Hi there, I am looking for feedback on my Exceptional Promise application. I have 3.5 years of professional work experience as a Software Engineer (promoted to Senior Software Engineer in Jan 2022) with a supermajor energy company. I am a technical applicant from a non-technical organization. Additionally, I founded a technology startup in university (ivy-league) in the USA which received pre-seed investment funding but it dissolved when I started a full-time job after graduation.
My purpose for applying for the GTV Visa is because I’d like to work with a Net Zero energy tech company located in the UK as it aligns with a startup vision I started as well as my personal goals of contributing to the UK Net Zero economy. I have been doing voluntary work for them outside of my day job.
I have a B.S in Oil and Gas Engineering and Computer Science and MEng Management both from an US Ivy League school.
Recommendation Letters:
- Career Mentor - Harvard MBA VC Executive who sold 2 successful startups
- COO - Large Technology-Led Industry Initiative who often code reviews my work
- CEO - UK Net Zero Startup I’d like to work with
MC:
- Evidence 1: You command a high salary or other remuneration for your services, as evidenced by commercial or employment contracts with salary information including any bonus and equity options and history of earnings.
- Employment contracts with salary information including any bonus and equity options and history of earnings from current company
- Employment contracts with salary information including any bonus and equity options and history of earnings from job offer
- Screenshot of Glassdoor Avg Salary for current job title and location in USA showing in Top 5%
- Screenshot of UK Home Office National Statistics showing in Top 1% percentile of pre-tax income
- Evidence 2: Outside of your normal day-to-day job role, you established, led or were a senior contributor to a large technology-led industry initiative, evidenced through reference letter(s) from global senior project executives.
- Reference Letter from initiative Chairperson
- Photos of initiative events with me speaking
- Evidence 3: You have held or hold a significant expert role participating on panels, or individually, assessing the work of others in the same field or a field of specialisation related to the digital technology sector.
- Photos of 4 panels with me speaking with audience size and link to recording
- Evidence 4: You led the growth of a product-led digital technology company, product, or team inside a digital technology company:
- Reference Letter from Co-Founder
- Screenshot holding Incubator Check from Business Plan Competition
- Screenshot of App in App Store
OC2 Advancement:
- Evidence 5: An op-ed or news article that exemplifies thought leadership, evidence of mentorship.
- Spotify Podcast sharing story on STEM mentorship, pivoting career into digital technology, and co-founding a tech startup
- Evidence 6: 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).
- Same as MC Evidence 3 with link and reference letter from conference organizer on why I was invited to speak
- Evidence 7: Evidence of mentorship must be for activity outside the applicant’s organisation or normal course of work duties and excludes mentorship of other commercial organisations as part of a commercial arrangement.
- Reference Letter from Code Your Future Scotland and STEM-E
- Screenshots of Slack Channel, Zoom Meetings
- Group photo with mentees and career development presentation backdrop
OC3 Impact:
- Evidence 8: Letter from an employer wherever applicable.
- Reference Letter from current supervisor showcasing quantitative and qualitative results
- Evidence 9: Documentation on product designs or architecture diagram clearly showing your contribution.
- Screenshot of Architecture Diagrams, Figma Designs, UX Research Presentations
- Evidence 10: GitHub account that contains lines of code clearly showing your continuing contribution.
- Screenshot of Azure DevOps (Company’s internal Git Repository) showcasing Global Software Developer Ranking based on builds, commits, pull requests completed/reviewed, and lines of code.
- Screenshot of company StackOverFlow showcasing All-Time Top 15/4000+ Contributors
I also have one more key piece of evidence on winning a Hackathon prize of $500,000. However, it was on behalf of my company where myself and 2 other employees participated. Not sure where/how to incorporate this under OC3 or MC?