Applying for Exceptional Talent - Please advise if it looks ok?

Stage 1
1

Hi everyone.

I’m getting ready for the application, I have a growing worry that my case may be too weak.

I have learned a good deal from this forum, so I’m posting my background and all pieces of evidence below. Any comment/advice is greatly appreciated!

I am Senior Software Engineer with 16+ years of experience in IT primarily in fintech (investment banking/management and trading technology companies). I live in Australia. I hold a Bachelors in Computer Engineering. I have worked in 2 jobs in the past 5 years: I worked as Lead Application Engineer in product-based Regulatory Technology company (RegTech) and another startup who is also product-based technology company into cloud compliance (I worked as lead software engineer).

I have been involved in mentoring work for past more than 5 years.

Here is my list of evidence and my plan on how to use them:

Personal Statement - 3 pages, 950 words
CV - 3 pages

Three Letter of recommendations, 2 page, LinkedIn profile link is given in all letters

  1. CEO of one company where I worked in last 5 years
  2. CTO of another company where I worked from 2015 to mid 2017 in newyork based hedge fund and also did volunteering work in his startup product-led technology company in last 5 years
  3. Vice President, IT of Commodity trading company worked in last 5 years

MC
Doc 1. CTO Reference letter from product-led startup (worked from 2019 to 2021)
Doc 2. Letter of Employment from the company as well as last 3 months pay slips of 2021 with bonus details and stock options
Doc 3. News Clippings of company and other evidences such as email from CEO mentioning appreciation for my exceptional contribution, company meetings invite screenshots, product winning award screenshots, my contribution and impact mentions by me,

OC2

Doc 1. Reference letter from head of community from non-profit non-commercial charity organization for my mentorship since last 5 years, screenshot of Certificate of Recognition from the same organization, screenshot of mentorship sessions with my name, email screenshot of my joining as mentor
Doc 2. Screenshot of appreciation email for mentorship from another career mentoring program from one of Melbourne’s university, screenshot of the portal with my name and profile and mentees list
Doc 3. Reference lette from another product-based start up for my contribution outside my job as a volunteer

OC3

Doc 1. Employment contract from product-based startup (worked from 2021 to 2023).
Doc 2. Reference letter from CTO of same product-based startup, Employment certificate from HR of the same company showing my high salary
Doc 3. Screenshot of appreciation email from CEO. In this company, I primarily worked in UI and backend api work so screenshot of all UI components developed by me, 2022 year end performance review screenshot highlighting my exceed expectation rating, latest code commits history showing me as Author of commits, screenshot of confluence showing very high level architecture and design of project, 2 testimonial screenshots from website, screenshot of dashboard of UI developed by me.

@Francisca_Chiedu @Afolabi @alexnk @mojisolao @May @tundeph @ask4jubad and others: Really appreciate your time and any comment/advice.

2

MC - Leadership. You may need to strengthen your MC as reference letter and high salary is not enough evidence according to Technation guide.

The best way to meet this criteria is through media mention, news clipping and you must be able to explain your involvement and how it shows you as a recognize leader.

OC1 innovation - you must show evidence of innovation and your involvement in the product. The reference letter must show your involvement and your contribution.

OC3 impact - you must evidence of impact either of the product or significant revenue generated.

I’m summary - you have to deliberate in meeting this requirements. I hope my feedback is helpful.

3

Hi @Afolabi I am not going for OC1 but OC2…Also for OC3, we need to show significant contribution in product-led digital company isn’t it ?

4

Also regarding high salary, this is what tech nation says for example of relevant evidence for MAndatory criteria

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5

This is correct… always check through the Technation guide.

6

Just one more thing that I am workng as an employee working in product-led digital technology company…I have shown proof of media links of the company

7

@chetan.merai I think you still need more time to retouch your application. Here is my comment to your application.

MC:

  • It could be fine or weak which is based on your Doc2 and Doc3. Doc1 will not be as strong.
  • Doc2, you should compare yourself to the market benchmark. 90% top tier is said to be a strong application. The lower the tier is less strong, but it could still be considered.
  • Doc3. This could be good, but make sure it talks about yourself, not primarily about your company. You can also display some of this to your OC3 as an impact of your contribution as well.

OC2:

  • Doc 1 and 3: are reference letters and they are not usually strong as the data and other kinds of information for your evidence. I would suggest having these letters attached in a small part of your doc/evidence to only support your evidence. Don’t primarily use it as key evidence.
  • Doc 2. Ensure that your program is structured programs, and you were the main mentor in the program… Also ensure in the letter that they were not paid work.

OC3:

  • What is the impact of your work?
  • Doc1: Employment contract is only to confirm that you work for the company while you made the contribution. Otherwise it is useless here.
  • Doc2: Reference letter is not strong evidence.
  • Doc3: Show the measurable / quantifiable impact to your evidence. Use figures, numbers, and etc to show in your evidence. Reference letter or performance review can only support your impact evidence.

Remember that you will need at least 2 strong pieces of evidence to support each MC or OC to get endorsed in Exceptional Talent route. I hope this helps

8

Thanks @alexnk I really appreciate it. I will try to add few more measurable evidences

9

Hi @alexnk

I have few questions

As I am developer so how can I show measurable / quantifiable impact to evidence ? What could I show in terms of figures or numbers ?
I am not business guy so I do not have all the company data of revenues and other info
Please help

Also if I mention them myself, then can’t tech nation question that it is not enough as it is my version and doesn’t qualify as evidence ?

10

Each person may have different circumstances. Back to your end-year performance, how were you evaluated?

Just for your idea, they could be “time or headcount saved from your code”, “cost saving or additional revenue from your developer’s project”, “increamental% of the efficiency”, and etc. You can also get in touch with Marketing team which may be using your development to sell or use internally, which you can get the measurable metric from then. @chetan.merai

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11

Hi @chetan.merai,

I haven’t gone through your whole post, but one quick note - for the 2nd recommendation letter dont forget to add much more details on how much time you volunteered and the benefits and impact you had in his product led startup, reason being as he is CTO of hedge fund company (i presume they dont have in house product and its just a financial institution using other products).

Thanks
Vicky

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