Do you have to *currently* work in tech?

Stage 1
1

Yes, I recognize this is a weird question. I suspect I am going to try to qualify under the research/academia stream, but thought it was worth asking re. digital technology.

I currently work as a researcher in the private sector, focusing on social science. I’m currently in the UK on a high potential individual visa.

I’m 18 months out of grad school in a social science field. During grad school, I worked at a Fortune 500 technology company in VR/AR (“an employee working on a new digital field or concept”) and hold two patents in the field (filed 2020/2021, granted 2021/2022).

I have taught programming-based classes (in data science and causal inference) at the graduate level at a world top 50 university. I also have published academic work using Big Data (e.g. data from most hospitals in the US, etc). Recommendations from senior people at Silicon Valley firms will be easy to produce.

But I don’t actually work in tech at the moment. This disqualifies me, correct?

2

This is indeed a weird question; however, the Technation guideline states that “Tech Nation’s criteria are designed for applicants with technical and business skills in the digital technology sector.” Nothing states that you have to currently work in tech as long as you meet all the other criteria

3

You don’t currently have to be working in tech but you should show evidence of your work in the digital technology sector within the last 5 years.