I work in finance as a quant/dev. I took the toptal interviews as a backup in the case I didn't find my own finance gigs. The interview process is very serious

I work in finance as a quant/dev. I took the toptal interviews as a backup in the case I didn't find my own finance gigs. The interview process is very serious and fairly hard, and I barely made it through. I do think people who make it are good. The interviewer I had clearly knew a lot of stuff. I've had a cursory look at what contracts they had on offer, and unfortunately it looked like there was not much for data people, and even less for finance. Most of it seemed to be web and apps. That said, besides the job, there are other benefits from joining: you get access to a network of people who can help. And I think they give you free access to some teaching material if you write for the toptal blog. And also, you get to show publicly that you went through the screening process. So that can help to get other jobs. You set your own rates / availability, so if you don't want to be cheap, you can. All in all, the screening process is a bit long, but not crazy long, so it doesn't cost you much to give it a shot.