Dear Good People.
Please I work in the IT space and almost done with getting all my documentations, but want to find out if I can get letter of recommendation from a professor who supervised me in my BSc, M.Sc. and currently still supervising my Ph.D. Will that be acceptable even though am not in Academic career yet?
I think it’s possible if they know your work well enough or have worked with you in some capacity to speak about your work. A university is a well established organisation.
Similar to you, I was doing my PhD the time I applied for endorsement. I used letters from professors as evidence and got endorsed. I applied under the role of Researcher.
In total I got 2 LORs from two computer science professors, and one letter of support for OC4 from a another computer science professor, making it 3 letters from professors.
The first professor was one I worked with as an executive of a non profit organisation in digital technology sector. The second one is a mentor who I only met through a mentorship programme. The third letter I got from my research supervisor was for OC4 where I provided academic and research related evidence.
You may also ask like one of the members here “Could it have been that you got your endorsement because you applied as a researcher? Because as a researcher, an academic professor recommendation would carry more weight in my opinion.?”
My response to that is:
My third LOR came from a leader in the industry to create a balance and show my versatility in the field. I had the worry then that using only academics as LOR could weaken my application so I got the third person from industry.
So in my opinion, having a wide range of recommenders could show how you are well recognised and vouched for by industry leaders across different sectors in digital technology.
is he/she a professor of IT?
Yes He is a Professor of Computer science.
Thank you May for the heads up
@talk2tolade I received my endorsement a couple of months ago and I have used my Professors’ LOR and research endorsement to support my application.
While submitting your LOR or any other letter as part of your GT visa endorsement you need to keep in mind the main point as mentioned by @May. Te person should know your work and achievements well enough to be able to recommend you for the TG visa endorsement.
I was doing PhD and then started my own company. My PhD supervisor wrote the LOR for me, who has worked with me for 4.5 years and has known my achievements in the field. I got a separate research endorsement from another renowned Professor to endorse my research as part of optional criteria. So, this is absolutely possible.
I have provided a breakdown of evidences for my endorsement application here in case if helps: This is how I got my Endorsement for Global Talent Visa under Exceptional Talent Route (AI/ML Researcher)
I used a prof as a recommender. And got endorsed. I didn’t study comp. sci neither a tech related course. I applied as a software engineer. For as long as they are in the digital technology field (which computer science is) and they know your work, you can use them.
You don’t have to study computing to get endorsed.
I used a Prof in computer science too and got endorsed. We have worked together on 2 tech projects so she’s well aware of my work and proved same in the letter.
So if the Prof meets the criteria for LOR, I don’t think you have an issue here
I used a prof in computer science who has published over 100 papers. He is part of IEEE member and he has also led a digital technology sector.
TN reviewer: academic reference isn’t suitable for this visa.
So people have different feedback, you might be lucky or not.
IMO, If you worked together on a project outside of academics, then I think it’s okay. That is not an academic reference. It’s just an academic who knows your work giving you a reference letter.
@Olubunmi_Fajuyigbe in my case he didn’t even work with me, he just happen to know my work and skills really well and described them perfectly. His profile is also similar to the one that @alex_james described… Cuts across, academic and industry consultation. Going by his feedback I think it’s safer to stick to industry person if applying as an engineer/ (or non academic researcher).
@alex_james when did you get the feedback and are you a technical or business applicant ? I want to check something
@Victrr, I’m a technical applicant and I have closely related to what you shared. I will share my rejection this week and tag you. I guess the reviewer that reviewed my application misinterpreted my evidence despite I provided a lot of context. I received feedback 6th Oct
That’s interesting, pls tag me when you share.
You may be assuming your evidence are similar. What you can see is just a list of evidence but the actual documents submitted may be more convincing.