Seeking Guidance for Exceptional Promise as a Software Engineer (Digital Technology)

Stage 1
1

Hi all,

I am working to fit my experience to the criteria as a Senior Software Engineer with about 4.75 years of experience. I’m aiming for Exceptional Promise. Yes, I’m cutting it quite close ;-), but I plan to submit before I have 5 years of experience.

A few questions first:

  1. As I have just under 5 years of full-time experience, I only have a handful of organizations I’ve worked for so far. I’m struggling to get the letters of recommendation and the letters of support under the MCs and OCs. Is it okay to use different people from the same organization? So one person writes the letter of recommendation and a different writes a letter of support?

  2. For OC3, is it okay to use a non-profit startup for in this criteria? It is also open source and is a SaaS product. I am on the Board of Directors and a key engineer in the core product.

  3. Given that - should I swap my MC with my OC3? That is, use significant open source contributions and Board Member proof for MC and use my impact at my company for my OC3?

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, I appreciate any guidance or suggestions for improvement!

Letters of Recommendation:

  1. CEO of previous LegalTech company I worked for in Berlin, Germany
  2. CEO of the company that runs the program I mentor for via NYC TechPipeline (who I also worked with on curriculum improvements)
  3. Cofounder of the non-profit I am the Lead Frontend Developer for (voluntarily) (and I am also on the Board with)

Mandatory Criteria

You led the growth of a product-led digital technology company, product or team inside a digital technology company"

  1. Screenshot of Github insights page showing my commits over last 24 months and that I am the #1 contributor to the product repo

  2. Architecture Diagram clearly showing my contribution to the product

  3. Letter of acknowledgement from a senior exec confirming the above and explaining my impact on the product.

    • I work on a “trendy” product (using AI to localize corporate training courses, replacing the need to send it out to translation houses and wait months).
    • I did the initial POC of our product as well as some major features important to scaling.
    • The product brought in a couple million USD within weeks of product launch with more coming in with some big clients like Microsoft, IKEA, Swarovski, etc. across the US and Europe. So this letter would be trying to connect my evidence to the impact.
    • I’ll try for our former CTO, then our Senior Director of Engineering, or our Group Product Manager (head of all product management at the company) (depending on who says yes as it’s my current job and a bit tricky)

  4. Proof of high remuneration - How much higher than the average do you need to be for this to count? I earn over the average but not wildly so.

QUESTION - Would I also include my company’s capital raised here as a separate evidence? We got a 1.5 billion USD Series A which is pretty significant. Or that goes with the salary evidence? Is a screenshot of Crunchbase okay for this?

** Optional Criteria**

OC2 - How do I demonstrate that I have been recognised for my work outside of my immediate occupation that contributed to the advancement of the digital technology sector?

  1. Mentorship - I mentored for a structured 9-month, intensive software engineering program sponsored by NYC Tech Pipeline to help underrepresented people break into tech.

    • I formed a working group with the other mentors where we discussed furthering our mentorship skills
    • I initiated a regular working group of mentors advising the CEO of the program on ways to improve the curriculum based on said working groups direct experience (ongoing)

  2. Articles showing thought leadership - I have many blog articles published by two different coding schools online talking about both technical concepts and career strategy (CareerFoundry and Scrimba).

OC3 - How do I demonstrate that I have made a significant technical, commercial or entrepreneurial contributions to the field as a founder, senior executive, board member or employee of a product-led digital technology company?

  1. Board of Directors for a non-profit SAAS company focused on building community and connections across borders

    • Sidenote - how do I give evidence of this? I already want the Cofounder to be one of my letters of recommendation so it’s a bit tricky - is it okay to get a letter from a non-technical Board Member to confirm this and talk about my technical business strategy contributions here and have the Technical Cofounder be one of my letters of recommendation (two different people, same org)?

  2. Worked as a key engineer in the core product of a start-up & starting or contributing to open source projects in a way that has been acknowledged by peers as advancing the field

    • I’ve been the Lead Frontend Developer and can show proof of steady Github contributions to this company

QUESTION: This is a non-profit startup with a digital product, can this count here?

Thanks in advance for reading! Am I on the right track?

Best,

Nicole

2

Your evidence looks strong! Using different people from the same organization for letters is acceptable, as long as each letter highlights unique aspects of your contributions. For OC3, your non-profit SaaS work qualifies if it’s product-led (not consultancy/outsourcing). Keep the Series A funding as separate evidence under OC3 (Crunchbase screenshots work) to show commercial impact.

Prioritize salary evidence (payslips/contracts) over company funding for the mandatory criteria. For OC3, get a letter from a non-technical board member to confirm your strategic role, while the co-founder’s recommendation focuses on technical contributions. Ensure your GitHub contributions and architecture diagrams directly tie to product success metrics (e.g., client acquisitions).

For OC2, focus on mentorship outcomes (e.g., mentee placements) and link blog posts to measurable reach (views, shares). Avoid reusing GitHub commits across criteria. The committee decides which level of visa (Talent or Promise) you’re judged against, so you might as well apply with Promise in mind.

3

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my list, @Akash_Joshi, I really appreciate it!

My main dilemma now I think is whether I should switch to use my open source contributions at the non-profit as my MC and use my day job with impact and tying it to product success as my OC3, or keep it as is. From my understanding, MC is more about establishing leadership and OC is more about demonstrating skills and impact. Is that right?

For the open source I would show my commits, a screenshot showing me listed as “Board Member and Lead Frontend Developer” on the team page (could also show a blog post naming me as a contributor) and one of my 3 letters of recommendation will be from the Cofounder and can mention my impact too.

For my day job I would show myself listed as #1 contributor to my product repo, a letter from a product person confirming my impact and an architecture diagram (and connect them all). This product has earned good money and has good clients.

Any feeling which would be stronger for the mandatory?

4

It’s hard to say without looking at the actual evidences in this case, sorry.

5

No worries, that’s fair! Thank you!