Passing the Toptal screening as a self-taught engineer

What the screening actually tests

Four stages: an English and personality call, a timed online test, a live technical interview, and a short paid test project. Each one filters for something different, and the one that nearly stopped me was not the coding.

Where I nearly failed

The live interview. I could write the solution, but I had never explained my reasoning out loud in English while typing. I practised that for two weeks with a timer before the retry.

How I would prepare today

A short list of what mattered and what did not — coming in the finished version of this post.