Indian software engineer Soham Parekh has been accused of secretly working at dozens of US startups simultaneously, sparking controversy and concerns over the growing trend of “overemployment” in the tech industry.
Parekh, who is based in India, has publicly admitted to juggling roles at around 34 different companies, including Alan AI, Synthesia, DynamoAI, and Union.ai. He claimed that he worked briefly at one company and was fired within his first week, but also stated that the allegations against him were true and he did it due to financial necessity.
The controversy began when entrepreneur Suhail Doshi called Parekh a “scammer” who had tricked several startups, including those backed by Y Combinator. Since then, more companies have come forward sharing their story of how Parekh turned up for job interviews and managed to fool them.
One company, Create, hired Parekh as an engineer and initially believed him to be a legitimate candidate. However, they soon discovered that he was working on behalf of Sync Labs, a YC-backed startup, when he called in sick on the first day of his new job. The company’s co-founder described Parekh as “eager” but also noted that he spent most of his time lying about his work and missing meetings.
Parekh has since responded to the allegations, stating that he was driven by financial necessity and admits that he made mistakes in his previous jobs. His case has raised concerns over the lack of adequate background checks in the hiring culture of tech startups and the growing trend of “overemployment”.
Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/how-soham-parekh-managed-to-juggle-work-between-startups-without-getting-caught-101751728994725.html