Soham Parekh’s incredible saga reads like a Black Mirror episode set in the chaotic trenches of remote tech hiring. The revelation that he juggled up to 34 full-time software jobs simultaneously, mostly with Y Combinator-backed startups, has both stunned and amused Silicon Valley, laying bare some of the deep structural issues in startup hiring practices.
At the center of this whirlwind is a high-functioning deception — Parekh aced interviews, onboarded remotely, and even impressed with live pair-programming sessions. Founders like Dhruv Amin of Create shared how convincing and technically capable he seemed, only for the truth to emerge in jaw-dropping ways — like Parekh being featured as "Employee of the Month" at another startup, Sync, while still “onboarding” with Create.
While some were outraged, others — like Dhruv — expressed a conflicted admiration. The hustle was real, and Parekh’s eventual confession on The Backchannel podcast framed the entire operation as a last-ditch survival move born of financial desperation. "No one really likes to work 140 hours a week, right? But I had to do this out of necessity,” he admitted, claiming he completed all work solo, without AI or delegation.
But doubts persist. His supposed enrollment in a Georgia Tech online program was disproven, raising red flags about the extent and credibility of his narrative. Despite all this, Parekh has already landed a fresh role at Darwin, a San Francisco-based AI firm, swearing off the multi-job lifestyle.
This bizarre episode has triggered:
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Memes and mayhem on X (formerly Twitter)
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Debate over moonlighting ethics, particularly in remote-first ecosystems
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Scrutiny of lax hiring practices, especially in VC-backed startups that often skip background checks in their rush to scale
Ultimately, the Soham Parekh saga is not just a story of deception. It's a mirror to the startup world’s vulnerabilities, the pressures faced by young engineers, and the absurd extremes some go to in the hustle economy. Whether remembered as a cautionary tale or a symbol of rogue genius, Parekh has already carved out a lasting place in the annals of tech lore.
