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

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

#131

Post by Barrin92 »

oh_fiddlesticks wrote: post #107

What is the difference between this and leadership being in the committees, boards and executive seats of multiple companies? Why is it the social expectation that an IC must devote 100% of their time and energy to the operations of a single company, when their senior leadership often manages their time between the affairs of many companies in their purview?

>What is the difference between this and leadership being in the committees

That this involved lying to your employers. There is no social expectation that you only work one job, plenty of people work multiple jobs, but there is a social expectation that you do what you said you'd do, and it turns out you have a bit of a mathematical problem if you try to work 4 eight hour jobs in a 24 hour day.

Which is, as per the article, how he was caught. Turns out if you call in sick at one place and then push code to github for your other jobs most employers aren't paying you for that.

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

#132

Post by tkiolp4 »

Honestly, it’s the way I’m planning to go. Not 4 simultaneous full time jobs, but 2 (or one fulltime job and 2 contractor part time jobs). Reason: it’s easier to pass the interview for less demanding jobs (not faang, not second level faang), they are less demanding in the day to day (no “exceeds expectations”, “meets expectations”, “under expectations”, just simply “good job Joe!” and “shit happens Joe”), they are usually less structured (no silly ex-faang engineers/managers playing god). They usually pay less, ofc, hence the need to have a couple of jobs.

At least in western europe, it’s very hard to land a 130K job, but two 65K jobs? Rather fine.

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

#133

Post by tkiolp4 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #131
oh_fiddlesticks wrote: post #107

What is the difference between this and leadership being in the committees, boards and executive seats of multiple companies? Why is it the social expectation that an IC must devote 100% of their time and energy to the operations of a single company, when their senior leadership often manages their time between the affairs of many companies in their purview?

>What is the difference between this and leadership being in the committees That this involved lying to your employers. There is no social expectation that you only work one job, plenty of people work multiple jobs, but there is a social expectation that you do what you said you'd do, and it turns out you have a bit of a mathematical problem if you try to work 4 eight hour jobs in a 24 hour day. Which is, as per the…

Please. Employers are going after the your last drop of blood. The only reason that’s socially accepted is because they have the power to do so, and because it has been like that since ever. You make one mistake and you’re fired (sometimes even you’re fired randomly); the company is not earning as much as last year? Layoffs! AI can do part of your job? Layoffs!

It’s silly and servant-like to think you are in an equal-to-equal position when dealing with a company and that you cannot dedicate your time to other endeavors just because they wrote that in a paper. If it turns out that they don’t like how you perform while doing multiple jobs, they will fire you, just like they will fire you even if you work just for them.

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

#134

Post by mytailorisrich »

anonzzzies wrote: post #124
mytailorisrich wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've answer your own question. If you are hired to work full-time you are expected to do that (as per your contract). If you are on a board or committee the expectation is a number of hours per month.

But fulltime is a contract thing (at least here) and defined by 40 hrs a week. In my country 32-36 in contracts is also called fulltime. So after those hours, I did my fulltime and now you do not own me until the next 40 hours. Unless working for competitors currently here you cannot make valid contracts to prevent it either.

There are contractual terms, including things that are likely to be conflict of interests or impact performance. And depending on jurisdiction there are also laws on working hours: 48 hours max. per week on average in the UK and EU across all jobs (it is possible to opt out) and with minimum rest times. Because employers can be held liable, if they find out they won't let you.

The comment I was replying to does not make sense.

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

#135

Post by Lyngbakr »

nottorp wrote: post #114
oh_fiddlesticks wrote: post #107

What is the difference between this and leadership being in the committees, boards and executive seats of multiple companies? Why is it the social expectation that an IC must devote 100% of their time and energy to the operations of a single company, when their senior leadership often manages their time between the affairs of many companies in their purview?

Incidentally, why aren't there more part time positions? Probably because said leadership would then be unable to keep their employees in meetings since they're supposed to do some actual work once in a while.

At the C-suite level, I'm noticing more "fractional" positions, which — as far as I can tell — is a fancier way of saying part time. (This may be the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon at work, though.)

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

#136

Post by ozim »

oh_fiddlesticks wrote: post #107

What is the difference between this and leadership being in the committees, boards and executive seats of multiple companies? Why is it the social expectation that an IC must devote 100% of their time and energy to the operations of a single company, when their senior leadership often manages their time between the affairs of many companies in their purview?

when their senior leadership often manages their time between the affairs of many companies in their purview

It is kind of tiring for me to read people equating "Elon Musk" with "all those rich guys being CEOs".

When you really are a business owner OFTEN you have to devote 120% of your time and energy for running the company and single one.

People you see on TV flying private jets to expensive holiday destinations are not your average business owners. Elon and the likes are the exception not the norm.

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

#137

Post by tkiolp4 »

piker wrote: post #130

This guy, and guys like him, are the reason why it's such a pain to do legit business in the modern world. Try getting a code signing certificate, opening a bank account for a new business or listing an app on the App Store. You'll quickly see the effects of this kind of behavior. This guy should be absolutely ostracized. [Edit: not to mention the countless brilliant Indian software devs for whom he just directly put…

Ostracized? I don’t know. If the companies he works for are happy enough with his output, then what’s wrong? What’s silly is that we have to work for 40 years to afford a living place that can hardly accommodate you and your family. What’s silly is that you have executives earning 5 times what you earn jumping from company to company and doing nothing but maximizing their own profits. So, yeah, fuck companies. He guy is playing the game the best he can, and if any company doesn’t like his output they can just fire him.

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

#138

Post by v5v3 »

piker wrote: post #130

This guy, and guys like him, are the reason why it's such a pain to do legit business in the modern world. Try getting a code signing certificate, opening a bank account for a new business or listing an app on the App Store. You'll quickly see the effects of this kind of behavior. This guy should be absolutely ostracized. [Edit: not to mention the countless brilliant Indian software devs for whom he just directly put…

>This guy should be absolutely ostracized.

But it's funny. And people who make you laugh, even if naughty, get a pass.

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

#140

Post by Lyngbakr »

tkiolp4 wrote: post #132

Honestly, it’s the way I’m planning to go. Not 4 simultaneous full time jobs, but 2 (or one fulltime job and 2 contractor part time jobs). Reason: it’s easier to pass the interview for less demanding jobs (not faang, not second level faang), they are less demanding in the day to day (no “exceeds expectations”, “meets expectations”, “under expectations”, just simply “good job Joe!” and “shit happens Joe”), they are us…

But when you have multiple jobs, doesn't admin end up being a greater proportion of your time since you have to deal with it for several companies?
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