I’m a Machine Learning Engineer with 4+ years of experience, looking to apply for Exceptional Promise. I would appreciate your kind feedback on my application and whether I stand a chance
I have a Bachelors of Computer Science (Honours) with a Specialisation in Data Science from an Australian university.
Recommendation Letters
From American CTO of a social media (within top 10 most popular social medias in US with more than 100M monthly users): I worked here as a Senior ML Engineer for 3+ years
Reference letter from Senior Research Scientist of an Open Source Web company (within top 10 most visited websites worldwide): I worked here as an ML researcher for a short 4 month internship but the referee has known me since 2021. Referee is based in UK
From Director of Data Science and AI at a top Australian University (within top 40 globally)-- my ML research supervisor for my Honours research. I have one research publication in a top AI conference from this. For those not familiar, an Honours is a 1 year postgrad research degree (sort of like a Master’s but 1 year!).
Mandatory Criteria 1: Growth of social media as a Senior ML Engineer
Recommendation Letter from Lead of Machine Learning of the Social Media company, which goes deep into my technical contributions and impact
Screenshots of internal dashboard showing how a few projects I led for building new social media recommendation algorithms have impacted new user growth, engagement metrics, etc.
screenshots of positive comments I have received from coworkers and leadership, showing the impact of my contributions
Screenshots of internal Github repo contribution graph
I can also share some screenshots of architecture diagrams for some projects I led if that would help
Mandatory Criteria 2: Command High Salary
Screenshots of contracts, salary increments from social media company, showing I earn 5-6x the national average for ML Engineers in my country, and 1.5x national average for ML Engineers in the UK
Optional Criteria: Academic contributions through research
2 first-author AI/ML papers published in top tier peer reviewed AI conferences
1 is linked to my work with the Open Source Web Company, where I worked on a ML project to measure content safety, and published some open source datasets
1 is my Machine Translation research, linked to my Honours research at top university
Evidence of conference participation: presentations at peer reviewed conference for the 2 papers above^
Will share links/screenshots to conference agenda
Google Scholar profile with citation counts etc.
Optional Criteria: Open Source Contributions
Screenshots of Open Source Machine Learning repo linked to my work with Open Source Web Company
Screenshots of Open Source Machine Learning datasets linked to my work with Open Source Web Company (has over 5k+ downloads)
Interview: Featured in company blog where I was interviewed about my Machine Learning internship with Open Source Web Company
Blogging: Public technical article I authored on my work, published on the Open Source Web Company’s page. 3.5k+ page views in total
Besides everything mentioned, I have previous research publications in civic technology (open source), and 2 years working part time at a global tech consulting firm (while studying), but I’m not counting these as they exceed the 5 year window
Please let me know how I can improve anything for my application
cc @Francisca_Chiedu@pahuja@May@alexnk and anyone else!
Thank you for all your help and feedback in advance!!
Thank you for the reviews you’ve done to help others through this forum, it has been a huge help to read through and learn from them. I would greatly appreciate any of your kind advice on my chances!
Your application shows good technical contributions, but needs stronger evidence of external recognition for Mandatory Criteria 1. Tech Nation requires proof you’re recognized beyond your employer - internal dashboards and colleague feedback alone don’t demonstrate national/international acknowledgment. Can you share third-party validation like conference talks, media coverage, or industry awards related to your social media work?
The high salary evidence meets the threshold but requires clearer context. You must explicitly show how this remuneration reflects exceptional talent in digital tech, not just company pay scales. Consider adding a comparison to UK tech salaries from official sources.
Your open-source work has good traction, but the 5k+ downloads need supporting metrics. Include repository stars, contributor numbers, or community testimonials to demonstrate wider sector impact per Tech Nation’s “significant technical contributions” criteria.
Thanks for the pointers on evidence for my open source work and salary evidence. I’ll be sure to do so.
needs stronger evidence of external recognition for Mandatory Criteria 1
I can also share media coverage about new features that were added to the social media platform, and I could connect this to the recommendation letter from the Lead of Machine Learning, validating that I was the key ML Engineer responsible for recommendations for those product features.
The media coverage articles themselves don’t mention impact, just generally “X Social Media introduces new feature Y”, but I can connect this to internal metrics showing how my work helped with the success of the feature for example increasing user adoption of the feature, or improved platform engagement. Would this work?
Also, what do you think of testimonials from users? Any guidelines on how to show testimonials in evidence?
MC needs atleast 1 more evidence document to support how you are a leading talent in the digital technology sector. Salary evidence is not a strong evidence as per the guidelines.
It is unclear which two OCs are you applying for? Guessing its OC4 and OC2? If so, Will be good to have a letter each in each of the OCs as well.
Screenshots and links to 2 first-author AI/ML papers published in top tier peer reviewed AI conferences
OC4
Academic Publications and Research Contributions in AI/ML
Screenshots of conference schedule + agenda, with viewership numbers, for the 2 aforementioned academic publications
OC4
Salary
Screenshots of salary, contract, contrasted against UK and local medians to support high renumeration claim
MC
Media Coverage and External Recognition
Media coverage of open source project + Indirect media coverage of social media features part of projects I led
MC
Tech blogging/ Thought Leadership
Public technical article I authored on my work, published on the Open Source Web Company’s page. 3.5k+ page views in total
MC / OC3?
Open Source Contributions;
- Screenshots of Open Source Machine Learning repo linked to my work with Open Source Web Company - Screenshots of Open Source Machine Learning datasets linked to my work with Open Source Web Company (has over 5k+ downloads)
OC3 / MC?
Letter: Head of ML @ Social Media
Recommendation Letter from Lead of Machine Learning of the Social Media company, which goes deep into my technical contributions and impact
OC3
Architecture + Implementation Docs; Social Media
Screenshots of internal Github repo contribution graph, screenshots of architecture diagrams for some projects I led
OC3
Project Case Studies and External Impact
Screenshots of internal dashboard showing how a few projects I led for social media recommendations (which received indirect media coverage) have impacted new user growth, engagement metrics, etc.
OC3
I’d greatly appreciate any additional perspectives from the members of this forum!
I think you have the potential to get endorsed but your evidence are not sufficient. For the mandatory criteria, the two evidence may not be sufficient. If you have multiple open source contributions, you can add one to MC as a third document.
You need two optional Criteria, what are you choosing? I see you have selected research which is OC4, you need to be mindful that research done as part of your degree programme are not considered. What’s the stat on your Google scholar. Also get a reference letter from a researcher or professor to demonstrate your contribution to research. You need a second Optional criteria, read the tech nation guide again .
Happy to report I received my endorsement email from TechNation today
Thanks to everyone here for your comments.
In particular, I want to express my thanks to @Akash_Joshi for his generous advice and clear feedback on how to best structure my application. If anyone here is considering looking for help with their application, I highly recommend reaching out to Akash for his one-on-one consultations!
