Ask HN: How did Soham Parekh get so many jobs?

Hacker News Discussion ↗

How he landed so many jobs

  • Many commenters think he optimized entirely for getting offers, not doing the work:
    • Excellent at algo/LeetCode‑style and system design interviews; repeatedly described as “crushing” interviews.
    • Very strong cold/outbound emails and self‑branding that signal “top performer” and extreme work ethic, which particularly appealed to certain fast‑moving AI/YC‑style startups.
    • Targeted a homogenous pool of startups that copy each other’s hiring funnels and biases, so one “playbook” worked many times.
  • Some suspect resume fabrication, automated GitHub activity, and lightly checked or fake references (friends giving generic praise).
  • Others note at least one company said his interview was bad, suggesting his success depended heavily on specific processes (especially algo‑heavy ones).

Broken hiring and vetting

  • Repeated theme: this exposes how shallow and gameable many startup hiring processes are:
    • Heavy reliance on LeetCode/case‑study‑style performance as a proxy for real work.
    • Weak or inconsistent reference checks; some firms don’t verify employment history, only criminal/watchlist.
    • Pressure to move fast on “top 1%” signals, trading due diligence for speed.
  • Several founders admit they saw overlapping jobs on his public profiles, assumed they were outdated, and never pressed.

Overemployment and work quality

  • Many anecdotes (including from people who hired him or similar people) share the same pattern:
    • When present, the person can produce solid or even strong work.
    • But they frequently miss meetings, slip deadlines, go AWOL, and offer a stream of excuses (family emergencies, lawyers, illness).
    • This erodes team trust, coordination, and especially remote‑work credibility; others end up compensating for the absentee.
  • Some commenters defend multi‑job “overemployment” as rational self‑protection in a world of layoffs and wage pressure; others call it straightforward fraud against teammates and employers.

Contracts, legality, and comparisons to leadership

  • Discussion of:
    • “Sole focus” or anti‑moonlighting clauses (more common outside the US; US often at‑will with implied terms).
    • Working‑time limits in EU‑style regimes vs. largely unregulated US hours.
    • IP assignment and conflict‑of‑interest issues when holding multiple FTE roles.
  • Several compare this to executives sitting on multiple boards or holding multiple C‑level roles; others argue that’s explicitly contracted and disclosed, unlike hidden concurrent employment.

Ethics, blame, and public shaming

  • Split views on morality:
    • Some say he should be ostracized; lying and serially wasting teams’ time is inherently disqualifying.
    • Others see him as a “hustler” exploiting a system that already exploits workers, and direct more blame at credulous startups and cargo‑cult hiring.
  • Debate over naming him publicly:
    • One side: necessary to warn the startup ecosystem.
    • Other side: disproportionate, invites pile‑ons, impersonation, and harms innocent people with the same name.