My Profile - Exceptional Talent Endorsement

Stage 1
1

Here is a breakdown of my profile that got endorsed under exceptional talent.

Personal Statement
Summarising my tech background and specifically talking about the evidences submitted, and answers to the TN questions for personal statement. 50% on personal and career history, 50% on future plans (answering TN questions).

CV
Usual stuff showing outcomes and impact of my work. Had to focus on the relevant stuff while making sure I capture the various aspects of my career history. The 3-page limit was a pain.

Letters of Recommendation

  1. CEO/Founder of product-led company I worked at for 2 years. Talking about my impact in the company and some of my other activities outside of work.
  2. CTO/Co-Founder of a product-led company based in Europe. We both worked at the same tech company in Nigeria. Talks about the time we worked at the same company and my achievements in recent years.
  3. CEO/Founder of a product-led startup based in the US. Worked at this startup to build an innovative fintech app. Talks about my technical abilities and how I designed and built their app and how I handled the challenges that are common when building innovative apps.

Mandatory Criteria - Leadership

  1. Panelist on a high-profile panel about issues on how to advance tech in northern Nigeria.
  2. Led the organisation of a developer conference with more than 500 attendees. Reference letter from a global developer advocate.
  3. Reviewer of the pioneer National Occupational Standards (NOS) for the tech sector in Nigeria in preparation for policy making.
  4. Speaker at high-profile digital technology sector event. Reference letter from conference organisers (addresses the TN concerns around speaking at events).

Optional Criteria 2 - Activities outside of work

  1. Speaker at high profile software architecture conference. Links to video of my talk, screenshot of the video showing me speaking, picture of my speaker tag, picture of thank you card for speaking, screenshot of reference letter in MC above.

  2. Mentor for a structured program organised by the EU to identify and mentor developers for 1 year internships in tech companies in a specific European country. 2-page reference letter from individual that was the program manager at organising company then. Added pictures of hackathon event (used for selection of developers), picture of my mentor tag, screenshot of mentoring schedule with my name, and screenshot of invitation email to closing ceremony which took place a year after mentees completed their internships.

  3. Mentor in a structured accelerator program for startup founders and their senior team members organised by an asian country and a local tech accelerator. 1-page reference letter from organisers. Added 2 pages with screenshot of email invitation, screenshot of all mentors, and screenshot of email explaining my role as a mentor.

Optional Criteria 3 - Technical contribution and impact

  1. Reference letter from CTO of product-led startup I worked at stating my contribution and impact (CEO of same company provided letter of recommendation).

  2. Screenshot of my commits from company product repos for work in US-based startup. Also included pictures of handrawn architectural daigrams on whiteboards, a digital version of the architectural diagram, database ERDs (things I designed myself).

  3. Impact of my technical contribution in a product-led startup I founded. Data model (ERD), Screenshots of my commits, API documentation of API I built, snippet of shareholder document showing my shares.

In all evidences where I added screenshots I used at least half a page to give context to the evidence. My approach was to come from the view of the assesor asking questions such as “What is all of this? How is this even important and how does it advance the tech sector?”. Since I applied from outisde the UK I tired my best to give as much context as possible even though some of the evidence speak for themselves. I have reviewed the work of others in numerous events I have been involved in and I know how powerful giving a little context can be. It’s like selling, as much as possible you need to handle the possible objections before they even come up.

I have studied the TN guide 500 + x times. I have studied the rejections shared here as well as the successful profiles as well. The questions and answers provided on this platform have been very helpful as well. All of these gave me a little understanding into the mind of TN. The TN guide is gold.

I also have evidence which doesn’t qualify under the current requirements (April 2022) but were required in previous versions of the TN requirements like continuous learning. I made sure such things were shown in my CV.

I made sure my personal statement told a story that captured both my personal and professional angles in the last 5 years and my plans going forward.

I must admit that the whole process was a rollercoaster ride for me. At times I felt confident in my profile while at other times I felt it wasn’t perfect enough but deep down I knew I had a chance so I put in the work, studied the TN guide (it was always open in my browser), and studied the content of this forum as well. So I put in my best, applied, and crossed my fingers.

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2

Congratulations! You’ve really done a lot and it’s well deserved. Thank you for also detailing your preparation process.

I have a quick question, how many pages was your recommendation and reference letters?
Was the recommendation up to 3 page ?

3

Thanks. Two of the LOR were 3 pages long (2 pages of main content of the letter then 1 page with profile of recommender). One of the LOR was 2 pages long including the profile of the recommender).

So technically the LOR were not up to 3 pages.

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