Hello everyone, I started out as a frontend developer in 2020. I have 3 years of experience as a developer and 2 years as a designer. I will appreciate a review of documents for the Exceptional Talent Route. Thank you very much.
Letters of recommendation
VP of Engineering and Frontend Team Lead of tech company I worked at as a frontend developer for 3 years.
CEO of my current company, where I work as a designer.
Director of Brand and Marketing at one of the largest design tech companies, I have collaborated with over 4 times as a contract designer.
MC
Demonstration of significant tech contribution in large design tech company: evidences of the work done, social media post announcing my work, shots of work displayed in Times Square.
High salary or other remuneration: high salary from company 1 and 2, invoice evidence for high-paying contract jobs with global company
Evidence of speaking at over 5 digital technology events, both as a developer and as a designer. Images of me on stage, conference fliers with me as a speaker, link to me speaking on online streams, etc.
OC2
Evidence of mentorship: images of a masterclass on design in collaboration with a non-profit (certificate included), images of an in-person design workshop at a conference including YouTube stream stats and physical attendee stats. Screenshot of teaching design via Google Meet.
Evidence of contribution to open-source: images of my contribution to an open-source health icon set and a screenshot of myself on the open-source website as a contributor. Screenshot of Figma community profile where I have shared designs and plugins I built with about 2k users.
OC3
Significant tech contribution in tech company 1: Screenshots and a link to a recording of my work, official promotions letter based on performance + metrics of the product.
Significant tech contribution in tech company 2: Screenshots of my web and mobile designs, the design of a pitch deck that enabled a seed round of over $6M. New clips announcing collaboration with global football clubs enabled with my designs.
Significant tech contribution in tech company 3: Screenshots of my web and mobile designs, an analytics dashboard showing the impact and performance.
MC1: Featuring on Times Square is great! Did it mention your name/picture? Social media posts are weak and often not counted. How do you attribute the Times Square feature to your work through third party validation?
MC3: are all these events/conferences leading tech events with 100+ participants? Were all online streams? If so, that might be a challenge as you need to show MainStage speaking pictures and offline conferences are preferred over online.
OC2.1: are these mentorships part of a structured program with selection of mentees? That’s what is counted - please include mentor selection/invite letter, program structure and impact of mentorship.
OC2.2: what was the engagement stats here? Without demonstrating the impact and engagement it won’t be strong enough.
OC3.1: external links are not reviewed by TN. Please instead include product architecture and user flows. The impact needs to be demonstrated in core company metrics and your individual significant impact and the quantitied impact should be validated in the letter.
OC3.2: is your name mentioned in the funding announcement or the club association PR? If not, you need third party validation to prove that these can be attributed to your work. A strong reference letter attributing the funding and collaboration to your work will help.
OC3.3: please include a letter from a senior exec validating your contribution and its impact.
Thank you very much for thaking the time to write @pahuja.
M1: Yes, my name was displayed alongside my work. Can I use email correspondence to validate?
MC3: Yes, all these events were in person, had over 100 attendees, and I spoke on the main stage. Will make sure to mention the number of attendees for each event.
OC2.1: Yes, this was part of a structured program, I will add the supporting documents suggested.
OC2.2 Okay, apart from proving I am part of the open-source program, I will share the stats and impact of the project.
OC3.1 Got it, ditching the external link and replacing it with product architecture & user flows.
OC3.2 Okay, I will get a reference attributing the funding and collaboration to my work.
OC3.3 Okay, I will include a reference letter. Should reference letters have the same structure as recommendation letters?
Your overall evidence set looks promising but needs some critical refinements. The Times Square feature is commendable, but it’s only meaningful if it can be tied into any other meaningful criteria of recognition. You may use it as a supplementary evidence.
For your mentorship work, make sure it’s documented as part of a structured program with selection criteria. The masterclass and workshop need supporting documents showing how mentees were selected and the program structure. Your Figma community contributions can be strong evidence for OC2 if you show impact metrics - focus on downloads, adoption stats, and testimonials from designers using your work rather than just user counts.
On OC3, don’t use external links or video recordings as your main evidence. Replace them with product architecture diagrams and user flows showing your design work. For the pitch deck that enabled $6M funding and the football club collaboration, get strong reference letters from senior executives explicitly attributing these outcomes to your designs. The assessors need third-party validation that connects these achievements directly to your individual work, not team efforts.
One final point about your speaking engagements - confirm that all five events had 100+ attendees and that you spoke on the main stage. Include photos of you presenting and event programs listing you as a speaker. The assessors are strict about this requirement and won’t count workshops or side sessions.
Yes following same structure is advisable. However, reference letters not necessarily to include why the Uk , how u r leader and those details in depth. But they need to verify the metrics, innovation, impact and contributions youve done to support your evidences.
You have good evidence set. However, focus on one expertise area.
Evidence of speaking at over 5 digital technology events, both as a developer and as a designer
You don’t want to talk about you being a developer and designer at the same time. 2-3 events are still okay for one evidence set, just stick to you being a Frontend Dev. You don’t need the designer narrative to keep things simple and direct. There are applications rejected, because the applicants were trying to show themselves as T shaped professionals with their evidence sets
shots of work displayed in Times Square.
A reference letter specifically talking about your significant contribution and its impact, along side the correspondence email will make this even stronger.
It’s not very clear in my post, but I actually work as a designer now.
I get what you mean about having a focus, I will go with just the design conferences in MC.3 and make sure that I stick to my design story and not spread myself thin.
Also, one of my recommendation letters speaks of the Times Square Collaboration. I will add a screenshot of the email too. Thank you