Is there a good explanation or discussion on this point
At least two unique documents showing you are recognised as either a leading talent or potential talent (see Mandatory Criteria) and at least four unique documents showing you have any two of the other necessary skills (see Optional Criteria). You cannot use the same piece of evidence for more than one criteria.
Does this mean we cannot use the same evidence in Mandatory Criteria and the same evidence in the Optional Criteria.
For example in Mandatory Criteria (MC) I want to prove this point from the visa guide
Outside of your normal day-to-day job role, you led or were a significant contributor to a substantial open source project, as evidenced from compilation of code commit summaries, repo stars or similar metrics such as download statistics, where possible.
To prove this I will share screenshots, stats and reviews of WordPress plugins that I have developed which are on the plugin WordPress plugin repository.
Now I also want to go for Optional Criteria (OC2)
How do I demonstrate that I have been recognised for my work outside of my immediate occupation that contributed to the advancement of the sector?
Evidence of contributions to an Open Source project
All contributions (for example to an Open-Source project, GitHub, or Stack Overflow profile etc.) must demonstrate a consistent and ongoing track record of contributions to the sector.
So according to the unique document requirement I canât use what I used in MC, the screenshots and links to my plugins and download and active install stats again for OC2?
This does not make sense to me. We should be able to use the same evidence different criteriaâs shouldnât we?
Well, it was not a requirement in the past until they saw a trend with people reusing a lot of evidence in multiple criteria, which meant very few unique pieces of evidence. Since there are ten pieces of evidence you can provide, the guideline now states that your application needs to include a minimum of 6 unique pieces of evidence in total.
That is really strange. If someone has developed an open source product that is doing well they would obviously want to include it in Mandatory Criteria and use it to satisfy the example from Tech Nation guide
Outside of your normal day-to-day job role, you led or were a significant contributor to a substantial open source project, as evidenced from compilation of code commit summaries, repo stars or similar metrics such as download statistics, where possible.
Now due to the restriction they cannot use that again in Optional Criteria 2
Evidence of contributions to an Open Source project
So the choice is to use not use it in the Mandatory Criteria and make it weaker or find another Open Source product which you contributed to in the past over a period of time.
@promisingtalent Thanks for starting this thread. I am considering a similar strategy as yours.
Whatâs confusing is that thereâs also a statement which implies people can use the same evidence to support multiple criteria:
How do I demonstrate that I have made a significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder, senior executive, board member or employee of a product-led digital technology company?
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Please note that the term âsignificant contributionâ in this criteria requires you to demonstrate impact, not necessarily innovation. This is different from Optional Criteria 1 where you are required to demonstrate high levels of innovation, not necessarily impact. If these are your chosen criteria then your evidence should clearly demonstrate this differentiation. Submitting the same evidence for both criteria may not be sufficient if it does not meet these different requirements.
Itâd be great if anyone could leave some insight into using the same evidence to support multiple criteria.
What I ended up doing is using 1 plugin for MC and then the rest of plugins in OC2.
In MC I used details, screenshots of statistics and screenshots of code for 2nd most popular plugin around 8000 active installations and 20,000 lifetime downloads.
Then in OC2 I used 5 other plugins with around 16,000 Active Installations and over 70,000 all time downloads.
I was talking about my open source plugins in both but in MC I was referring to 1 specific plugin and in OC2 other plugins and I made it clear that I am using my open source WordPress plugins and in OC2 I am including stats for the plugin I have already mentioned and used for MC.
Hi, thatâs really helpful information! Luckily, I have worked on one large project that could potentially be considered as multiple projects, and so I will give it a try and see if they accept my application. Thank you so much for your fruitful comment, @promisingtalent!