I am a senior data and analytics engineer and this is what I have now.
Recommendation Letters
From a fintech founder and CEO who has worked with me across multiple stages of my career, describing my growth from intern to senior engineer and my professionalism in maintaining long-term relationships.
From another CEO in the payments sector who discusses my transition into data engineering, my recognition through industry awards, and my contributions to academia and thought leadership.
From a director of a blockchain startup who explains how I helped design their early stablecoin infrastructure and data architecture.
Mandatory Evidence (4 documents)
Proof of speaking at recognised digital technology and fintech events.
Industry award for innovation and engineering excellence.
Published material and media coverage highlighting my work.
Evidence of judging and mentoring at the University of Exeter FinTech Hackathon.
Thought leadership articles on AI-driven infrastructure and ethical data systems.
Documentation showing my professional advancement ( speaking at a high profile conference for a nonprofit organization with over 17k following(Part 1).)
Additional evidence of advancement and innovation within the fintech ecosystem (speaking at livestream event of a tech publication company with over 41k subscribers and over 500 views(Part 2).)
This seems to be a very qualitative letter. However what is required is for him to speak about couple of your big contributions and their impact on the company and industry.
Ensure this letter includes quanitifed impact on their startup.
MC:
All these are good if:
a. the speaking at events is in large tech events with 100+ attendee size (incl. pictures, invite email, poster),
b. Awarding body is a large recognised tech body. Include any media coverage if any
c. If the coverage is in leading publications
d. Mentoring is considered only if its part of a structured program with selection of mentees hence wont apply for a hackathon. Judging is fine. Include pictures, invite email and scale of the Hackatho.
OC2:
This section is weak.
a. Are these articles in leading publications? Please include engagement stats
b. Speaking for a NGO is not valid. You cannot be a speaker on behalf of a company - thats not valid evidence. You need to have spoken as an individual keynote speaker at a large tech conference for it to be valid.
c. Livestream event speaking of a company is also not valid.
OC3:
This can be strengthened:
Is this an HR letter or by someone specific? Latter is better as the letter needs to detail out a couple of your key contributions in the company along with quanitifed impact on their core metrics like revenue. Usually employer letters are very high level and dont talk as much in depth as this requires.
You need to show the quantified impact of your contribution and not just what you did.
This is an invalid document - your roles and responsibilities doc will only weaken the application, as it will show you did work which was part of your role and not anything exceptional. Please avoid this document.
1.All articles are in leading publications with millions of viewership. I will add the statistics.
2.I was invited to be a speaker at the event organized by the non profits organization. I did not come in the capacity of working for them.
I was invited as a guest speaker on the livestream not in the capacity of someone that works for the company. The livestream invites top Blockchain industry leaders to speak.
Optional 3:
The letter was from the Head of HR and the VP of engineering
This document included the architectural design of the company’s New ELT pipeline authored by me including the documentation about the new technical structure authored by me as well. It included some gitlab commits as well. 3 pages is not really enough to fit everything in when you want it to be visible. If you have any suggestions please let me know.
Speaking at a non-profit is not counted. As per guidelines conferences must be widely recognized as sector leading events in tech. If this is not a tech conference, it won’t count.
Online conferences aren’t as strong but you can try.
Like I said, OC3 is about demonstrating impact hence only contributions won’t meet the criteria. What’s important is to show quantified impact of your work on core company metrics like revenue, sales and this should be validated in letters or in any other third party evidence to validate self-claims.
Your letters need significant work. I’ve seen many applications where vague letters about “growth” and “professionalism” lead to rejection. Each letter must detail 2-3 specific technical contributions you made with their direct impact on company metrics like revenue or user numbers. For your blockchain startup letter, they should explain exactly what you built in the stablecoin infrastructure and how it affected their operations with numbers.
Your OC2 is too weak to count on. Speaking for nonprofits or company livestreams doesn’t meet the criteria because you weren’t invited as an independent expert. The guidelines require you to be a keynote speaker at recognized tech conferences with 100+ attendees where your employer wasn’t a sponsor. Your articles need engagement metrics from the publications themselves. One applicant I worked with had millions of publication views but still needed to show screenshots proving it.
Your mentoring at a hackathon won’t count because structured programs require selection criteria and ongoing commitment. Judging is fine but needs proof of the event scale with photos and invitations. For your award, include any media coverage and details about the awarding organization’s prominence in tech. If these mandatory criteria pieces are weak, your application will fail regardless of how strong your optional criteria are.