Soham Parekh working many tech jobs without delay takes hustle tradition to ‘excessive’

The tech trade is reeling after a software program engineer was uncovered as working at a number of Silicon Valley startups on the identical time — and specialists say it is a lesson on hustle tradition gone too far.

Soham Parekh, a software program engineer from Mumbai, went viral on social media after being accused by Playground AI founder Suhail Doshi on X of working at various startups concurrently.

Doshi wrote: “There is a man named Soham Parekh (in India) who works at 3-4 startups on the identical time. He is been preying on YC [Y Combinator] firms and extra. Beware. I fired this man in his first week and advised him to cease mendacity / scamming individuals. He hasn’t stopped a 12 months later. No extra excuses.”

The put up racked up 25,000 likes with extra founders coming ahead about hiring Parekh, together with AI startup Lindy, which fired him after seeing Doshi’s put up. Soham Parekh didn’t reply to CNBC Make It is request for an interview.

Matthew Parkhurst, founding father of software program startup Antimetal, mentioned Parekh was the corporate’s first engineering rent in 2022 and was good and likable. “We realized fairly rapidly that he was working at a number of firms and let him go,” Parkhurst said on X.

Different founders like Haz Hubble, the co-founder of social media scheduler Pally, additionally got here ahead about providing Parekh a founding engineer role.

Doshi confirmed to CNBC Make It through electronic mail that Parekh labored on the firm. “We realized he was working a number of jobs shortly after he joined, primarily based on fixed giant fluctuations in his availability and the standard of his output. He additionally attended an off-site, the place it turned fairly clear,” Doshi mentioned.

Lindy, Antimetal, and Pally didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.

In an interview on tech show TBPN on Thursday, Parekh admitted that it was true he was working for a number of startups without delay and wasn’t happy with what he had executed.

“Nobody actually likes to work 140 hours per week, however I had to do that out of necessity,” Parekh mentioned within the present. “I used to be in extraordinarily dire monetary circumstances.”

Parekh mentioned he solely began doing this in 2022, and the grueling way of life meant he turned a “serial non-sleeper.”

He added that he “cared about these firms” and “greed wasn’t an incentive,” regardless of his monetary scenario. He mentioned he at all times took the decrease pay, greater fairness provide at firms.

The tech group on social media is split, nonetheless, with some questioning the ethics of secretly working a number of jobs, whereas others marvel how Parekh pulled it off.

The story of Parekh will not be distinctive inside the tech trade, with many tech employees covertly working multiple jobs in recent times in an effort to protect themselves from mass layoffs and job market uncertainty.

A subreddit known as “r/overemployed” was created in 2021, with customers sharing recommendation on how they handle to steadiness a number of jobs with out being detected.

“In the course of the peak of Covid, there was this rush from tech firms to fireplace expertise, and there was this intense competitors for expertise,” Alexandru Voica, head of company affairs and coverage at AI firm Synthesia, advised CNBC Make It in an interview.

“It precipitated, in some circumstances, any such habits to be extra widespread than it was throughout non-pandemic instances.”

Voica famous that the rise of distant work was instrumental in enabling this habits amongst tech employees. “That led to clearly unbelievable advantages for hard-working individuals, but additionally allowed individuals who have perhaps any such perspective to, hastily, get jobs that they would not have earlier than.”

Having at least two jobs can also be widespread inside India’s IT sector. There was a 25-30% enhance in moonlighting seen between 2020 and 2023, in response to Randstad India, with employees citing components akin to low pay and distant work.

Whereas Parekh’s grueling work hours are uncommon — even in tech — it is a reminder of how deeply hustle tradition is entrenched inside the trade.

“Silicon Valley’s obsession with productiveness metrics and quick hiring has created circumstances the place an individual can juggle 5 roles — and never as a result of it is environment friendly, however as a result of nobody is actually trying,” Dmitry Zaytsev, founding father of expertise administration firm Dandelion Civilization, mentioned to CNBC Make It.

“What we’re seeing is the acute finish of hustle tradition: when work turns into efficiency, and identification turns into fragmented.”

Zaytsev defined that Parekh basically handed a number of rounds of technical interviews as a result of comfortable abilities aren’t as valued in tech. Qualities like dedication, reliability and staff presence “are sometimes neglected till there is a disaster,” he mentioned.

“Burnout is a predictable end result when the office tradition rewards overcommitment and treats exhaustion as a badge of honor. Soham’s admission that he labored 140 hours per week isn’t just unhealthy, it is a reflection of a system that equates price with output,” he added.

It comes as European tech startups face strain from some VCs to undertake a extra rigorous work schedule — akin to China’s “996” or Silicon Valley’s 24/7, always-on tradition — to higher compete on a world tech stage. This has been met with backlash, with founders telling CNBC Make It that overwork can result in a disaster of productiveness, burnout, and even resentment.

Suranga Chandratillake, common associate at Balderton Capital, mentioned this debate took place resulting from “a fetishization of overwork” and a glorification of hustle tradition within the tech and startup scene in Silicon Valley.

Synthesia’s Voica warned that employees who benefit from versatile working insurance policies threat portray different engineers in a foul gentle, and will have these advantages taken away.

“Many of the engineers that I do know are very onerous working, very devoted, very passionate, after which when you may have any such extra cavalier habits, it units this tone that that is regular habits in the neighborhood,” Voica defined.

This may trigger employers to second-guess whether or not they need to hold hybrid working insurance policies in place, he mentioned.

“That is going to affect girls. It should affect individuals with disabilities [and] the extra susceptible, who truly benefited from this [flexible] work association, and now they’ll be impacted by any such habits,” he added.

Are you prepared to purchase a home? Take Smarter by CNBC Make It is new on-line course How to Buy Your First Home. Knowledgeable instructors will make it easier to weigh the price of renting vs. shopping for, financially put together, and confidently navigate each step of the method—from mortgage fundamentals to closing the deal. Sign up today and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory low cost of 30% off $97 (+taxes and costs) by way of July 15, 2025.