Jeff W.

When I joined the platform, it was great you would have matches reach out constantly, and there were plenty of jobs posted regularly.

June 2023 is an entirely different situation. The jobs listed are often already introduced to the client or filled with candidates.

The rates are not even half of what they used to be. Toptal used to be top talent, not rates that compete with sites like Upwork. When the issues are posted in Slack channels, the talent coordinators take comments privately, then lock the thread and, in most cases, close down the feedback Slack channels entirely.

A couple of things may be the cause:
In light of the recent layoffs across the tech industry, there may be more talent on the network than there are jobs.

In addition, there are lower-cost talent and lower-cost jobs - potentially, Toptal's commission markup is pushing this down too
No one is championing design work with our salespeople and clients. Very few jobs for more senior/experienced designers are posted these days!

The only solution I see is to apply if you want but diversify and leverage other freelance networks, personal, etc.

I hope it's not too late to bring the platform back, it's not what it used to be even six months ago, and that's a shame.