AbduIntheLoop

I failed my interview with Toptal, and I wanted to share my journey with you, as always. I don’t think I should only share my successes—I should also share my failures. During my preparation process, I spent about a week researching, but I couldn’t find as many resources as I hoped. The only person I could ask was someone on LinkedIn who had recently been accepted. To begin with, Toptal is a platform similar to Upwork, but it’s more exclusive. Only senior-level freelancers are accepted, and the pay is generally much better. You can listen to previous chapi’s interview to learn more about the 💰 pay:) There are around five screening steps. The first step is simply submitting your application. If you’re accepted, you’ll move on to the second step, which is an introductory interview. This is basically a video call where they assess your English communication skills. The third step is an online coding challenge, similar to HackerRank, but it’s hosted on Codility. There are usually three DSA questions, very similar to LeetCode problems. You’ll have around 145 minutes to solve all three questions. Your screen, microphone, and camera will all be recorded, so it’s a controlled environment, but there won’t be a senior engineer directly watching or interacting with you. If you pass that round, you’ll move on to the fourth step, which is the live coding interview with a senior engineer. This is the round where I failed. I went into it thinking it would be like a FAANG interview, so I spent most of my preparation doing LeetCode and practicing interview-style explanations. During the interview, I was explaining my thought process, talking about time complexity, space complexity, and approaching it like a typical FAANG interview. Looking back, I don’t think that was the right approach. You only get around 35 minutes, and you’re given one main question with four tasks inside it. So, in reality, you have to complete all four tasks within that time. That doesn’t leave much room for spending several minutes analyzing complexity. The questions also aren’t as algorithm-heavy as LeetCode. In my interview, I was simply asked to load a JSON file, manipulate the data, and produce the required output. There weren’t even hidden test cases. So my advice would be: just focus on solving the problem. The prompts are very straightforward. Don’t spend too much time worrying about time complexity, space complexity, or over-explaining every decision unless it’s actually needed. Finish the tasks first. That’s as far as I can talk about because I didn’t make it to the next round. If I had passed, the final step would have been a take-home project. After completing it, you would have another interview with a senior engineer to discuss your solution. If you pass that as well, congratulations—you’ve joined a platform that’s generally considered better than Upwork. I’m sharing this journey not because I’m an expert, but because I know how difficult it is to find information about this process. I barely found any resources while preparing, so I hope this gives someone at least a small hint about what to expect. And if any of you have been accepted into Toptal before, please share your experience in the comments. It would help a lot of people preparing for the interview. It would help me as well as I have another chance to hop into this round again but after some months. Thank you, and have a great day!

Indeed, Mom was right. It’s always this damn phone.

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The walk continues, joined by the one and only football analyst @abmoh4219. I walked 13 kilometers today. The route: Alembank -> Betel Mendida -> Torhayloch -> Lideta -> Mexico -> Legehar -> Stadium -> Flamingo. Who's beaten this record today?

I am visiting one of my graduated ላጤ friends. They are the one who is experiencing real life. On a side note, I can attest that he has good cooking skills and could be great for a husband role :)

I am thinking of writing a "LinkedIn according to me" version of this. I am not an expert on LinkedIn, but I have been there for almost four years now as user(not influencer). I also got a couple of jobs through the platform before. Share what you want to know about LinkedIn here, and I will consider it for my post. Also, if you have experience with LinkedIn, please share it in the comments section or anonymously if you prefer.

. 😭 aside from the joke, check out the reply given. We are good until AI reaches that level of intelligence.

Every time I pass by Haya Hulet, I am reminded of the very first full-time, onsite, six-days-a-week job I did for 8,000 birr a month. Now, Alhamdulillah, I am full-time at home and make 0 birr a month. እና ምን ልላቹ ፈልጌ ነው ሊነጋ ሲል ቁርስ ብሉ ።

Introducing Lockd-in Lockd In is a minimalist productivity web application built to help users manage their time and maintain deep focus. Built Lockd-in when I was stressing for exit exam & design work overloads back in uni. After weeks of beta testing, Lockd-in is officially live 🎉🎉🎉 Thanks to everyone that gave me feedbacks, almost all feedbacks have been reviewed & edited into this version 🙏 Features: 🔥 Streaks 📸 Focus Cards ⏳ Pop Out (PiP) Timer ↗️ Session logs & Productivity Chart

All local, no login or sign up needed

If you've been meaning to build something but keep burning out halfway through, this is definitely for you. 🔗 https://lockd-in.pages.dev/ (PC RECOMMENDED for now) I'm not a developer, so there may be imperfections. If you find a bug, want a feature added, or wish to express your feelings, my comments and DMs are open. Lock in. Outwork. Outlast. @ekddesign

continuing with the great Ethiopian walk, I walked for almost 17KMs today. the route: merkato -> piyassa -> churchil street -> tikur anbessa -> legehar -> estifanos -> bambis -> urael -> haya hulet -> megenagna. were u also walking? What route? Share it in the comment section

I met Abu Sekinah IRL today. We spent the day together and talked about business, development, Merkato, travel, and everything else. He is honestly incredible and has a lot of experience. There are many things to learn from him ahead.

after query new project. Sell your codebase and get paid. > https://atrium.afterquery.com/r/53URGR

Why do I get such kind of ads 😁

Thanks everyone for reposting it to your channel, but I am afraid it would create the wrong assumption that I am a successful Upworker. I am not. I am learning and experimenting, like you guys. I am attaching my stats for 2026 Upwork. 1) My words won't be generic. 2) If you are already in a good position, you should avoid my suggestions 🙂

Upwork according to me. I get asked questions about Upwork often, and here are my sayings about it. Firstly, I would like to mention that everyone has a different experience, so take my words with a grain of salt. Getting your first job on Upwork is difficult. I started applying for jobs on Upwork in November 2024 and got my first job in January 2025. Technically, it wasn't through Upwork. I found the job on LinkedIn, and we initiated the contract on Upwork. So the key takeaway from here is, if you are already working for a client off Upwork, ask the client to transfer it to Upwork. Yes, Upwork takes some percent of the payment from you as a service charge, but if you want to build your Upwork profile, that's one thing you can do. So then I had USD, bought connects, and started applying for additional jobs. What do I look at when I apply for jobs? 1. Where is the client from? If the client is from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, or the Far East in general, it's usually a red flag. Most are scammers out there. They abuse you with payment. The work they give and the payment are not balanced. Especially if it's a fixed payment type, run away from it. There may be good clients from there, but they are rare. 2. How much has the client spent, and when did they join? If the client has been on Upwork for a long time and has hired many freelancers before, but their total spend is low, it means they don't pay much. They either hire you and become inactive for a while, or they pay a very low amount. If you are looking for your first job, this may not be a luxury you need to have. 3. When did the client join Upwork? This is debatable. If the client joined recently and they are posting their first job, it may be because their account was blocked previously because they did something malicious, and they are joining with a new account. Or it could really be a new joiner who has none of that history. So maybe you should gamble and apply for the job if the client's location is in Europe or the West and the job description is well written. 4. Number of proposals If the job has 50+ proposals already, I usually skip applying for it. This may not always be right, but I don't gamble my connects for the rare chance that my application will be looked at. If you are rich, you could bid, but usually the bid will also be higher. 5. What type of freelancers has the client hired before? I go through the client's previous freelancers and check out the profiles of their previous hires. If it's a mix of different countries and different ratings, it's a green flag. But if they are always hiring from a specific location or only hiring a specific type of rating, like Top Rated Plus, it's a red flag. I will skip it. 6. The client's rating and the ratings the client gave to freelancers I look at the client's rating and the comments given by their previous freelancers. If it's below 4 stars, I don't dare apply. I also look at the ratings the client gave to freelancers. If it's always 3 or 4 stars, it's a red flag because I will probably not be any different and end up getting the same rating. I think it's enough for now. Again, this is based on my experience. People who are already on Upwork, the comment section is open for you to share your experience.

I know 90% of you were there just for the 'quatero'. And out of those, 70% of them don't even know what they rooted for. To tell you, it's not Ronaldo who won the cup. It's Spain, where the majority of the players from Barca are from, which is where Messi spent his life; they even approached him to play for them. I am happy either ways.

Spain won, and they deserve it. Argentina chose to play dark. They weren't even controlling the ball; they were totally prepared for the penalty shootout. . Indeed, the son has grown up and beaten his father.

🎓 If you have a student email, don't forget to check the GitHub Student Developer Pack: 🔗 https://education.github.com/pack I already knew about it, but I was only using the GitHub Copilot benefit. Thanks to today's session with Kidus(@pluviophile_key ), I found out there are many more free resources like DataCamp, free domains give away, cloud credits, and many other premium tools. As Ethiopian students, these kind of opportunities really help us since many paid tools and courses are not affordable.Once again Big thanks to Kidus for sharing this with us today! 🙌🚀 @jalos_trip

unemployment core: walked for almost 16KMs today. the route: piyassa -> 4killo -> betemengist -> kazanchis -> urael -> hayahulet -> megenagna -> Home. Ofc, I took breaks for salat, tea, and stuff… atp, I feel like I am የከተማ አውቶቢስ 🙂

this was all for today. hope I solved your problems. leave your ratings in the comment section. . until next time, stay safeee