I applied online. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at Toptal (Praga) in Feb 2016
Interview
(1). Short call with recruiter, discussed salary expectations - I asked for 25 USD per hour.
(2). 3x ACM - level tasks on Hackerrank to be solved in 90 minutes. I was participating in ACM before, I sometimes can solve those riddles quite fast, but I just did not expect to be presented such a test for a plain simple developer position.
(3). Solved one task and a half. :( Ran out of time.
(4). Then I was told that the score is too low for the salary I asked for.
(5). In the year 2020, four years later, I still cannot reapply, as TopTal remembers me and says "unfortunately, you were already filtered out".
Summary:
(1). Nice to apply as a wild bet.
(2). Don't expect it will work out. Take it as one day wasted on just another unofficial ACM contest. Unofficial - means even if you solve all the tasks better than everyone else, you don't get any medal or recognition.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Given a square chessboard of N x N size, the position of Knight and position of a target is given. We need to find out minimum steps a Knight will take to reach the target position.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Toptal (Cape Town) in Jun 2026
Interview
The interview process has been structured and professional so far. It started with the initial application and screening, followed by an online coding assessment with algorithm-style questions focused on correctness, edge cases, and problem solving under time pressure. After completing that stage, I was invited to schedule a live technical interview. Communication has been clear, with detailed instructions about the interview format, environment requirements, screen sharing, and expectations around working without external assistance. The process feels rigorous and time-sensitive,.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Write a function to return the maximum number of words in a sentence from a given string containing letters, spaces, and sentence-ending punctuation.
Tech screening and then tech interview, leetcode style questions. Then there was a take home project.. not in-person. all done remotely and online. Good interviewers, helpful, easy process and good communication
I applied to Toptal and I'm having an interview days later. What can I prepare for now? I wanna get some details or tips from you. Please help me with your toptal screening interview experience.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was the last project you have worked on and what did you do in that project?