I applied for a UX designer role focusing on user research, usability testing, wireframing, and information architecture. I was asked to provide a portfolio consisting of 5 projects, and describing the process. My portfolio got reviewed, and I received a feedback saying they did see that I had strong UX skills, and I was great at UX although because I didn't deliver a modern (whatever that means to them) UI design, therefore they couldn't accept my application. It was disappointing because UX is mostly not about the final UI, and it seemed Toptal didn't have a good understanding of it, and they didn't communicate this requirement with me. They mixed up UX with UI design. I felt they wasted my time, and I was misled through the initial phone interview. If you look up some of the UX designers final UI design, they're all pretty pictures, but the projects are not real. Very disappointed.