Ask HN: How did Soham Parekh get so many jobs? • Hacker News Board

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

#151

Post by account42 » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 11:07 AM UTC

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.

Maybe there are more than you think? Some companies are willing to do reduced time even if it isn't explicitly listed on the offer.

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

#152

Post by dakiol » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 11:09 AM UTC

dalemhurley wrote: post #42

This is insane, there is a Reddit, of course there is, of almost 500K people, https://www.reddit.com/r/overemployed/ , who discuss all of the strategies to do this. Just imagine being one of the people who legit joins a startup, is passionate, working long hours, earning your vest, to have your coworker pretending to be working.

The VPs, heads of, and C levels of most of the companies I have worked for were also pretending to be working. They knew the company wasn’t profitable, they gave a couple of advices here and there, and then left the company. Big pay checks. Now they are doing the same all over again in other companies.

Tired of considering this “normal” and nobody talking about it. But when one simple engineer does it, well, it’s unethical, it’s wrong, yada yada.

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

#153

Post by account42 » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 11:12 AM UTC

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…

Except this is exactly the same thing that businesses constantly do to their employees and customers.

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

#154

Post by Barrin92 » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 11:13 AM UTC

tkiolp4 wrote: post #133

Barrin92 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

I'm in an equal to equal position to not sign any contract I don't like. What is it with this whiny attitude in this industry? We're talking specifically about software engineers. The guy worked four six figure jobs raking in 40 grand a month and didn't show up to work. Can we stop pretending we're oppressed workers because we have to show up from 9-5, Jesus.

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

#155

Post by Tade0 » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 11:13 AM UTC

Being employed in four companies is obviously not sustainable, but half of that is fairly common.

I know several people who spent months working for two companies: one full time, the other part time. The most productive few would reach two full time positions and actually keep delivering for over a year.

The reason this happens at all is that sufficiently large organisations expect performance to be in a specific range - if it's too low you'll be fired, but going the extra mile will not yield benefits, as your compensation is decided by the assigned budget and promotions are rare.

Case in point: a few years ago my former co-worker was given "overtime" which was actually a hidden raise, as management really wanted to keep him, but couldn't officially increase his compensation. The organisation for which we worked eventually cracked down on such practices, so he left to work at a place which would compensate him this much and more without resorting to such tricks.

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

#156

Post by Nextgrid » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 11:40 AM UTC

mathverse wrote: post #104

US companies are afraid of litigations or European labour laws (irrelevant if you hire a contractor) but will not hesitate to hire questionable people from 3rd world countries for about the same pay like they would europeans. That's bonkers.

Solution: lie and pretend you're in India and relocating to the US. /s

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

#157

Post by distances » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 11:45 AM UTC

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…

I wonder how two full time contracts could even work out in Europe. Surely they both can't pay the social security contributions, pension etc?

Also don't most work contracts expressly prohibit taking a second job, with the reasoning that the company expects employees to rest so they stay productive in the main job?

It's hard to get a 130K job in EU but it's easy to reach and exceed that as an independent contractor, so that's an avenue you could try out.

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

#158

Post by ozim » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 12:11 PM UTC

nottorp wrote: post #146

ozim wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go ask wait staff or warehouse workers how much they like their part time jobs.

So why would you deny me the right to hold several part time contracts instead of a full time "job"? I'm not in those industries.

It is not about denying but showcasing that it might not be as beneficial as you somehow believe.

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

#159

Post by the_real_cher » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 12:11 PM UTC

drewcoo wrote: post #53

the_real_cher wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is the line between team and cult? Cults are a subset of teams.

> Where is the line between team and cult? Typically employers pay you and cults don't.

Cults can provide food, housing, and pay.(scientology employs alot of its members)

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

#160

Post by freefaler » Fri, Jul 04, 2025, 12:13 PM UTC

tkiolp4 wrote: post #133

Barrin92 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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…

Employment contract is a contract and usually it's fixed hours per workday for a salary. So basically you as employee swap X hours per Y amount of money.

If one of the parties is in breach of that contract it's normal it to be dissolved. If you don't want to work, you don't need to sign that contract.

The really moral part of free market economy is that both parties are voluntary entering a contract. You as a person sell your skilled time, the company buys your skilled time. If you have super unique skills, like Andrej Karpathy you sell something on the market that is very valuable and you have the upper hand. If you know "Microsoft Excel" I'd bet there are many people (or AI agents) that will do the same and what you're selling can be bought in many places (and time zones).

Basic microeconomics... In a free market you need to do something for the others to have something for you. And if it's not useful, they won't pay you for that.