Pros
Working from home. A lot of smart people in the community. Internal Slack allows everyone to chat quickly and solve technical questions faster than using StackOverflow. Excellent Engineering blog. I'm working remotely the second year via Toptal, and I never regret I joined this marketplace. I was lucky to get long term projects (C++, FrontEnd), so this is pretty much like permanent employment, except that you are working remotely. Toptal is making more and more events that should help on missing socializing. For two years - never had troubles with payments. For Eastern Europe - this is a brilliant opportunity to earn the same level of income as if you would work in the US. If you end up working for the same client with other Toptalers - be sure they as great as you are and you will be happy working together. You can adjust your rate as you go (asked for increase and my client accepted it instantly). Community is growing.
Cons
Interviewing/onboarding was hard, which I could compare to the big IT companies by difficulty criteria. Time zones... clients and colleagues are in all possible timezones. Finding your best rate ($) is though: if you ask less - you earn less, otherwise you can wait for a matching project for long time.
