was too difficult, mainly focused on experiences I have had in current/past roles. There was a TON of emphasis on SQL abilities and basically made known that it would be impossible for someone to do the job without this background. The problem is that the job posting simply listed this as a “nice to have”. There is a difference between requirements and nice to haves from an application standpoint. Even without this background, the interview seemed to go well and it was left as I would hear something from the recruiter in any circumstance. I never received any communication back from anyone at Toptal after this… even with a follow up I had sent a week and a half later. What started out so promising from a communication standpoint, turned into a negative experience. I understand markets are very competitive and responding to everything is impossible, but there was not even an automated message indicating they were moving forward with other candidates. Like many of the reviews put out there by other people, this feels like a waste of time/energy if you are looking for roles at this company.