Exceptional Talent - Please review my application plan for Data Engineer

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback on my previous post, Here is my updated High Level Plan for an application for Exceptional Talent Visa.

I have 10 years of experience as a Data Engineer. Currently working as Senior Data Engineer for a scale-up FinTech Business Unit in one of the biggest travel aggregator company.

Here is my plan of documents/proofs which i want to put in my application. It would be great if this great community can help me finalise my plan. Any feedback is appreciated.

Mandatory Documents -

  • Tech Nation Visa application form.

    • This includes a Personal Statement talking about my journey of becoming a software engineer, moving to the UK and slowly progressing into a Lead Engineer, Leading and creating positive impact in the Travel Sector and UK Economy.
  • CV with any career history matching the above journey.

  • LOR

    • Senior Director, Engineering, Current Employer
    • Director of product, Fintech, Current Employer
    • VP, Fintech, Current Employer

[ :interrobang: QUESTION 1 :interrobang: ] - All the above LOR(s) are from my current employer and since it’s been more than 4 years, I don’t have much connections left with my previous employer. However if this is a big push back, then i can get 1 LOR from Director of Engineering from my previous employer. But is this necessary?

Now Heading to Mandatory Criteria…

MC :: Show that they have been recognised as a leading talent in the digital technology sector in the last 5 years

  • Reference letter from Director of Fintech, Current Employer Talking about :arrow_forward:

    • My role in Leading Data Modernisation Journey for FinTech on-prem Data Ecosystem to cloud. Describing the complex Data Lake i delivered for the company.

    • The impact of the above Data Modernisation on Current Employer’s business and enabling the company to get banking license which is companies must do.

    • [This is not part of LOR…]

  • A document showing my History of performance vs bonus & RSUs paid over in the last 4 years based on performance. Comparison of my TC with median TC at the same level and showing I have been paid good salary.

Now Heading to Optional Criteria(s), I have chosen OC2 & OC1/OC3… I’m bit confused about the difference between OC1/OC3.

OC 2 Proof of recognition for work beyond the applicant’s occupation that contributes to the advancement of the field

  • StackOverFlow profile

    • Profile is 12 years old and active from 2021.
    • 9 bronze and 2 silver badges, 800 points as of now, 8000k Reach.
    • Can boost to 2000 points in next 6 months and get more badges and reach more people.
  • A letter from a Senior Manager of a big coaching institute of the UK Mentioning -

    • My contribution as guest speaker at more than 10 free cohorts, guiding fresh graduates and people moving into Engineering. Each cohorts has 80-100 people on average.

[ :interrobang: QUESTION 2 :interrobang: ] - Is the free guest lectures good candidate for OC2?

OC1/ OC3 Proven track record for innovation and impact contributions to the field an employee of a product-led digital technology company

Evidence 1 -

  • Evidence of me building a scalable data quality framework for the entire company, scaling to multiple BUs processing petabytes of data at scale. Measuring Data quality for one of the biggest travel data in the world.
  • Impact of quality data management on machine learning, financial reporting, compliance leading to fines.

Evidence 2 -

  • GitHub screenshots, architecture diagrams, commit history, Lead role on wiki pages, showcasing the contribution at enterprise level in my current company.

[ :interrobang: QUESTION 3 :interrobang: ] - Is this enough? Evidence 2 here is basically adding context and value to Evidence 1.

This is my plan, Please help me understand how viable my plan is and if I can improve anything.

[ :interrobang: OPEN QUESTIONS :interrobang: ]

  • I’m showing proof only from my current employer, Should i include something from my previous work? I prefer not to unless it ads value. I have better impactful stories in my current job.

Looking forward to feedback.

Thanks

It is suggested to have 3 different examples of work im LORs if all LORs talk about similar contributions, it may a risk. Try to get at least one LOR from other org

Hi Muks, Thanks for your feedback. I can try to get one but what confuses me is this LOR will talk about let’s say project A but this project A is not fit for OC2 anyway and OC1/OC3 is already talking about another project. MC1 will also have another candidate, so would this be alright, to have a LOR from previous company, but not talk about the project in any other Optional/ Mandatory criteria?

Yes, it should be fine

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Thanks Muks, Any other feedback? Do you think my OC2 is strong enough? This is the part which i am missing the most TBH :frowning:

Your optional criteria are confusing, you can choose just two out of four. Eg oc1, oc3 and atleast two unique evidences for each optional criteria

About OC2 not sure about evidence 1 , evidence 2 looks good on the face value. It should be structured mentorship program as suggested in tech nation guide. The content of letter should support the qualifying criteria and nature of structured program for the mentorship

Hi Tushar,

Ideally you should diversify your references. I know someone whose application was rejected because 2 of the LORs were from the same company. Using proof mainly from your current employer is fine if that’s where your strongest work is. However, include previous achievements if they demonstrate different skills or show consistent excellence over time.

Guest speaking at coaching institutes works well for OC2. It shows recognition beyond your job and helps advance the field through mentoring. Get detailed documentation showing participant numbers and impact metrics.

Your evidence combining the data quality framework with GitHub materials is good but needs more emphasis on business impact. Add quantifiable metrics, awards/recognition, cross-team adoption stats, and testimonials about the innovation’s value. Emphasising on it being an innovation is key!

Focus on clearly documenting innovation, leadership, and measurable impact in all your evidence. Avoid subjective wording where possible :smile:

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