I have eight years of work experience.
I started as a programmer at a university department (1 year).
Then I had my own startup with colleagues from the university, which was related to ML - there I played the role of a technical manager (1 year).
After that, I went from a technical manager to a CEO in a startup (which was part of a technical holding company) that was involved in algorithmic trading (3 years).
After that, I worked as a team lead (development) in a large IT company (1 year).
Now I work as a technical manager in another large IT company (2 years).
I have a strong technical background along with extensive experience in managing IT projects.
LoR-1: CTO of the current company
LoR-2: Head of Infrastructure at the current company
LoR-3: Head of a department at a previous large company
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LoR-4 (additional): CEO of a small startup (formerly DS Lead at a startup focused on algorithmic trading, where we worked together)
LoR-5 (additional): CEO of a previous large IT company.
PoE-1: Salary. Options. Comparison with the market in my country (top 3% for my position). Comparison with the UK market (analytics on cost of living in my country and the UK).
PoE-2: External contribution - Sponsored a ML conference (as CEO of a startup). Invited speaker at an IT seminar at a university for the MBA program. Organizer of meetups for IT startups (with top speakers who are alumni of Startups 500).
PoE-3: Implementation of an ML model to replace manual labor in a previous large IT company. I initiated this implementation. Letter from the CEO of the previous large IT company (as a screenshot and link to the full letter). Financial benefits from the implementation are described.
PoE-4: Technical overhaul to ensure scalability and stability of the main elements in the department where I worked as a lead in the previous large IT company (this PoE is also confirmed in LoR-3). Business benefits and stability metrics are described.
PoE-5: Implementation of a new BI tool in the current large IT company. Architecture of data delivery and user documentation, showing that I am the author (this PoE is also confirmed in LoR-1). Financial benefits are described.
PoE-6: Architectural redesign of the primary analytical database in the current IT company. Technical benefits are described, and an architecture is presented where it is evident that I am the author. (This same PoE is confirmed by LoR-1, LoR-2).
PoE-7: Publications. 3 pieces - 2 technical and 1 managerial. It is described what served as the beginning of these articles (for example, we developed rocket science at work), where possible, the authoritativeness is indicated (the use of this article in references in scientific journals, lectures at the university).
PoE-8: An interview I gave for an IT blog. Announcement of the publication on the resource, a couple of excerpts from the article: a general overview of my path, etc.
PoE-9: Technical implementation in algorithms in a startup for algorithmic trading. The profit of this implementation is discussed, as well as a general view of the product architecture. Confirmed by LoR-4 (screenshot + link to the full letter).
PoE-10: Development of a third-party service in a startup for algorithmic trading - cloud direction. Business benefits are indicated (savings + the fact that this implementation allowed the holding company, where the algorithmic trading startup was included, to open a cloud technology direction), as well as technical features. Screenshots of documents from government agencies that are requested from all cloud providers. Screenshots of the personal account, UX design.
I think your profile looks good overall, I worry about the details though. What do you mean by an “IT company” by the way? Product-led technology company is very different from “IT company” so I would encourage you clarify what your company does and that it aligns with the Tech Nation requirements.
I also think the evidence for OC2 is a bit thin and might need more work, specially for Talent which will likely need more than 1 piece of evidence. Some notes:
Is this a recognisable publication? Do you have statistics on reach, readers etc?
Unfortunately I don’t think Sponsoring a ML conference is eligible, nor is being a speaker at an IT seminar at a university for the MBA program. See the following notes from the guide:
Talks or conference speaking that have had a significant viewership. Conferences must be widely regarded as sector-leading events for your field with at least 100 attendees (not registrations). As a speaker you must be speaking on the main stage and the invitation to speak must not have been paid for by your organisation as part of any sponsorship. Leading a workshop or running a session at a conference is not sufficient. Evidence should include your speech with either a link to the video of you speaking, the programme of events displaying your talk or a reference letter from the conference organiser with explanation of why you were asked to speak.
Organising a meetup for IT startups is definitely worth including though, as long as this is externally verifiable and not related to your organisation.
What do you mean by Development of a third-party service? If this can be construed as a consultancy-type relationship, it will not be eligible as evidence.
IIRC the form won’t let you include more letters than 3 recommendations, if you do then you have to use space in the evidences. Since your evidences are 10 already you would need to get rid of 2 of these. I could be wrong about this, perhaps someone else can confirm.
If your evidence doesn’t fit in the evidence and needs an external link, I would put it in a different evidence (if this link is only for confirmation of an externally verifiable source, and not a link to more evidence, then that’s fine)
Both companies are among the top 5 IT companies in my country. They are worth billions of dollars, have thousands of employees, and so on.
Yes, of course. I have attached thousands of views and other statistics.
It was an open seminar (guests could register not only as MBA students) with invited experts from major IT companies. There were a total of 150 people in a huge auditorium (I have attached photos). I was invited as an expert, not just to give a presentation.
At the very beginning, we used public clouds such as Google. The cost was increasing. I built a model and a technical implementation for our own cloud. After that, we started providing these services to external companies, not just using internally.
I added the relevant main part as a screenshot, and attached the full letter via a link.
How does TN react if I have one PoE (1, 2, 3) and number one does not comply with their rules? Does this mean that the entire PoE is deemed defective or is it just that one point that is considered unsuitable?
I don’t think your application would be thrown out just because one piece of evidence is not eligible. But if for example 2 pieces of evidence out of 3 given for 1 criteria are deemed not eligible, that is different. If only 1 evidence is valid then they could argue you don’t have a track record of contributions (and endorse for promise instead or not endorse at all).
Thats why it’s important to have multiple different types of evidence for each criteria (specially for Talent vs Promise) and explain everything, in case the reviewer doubts eligibility of any piece of evidence.
In my case one of my pieces of evidence was not elegible which I didn’t realise until after i submitted (Medium blog) but I still was endorsed for Talent.
Be mindful about using event you sponsored as evidence as the guide clearly states that speaking events must not be events you sponsored or were paid for
What do you think, if I already submitted my application where there were 3 points in PoE-2 - 1) sponsored conference; 2) open seminar where I was an expert, and 3) organizer of meetups for IT startups? Will they count the entire PoE or only part of it?