Not only that, but their interview process is pretty insane. They wanted me to grind leetcode and do a week-long project and didn't give a lot of specifics about how much I could expect to make on the platform. Felt like a major time-suck without a lot of upside.

They asked me a few times throughout the process what my rate was and it was never hinted that it was high, but when I actually got through I was pinged immediately and frequently about being "open to feedback about my rate". I think they want to have US people on offer even if they don't expect to pay any of them what they're expecting.

It was a complete and utter waste of time to apply and go through the process. I didn't know any better when I just started as a freelancer. Would never do a process like this again.

Agree, there's just easier ways to make good money than this. I think the upside of pure freelance is only having to deal with my own code, but it's still not worth the hoops these companies make you jump through.

Toptal had me go through a paired technical test which I did ok but had a small minor fix about 1-2 seconds after the clock chimed 30 minutes. Failed me at that point. I never bothered to re-apply, mostly because I've been busy with client work. Interesting to hear that they not described favourably here. I was under the impression that this was the platform where much higher rates are acceptable.

I had the exact same experience. 30 minutes paired leetcode type test of moderate difficulty. My solution seemed algorithmically sound and efficient, but the test wasn't passing at the buzzer. The guy failed me and we said our goodbyes. As soon as we're done, I slowly look at the problem without the distraction and see that I just need to swap two variables. I email the guy back barely a minute after we hang up, explaining that I just figured what was missing. He emails me that he's sorry I have to try again in a few months. Three years later I'm here on HN learning that I dodged a bullet.

Absolute True. Some folks fall to exploitation trap thinking this is freelancing. I would say if someone is really very junior, then surely can try, otherwise - don't bother. Otherwise you would need to ask a question why not hybrid/fully remote full time company. There are lots of platforms/companies that purely focused on exploiting freelancers with "divide and rule" logic.

I'm in UK, and I've never heard of any of those sites you've mentioned. So it's much appreciated.

No problem :) For UK I have also made some nice experience with "Spinks", which is a UK based recruiter. I didn't have a project with them and the pay was more like B+, but the recruiters were nice and the projects sounded interesting. Might be worth a call.

We had a guy from toptal for a while. He was okay, but nothing extraordinary. The odd thing is that nearly everyone they sent our way was of Eastern European extraction, with a demeanor & grooming more military than nerd, which I found most peculiar.