Hello, I am looking for feedback on my application. I am already on a skilled worker visa with an overall experience of around 2 years and in the current company for a bit more than 1 year. I am looking to transfer to the exceptional promise
route and looking for feedback on where I can strengthen my application.
Will keep you posted on my application so that the community finds it useful!
References:
Current Head of Data Science at FTSE100 company
Current Chief Data Scientist at FTSE100
Lecturer and my master’s supervisor at a top 10 worldwide University
All talking about my contribution, impact, and leadership skills. The university one, I have a paper and a poster published with them beyond my master’s thesis.
CV: One-page CV (with hackathon participation and hackathon win inside the company where I currently work and 6 month of internship experience in Fortune 100 company)
Show my personal portfolio web page with a few projects (GitHub code not many stars, video courses, masters theses and code)
Personal statement: First I will talk about my background and how I went into data science and moved to the UK from abroad. Multiple reasons why I want the visa: to research in labs and in startups, test ideas on the side, have more flexibility in teams within the company, my interest in engineering and tech startups, try things out test out marketable ideas, and work in research labs. Also, I will talk about the impact I have already made and how it will be easier to do so even more.
Evidence:
Speaking engagements
IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) public talk about data science (with a news article, attendance of 20 to 30 people with high technical expertise, done at a local university in a small Eastern European country. (One in 2022 and already invited for one in 2023)
Open source software talk ( 40 high school level attendees, workshop on using open source data technologies, done in my home town not in English, but news clippings available, I was invited not organiser)
Mentoring a graduate data scientist and managing a small-scale project because of my own initiative (proof in reference letter from Chief Data Scientist and GitHub screenshots)
A web app tool I recently launched as a side project with a small number (20) of mailing list subscriptions but 300 visits in the first month - using a novel ML recommendation technique
Earning a bonus and shares in the first year of working, Remuneration Raise, proof of high earning for my graduate level of experience (compared to other graduate positions in London and industry)
An inter-company analytics tool proof with GitHub contributions, I designed the architecture and showcased the effect on that team, diagrams, and Jira tickets, mentioned in reference to how that area impacts the revenue of the company and my impact
I found a new use case using novel ML methods (first time used in the company) and improved a metric with GitHub contributions, diagrams, confluence and Jira tickets, references mention this and its impact
Proof that the company is a product-led digital technology company - (reference letter, Youtube links, articles, proof of how digital technology impacts revenues of the company through annual report)
Paper peer-reviewed publication, peer-reviewed poster at a conference where I spoke, screenshots and links of the number of downloads and visits on each and citations
Diploma of distinction of master’s degree (highest grade band) in Data Science in a top 10 world university
Recommendation letter about the impact on my research publication from a professor I worked with from another UK university
MC: show they have been recognised as having the potential to be a leading talent in the digital technology field in the last 5 years.
1,2,3,4
OC3: They have made significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder or employee of a product-led digital technology company
5,6,7
OC4: They have demonstrated exceptional ability in the field through academic contributions through research endorsed by an expert.
Ensure that your LOR writers have known your detailed work for more than 1 year, and meet the other strict TN guideline.
Personal statement:
You don’t need to talk about your past about your background, your previous work, impact you have made and so on. These should be included in CV. While personal statement should be saying about your future. Read the TN guideline carefully to meet those bullet points.
MC:
#1, #2, #3: This does not seem to be significant from the numbers given. You may add something in addition or merge it to another evidence. #4: Seems to be fine.
OC3: #5: Hope this GitHub user is under your company profile and you did it on your role, to make the impact out of this. #6: Looks good. #7: This can be merged into #5 or #6 or even your CV, to free up 1 available evidence slot.
OC4: #8: Why do I feel that this will fall under OC2 instead? Can you revise and confirm? #9 and #10: I am sorry that I cannot confirm if the Master’s degree work will be eligible in OC4. You may need to tag someone else to check.
All in all,
Your MC and OC4 are still a slightly concern for me. But I can feel that you can revise and make strong evidence from these set for promise route.
Thank you @alexnk ! This feedback is so valuable and helps me immensely. I will do this with my personal statement and CV. I have two quick questions.
OC4:
For the evidence OC4 about academia I have a academic peer reviewed paper published and a poster conference speaking event that are beyond the work of my thesis.
One of my LOR speaks about this and I have an expert endorsing this too about how I have contributed to the code and testing.
That is why I use OC4 instead of OC2.
For my degree award I was referring to:
Evidence of awards received for outstanding applied work, supported by excellent academic achievement (a first-class degree or distinction);
But maybe this means that I need an award in order to support it by a distinction degree? or the degree itself if its first class or distinction is proof.
MC:
I will combine these proofs as you have said and try to open the space for something else that will show more significant achievement.
Do you think with these points for MC, I should just provide more proof about the significance and leadership in them (maybe another recommendation letter from an expert for MC) or provide new evidence altogether?
Thank you again very much, this is extremely valuable to me and hopefully the community.
Do you think since my published poster and paper were outside of my main occupation (although in peer reviewed publications) I should use OC2 rather than OC4 ?
Thank you @alexnk
For number 7 how does proving that your company is a digital technology company demonstrate your impact?
For OC3 aside self authored evidence, do you have a reference letter from your employer confirming your impact?
For MC- 1,23 do not sufficiently meet the criteria. First you have less than 100 people at the event. Mentoring an individual graduate make be classed as mentoring a colleague, it is not sufficient. Mentorship must be a structured program
For number #7 proving that the company is a digital product led company means that my impact through my work there impacts the field. Its a really big company and at face value it might not look like they do digital product led tech. So that’s why I have used this evidence.
For OC3 I have 2 references that are senior roles in the company and confirm my impact. Do you think another one is needed?
For the MC, do you have any suggestions on how to improve? (the 100 attendees I thought was only for OC2 not MC). Also I have helped a startup get funding maybe I will include that with a letter from their CEO.
Also should OC4 evidence be for OC2 or is it okay like this?
@Filip Your prepared OC4 may not fit OC2, as it may be challenging to prove T’s requirement " I have been recognized for my work outside of my immediate occupation that contributed to the advancement of the sector"