• The Definitive Guide to Building Apps For Children

    I remember Mark Zuckerberg once saying “I definitely wouldn’t have gotten into programming if I hadn’t played games as a kid.” This correlation is not a surprise although it did spark a revelation, when I was researching the most popular children’s apps for this blog post. The same apps kept appearing again and again. At…

  • In Search of the Elite Few – Finding and Hiring the Best Software Developers in the Industry

    The Challenge Hiring software development talent – real talent – is a multi-faceted skill that lies at the crossroads of social networking, technical acumen, process management, and intuition. Anyone who has ever had hiring responsibility understands all-too-well the extent and depth of the hiring challenge. Hiring talent is a multi-faceted skill that lies at the…

  • The Vital Guide to Web Design Interviewing

    The Challenge Hiring web designers can be difficult. There are many disciplines under the common term ‘designer,’ and experts in one field may be novices in another, while others are a “Jack of all trades, master of none.” To make things worse, people commonly relate “design” with subjective decisions, personal preference and individual style. All…

  • Presenting Design Work: The Right Way

    Often the difference between getting the job or not has everything to do with how you present your work to potential clients. The portfolio has as much to do with how you present it, as it does the actual content of your work. Even great designers with strong backgrounds can miss out on opportunities because…

  • Navigating the React.JS Ecosystem

    The speed of innovation in JavaScript Land is so high, that some people even think it is counter-productive. A library can go from early-adopter toy, to state-of-art, to obsolescence in the course of a few months. Being able to identify a tool that is going to stay relevant for at least another year is becoming…

  • Introduction to Responsive Web Design: Pseudo-Elements, Media Queries, and More

    Nowadays, your website will be visited by a wide variety of devices: desktops with large monitors, mid-sized laptops, tablets, smartphones, and more. To achieve an optimal user experience as a front-end engineer, your site should adjust its layout in response to these varied devices (i.e., to their varied screen resolutions and dimensions). The process of…

  • Top 10 Most Common Mobile App Design Mistakes

    The mobile app market is saturated with competition. Trends turn over quickly, but no niche can last very long without several competitors jumping onto the bandwagon. These conditions result in a high failure rate across the board for the mobile app market. Only 20% of downloaded apps see users return after the first use, whereas…

  • Guide to Building a Top Web Design Portfolio

    A portfolio is a very important link between a designer and a client. It aims to impress a potential client by showing the designer’s work and skills. At Toptal, we screen a lot of web designers and review a lot of portfolios. Creating a top web design portfolio is by no means easy, even for…

  • Guide to Building a Top UI Design Portfolio

    Before We Begin Professionals who work in the creative industry need portfolios to showcase their skills to attract clients and peers. Once upon a time this was solved by creating stunning printed pieces. However, no matter how you look at it, times have changed and designers are no longer just designers. We’ve got different specialties…