Help Review Exceptional Promise Application Software Engineer/Developer

Stage 1
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Hi everyone! I’ve been working on my documents for submission for over a year now, since I found out about the visa a while back. I’d really appreciate it if anyone could take a look and let me know if everything looks good. I’m all ears for any feedback or suggestions!.

Background: Self-taught Software engineer with a little over 4 years of experience worked with fintech, now transitioning into the AI sector.

Recommendation Letters:

  1. CEO of a Digital Bank A
  2. CEO of Digital Bank B who is also head of a fintech association
  3. Regional Head of a Technical School & IT Veteran

Mandatory Criteria

(Proven track record of innovation and recognition as a leader in the tech field)

1. AI Tool where I’m the CTO

Documents:

• App download metrics

• News articles featuring it and mentioning me as the CTO (2 recommendation letters also reference this)

• User testimonials

• System architecture diagrams & commits with my name and easter egg on live code base)

• Screenshots or product demo

2. Press Interview on Me and My Impact In the Tech Space

Documents:

• Full article/interview

• Viewership metrics

3. National Award Nominee and Winner

Documents:

• Email Notification from the awarding body on the award

• News Coverage

• Award Certificate

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Optional Criteria 2: Recognition for work outside immediates occupation that contributes to the tech sector

4. Structured mentorship initiative where I am a member

Documents:

• News articles mentioning me and also featuring my picture

• The official Website showing my as a featured mentor

• Proof that it’s structured

• Testimonials from students

5. GMI (Global Mentorship Initiative) Member

Documents:

• Mentorship certificate

• Testimonials from mentees

• Screenshots/emails proving mentorship

6. GomyCode Mentor

Documents:

• Proof of mentorship sessions

• Testimonials from mentors or mentees

7. AI Resume Builder I Designed (Open source)

Documents:

• News articles

• User testimonials

• Google Analytics stats of users

• Proof of development (commits/screenshots)

Not Sure of if this particular one should be here

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Optional Criteria 3: Significant technical contributions to the field as a founder or employee

8. Digital Bank Lead Developer

Documents:

• GitHub commits / architecture / Figma design files with my name

• CFO’s reference letter detailing my role

• Download metrics

• Awards won by the company (not stating me but CFO’s and also MD’s ref letters does explain how my impact led to that)

9. Education App I assisted in building

Documents:

• GitHub commits with my name

• Download metrics

• Reference letter from founder explaining how my work got the app its success.

• Testimonials from users

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Optional for MC1: Proof of High Salary

I’m not too confident about this one as I don’t know what their benchmark for “high” is. I do earn significantly higher than most in my country doing what I do, but I’m not sure it’s exceptional for the UK.

Documents:

• Payslips (last 6–12 months)

• Bank statements matching deposits

• Employment contract stating salary

• Market salary benchmarks (Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, etc.)

Also, I have no conferences to add. I am slated to talk on one, but it’s in the future, so I didn’t add that to my list of evidence.

Another question I have, do the optional reference letter also need a resume?

@Francisca_Chiedu @Akash_Joshi

please assist.

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Anyone willing to led a hand, I have some few days left to submit.

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Your evidence portfolio is strong, particularly your leadership as CTO of the AI tool, national award, and press recognition, which solidly address MC1. I recommend consolidating the AI tool’s architecture diagrams, news articles, and user testimonials into a single PDF for clarity, explicitly linking these to “innovation” and “leadership.” Your mentorship initiatives (OC2) are well-documented, but ensure each program’s evidence (e.g., GMI vs. GomyCode) highlights distinct contributions to avoid overlap.

For OC3, the Digital Bank Lead Developer and Education App contributions are compelling, but request that reference letters quantify your technical impact (e.g., user growth percentages, awards directly tied to your work). The open-source AI Resume Builder belongs under OC2 if it’s community-facing; include GitHub stars/forks to demonstrate adoption.

The high salary evidence is viable if you contextualize it: attach a brief comparison of your earnings to your country’s median tech salaries (via government/NGO reports) alongside payslips. Avoid including future conference talks, but do mention the upcoming event in your personal statement as a forward-looking contribution. No need for resumes with reference letters - focus on their specificity.

Have you considered applying some evidences to OC1 as well?

1 Like
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I’ll have reference letters added to support my OC3. You mentioned having some of the evidence moved to OC1 can you elaborate?

5

I think you have do good evidence. Fir MC, how recent are the publication regarding your work and interview? Is there a picture of you receiving the award, not an issue if you don’t have it, does the news coverage mention your name?
For OC2, are these mentorship physical or virtual? Add pictures regarding your mentorship.
Opensource contributions are strong if it shows your consistent contribution over a period of time.

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@Francisca_Chiedu regarding the publications they’re from late 2023 and early 2024, I do not have. A picture receiving but I do have a publication that mentions me and the award I received.
The mentorship is physical although one of them (GMI) is virtual I have emails and Google meet calendar sessions spanning back to last year

For the open source the code isn’t on GitHub it’s a platform I developed and made free for everyone to use. I also have the source code on my portfolio website with its download count.

How can I show testimonials can I use support letters from the actual users?? I don’t have screenshot and won’t want to use screenshot of emails I got from users.

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Publications from 2923 and early 2924 should be fine. For the award add picture and link to the publication highlighting your name. The virtual mentorship is tricky as recent update says it must be physical. Id the opensource is cancelled be assessed by an assessor and shows your long standing contributions and recognition among your oers, should be fine. Yes you can ask users for reference.