Request for review – GTV - Exceptional Talent endorsement application (Digital Technologies)

Stage 1
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Hello Experts,

I am currently preparing my application for endorsement under the Digital Technologies route for Exceptional Talent. I would greatly appreciate your feedback on my profile and the document list I plan to submit.

I am a Senior Solution Architect with 14.5 years of experience in the software industry. I was the first employee of a successful startup that grew to over 650 engineers and was later acquired by a Fortune 500 company. I was in several roles from Technical Lead to the Director of the start up over a period of 9 years. I have delivered several mission-critical projects and products, with extensive work in the sustainability domain for the Indian government. I have designed and delivered multiple national-level platforms used across the country. One of these platforms serves more than 100,000 users and over 66,000 industries nationwide. I have also designed and developed an Industrial IoT data platform currently used across several large industries.

Below are the documents I plan to submit for each criterion:

MC1
An environmental sustainability software product used by approximately 3,000+ industries across India and the Middle East. This product also serves as the central platform for both the central and state governments of India.

MC2
A blockchain-based software platform I designed and delivered to track plastic circulation across India. This national platform is used by around 66,000 plastic handling agencies and over 100,000 users.

MC3
I was the Director of the UK subsidiary of the company prior to its acquisition. I successfully launched the subsidiary in a short period. I played an exceptional role in scaling the Indian startup from 0 to 650 employees, gaining significant market recognition and customers.

MC4 – Community Contributions

  • Two technical blogs with 400+ posts and approximately 1.5 million total views
  • A YouTube channel with around 100 videos
  • 70+ Gists and 5+ open source projects on GitHub
  • Stack Overflow contributions (2.6K reputation, 58 badges)

OC1(1)
The Industrial IoT product mentioned above. This platform was featured in the Gartner Magic Quadrant and competes with several large players in the market.

OC1(2)
The blockchain-based national plastic tracking system that has helped recycle approximately 20 million tons of plastic waste since its implementation in 2022.

OC2
My last 3 years of salary evidence in the UK.

OC3(1)
An industrial digital transformation program I am leading across 32 global sites.

OC3(2)
A cross-project impact document explaining the effect of my contributions across multiple projects.

LOR

  1. Founder of the start up
  2. Head of the Government department. He was the head till 2022 when I implemented these projects (currently retired).
  3. Director of the Fortune 500 company. He was my client before the acquisition. (he retired this year). He is a PhD holder with several international publications and patents.

I would be very grateful for any advice or observations from the community. Thank you in advance for your time and guidance.

2

Hi @ageorgej, trust you are okay.

Your achievements as a Senior Solution Architect with 14.4 years of experience are impressive. However, let’s have a quick strategic look at what you are presenting to support your claims.

MC1 – Where you recognised for the environmental sustainability software product used by approximately 3,000+ industries across India? Can you show news clippings where you were mentioned or credited for the national level tech platforms and the Indian government project? Can you show some sustained lines of code from a public repository? You can blur sensitive details or code, but ownership must be clear, your name must be visible. Also, a reference letter from an executive supporting your claims and clearly stating how you led the growth of the company, product, or team is important.

MC2 is a description of what you designed, same as MC3. What evidence do you have to show?

MC4 – Blogs will not show that you are recognised as a tech leader. A YouTube channel with videos can work for OC2, but videos alone are not enough. You need to show the impact the videos have made in terms of views, subscribers, likes, comments, and the videos must be relevant to the sector and align with your narrative. If you are the author of the 5+ GitHub projects, these can show recognition if you clearly show substantial metrics.

OC1 is a description, what evidence are you presenting? Same as OC1(2).

Salary will not work for OC2. Salary can be a supplementary evidence for MC and is not sufficient on its own, regardless of the amount being earned. Here, you are expected to show you were recognised for what you did outside your paid job that contributed to the advancement of the sector, things like mentoring or contributions to open‑source projects can work.

If you are going with OC1 and OC2, you won’t need OC3, as you can only choose two OCs from the four.

For your LOR, make sure they are experts in the tech sector, this can be business or technical experts. Make sure you check their career trajectory to confirm.

On your guidance request

I would be very grateful for any advice or observations from the community. Thank you in advance for your time and guidance.

I would suggest you read the Tech Nation guidance and understand what is required, then work more, on your evidence so you can present a more convincing application.

All the best.