‘The /r/overemployed king’: A serial moonlighter was exposed for holding 19 jobs at Silicon Valley startups

A software engineer became X’s main character last week after being outed as a serial moonlighter at multiple Silicon Valley startups.

“PSA: there’s a guy named Soham Parekh (in India) who works at 3–4 startups at the same time,” wrote Suhail Doshi, the founder of AI design company Playground, on X on Tuesday. “He’s been preying on YC companies and more. Beware.”

In the comments, founders of other Silicon Valley companies shared similar stories of interviewing, hiring, and often firing the engineer. “LMFAOOO. I INTERVIEWED THIS GUY YESTERDAY. BRO, IM DYINGG,” Cluely CEO Roy Lee posted on X. Digger CEO Igor Zalutski said his company “nearly hired him,” adding “he seemed so sharp and no-bs during the interviews.”

Following the revelation, a database named SohamTracker sprang up, revealing that Parekh has held at least 19 jobs since 2021—at least five of which he started in just the last two months. “This is pretty hilarious actually. lmao. could be a skit on silicon valley,” one X user wrote. “The /r/overemployed king,” another added.

On Thursday, Parekh appeared on the podcast TBPN to address the accusations. He admitted he was driven to juggle multiple jobs due to “dire financial circumstances.” He added: “I just thought that if I worked multiple places, I can basically help myself alleviate the situation I was in much faster.” Parekh claimed to have been working 140-hour weeks—roughly 20 hours a day—with many of the roles requiring in-person attendance. Unsurprisingly, he noted that he’s known among friends for not sleeping.

While the hustle might be admirable to some, Parekh is hardly alone in embracing Silicon Valley’s so-called “grindset” mentality. The subreddit r/overemployed currently hosts nearly half a million members, where users trade stories about secretly holding down multiple remote jobs. “We roast Soham Parekh, but remember your company’s making you do five people’s jobs on one person’s salary,” one X user pointed out.

Ironically, Parekh’s exposure has ended up working in his favor—he landed a new job at Darwin, an AI video remixing startup. Still, his actions may have consequences for others in similar situations. “After the Soham saga, pretty sure very few YC startups will hire remote Indians,” wrote Varunram Ganesh, head of growth at payroll platform Warp, on X. “Classic case of one guy exploiting a high-trust society, which leads to downfall of all the others around him.”

But “everyone’s favorite founding engineer” insists he meant no harm. “I don’t really care much about the money,” he told TBPN. “I was really into it for building.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/91364960/serial-moonlighter-exposed-multiple-startup-jobs?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss