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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?

#221

Post by [deleted] »

tkiolp4 wrote: post #137
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…

[deleted]

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

#222

Post by oc1 »

cardanome wrote: post #177
distances wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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,…

Here in Germany you are currently only allowed to work 48hours per week. Also there are strict laws for companies to actually track work time. So it is absolutely impossible for someone here to have two full time jobs without committing working time fraud. But even if you could, it would make literally no sense two have jobs as you earn vastly more with freelancing anyway. You would scam yourself. The most optimal mo…

not only that but the german tax system is designed in a way to make holding multiple jobs as unattractive as possible.

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

#223

Post by kevmo314 »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #200
killingtime74 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One particular CEO in the news is at the head of 3 companies

"at the head" of large - especially publicly traded - companies is not the same as trying to run all aspects of the day-to-day. It also rarely (ever?) happens when they don't have a big ownership stake, or are there primarily as a figurehead. We can debate if the executive timeline is too short and that's what destroys companies, but I don't see how this is the same as an over-employed engineer who's spread too thin.

Many would argue that, indeed, said public CEO is spread too thin.

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

#224

Post by jokethrowaway »

tomp wrote: post #179
gyomu wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to hire other devs to outsource some of his workload while he remained the interaction point with the company. What a silly waste of his time and reputation (in addition to other people's). If he's that competent, he could hire/mentor juniors and just use his skills to run a contracting business and keep making big bucks while not having to lie all the time?

> If he's that competent, he could hire/mentor juniors and just use his skills to run a contracting business and keep making big bucks while not having to lie all the time? Much much easier said than done. 99% of companies that want to hire employees won't hire a contractor/consultant instead for that job. How do I know? 15 years experience, top candidate in many interviews, great salary / employment. Yet every time…

I think this is a US specific thing.

I work as a contractors with all my clients (who know of each others) and they all pay significantly more per hour compared to an employee. As an employee I could expect to make 1/4 of what I actually make.

The only exception in this arrangement was when I worked with an US company, they wanted to hire me as an employee and paid 1k per month to some company in my country just to hire me. An insane waste of money, not to mention taxes on my side.

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

#225

Post by toast0 »

lproven wrote: post #172
FootballBat wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Employment contracts in the US are rare.

> Employment contracts in the US are rare. Really? Does that mean what it say: you get a job and you do not get a written contract? I don't think, in 38 years of working in 3 different countries, I've ever NOT had a written contract, even for temp or contractor roles. WTAF?

For established companies, I've always had a written employment agreement which discussed some terms common to all employees, including anti-moonlighting, usually ip assignment, etc. But I don't think I've ever had a contract that described what I going to do... maybe when I worked for a school district, but there my position title didn't actually match the work anyway; the position title was about being a tech helper in the classroom, but my position was at the district office with field work that only rarely had interaction with students.

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

#226

Post by jokethrowaway »

Aurornis wrote: post #71
gyomu wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to hire other devs to outsource some of his workload while he remained the interaction point with the company. What a silly waste of his time and reputation (in addition to other people's). If he's that competent, he could hire/mentor juniors and just use his skills to run a contracting business and keep making big bucks while not having to lie all the time?

> If he's that competent, he could hire/mentor juniors and just use his skills to run a contracting business and keep making big bucks while not having to lie all the time? I've worked with several small contracting businesses, including some that came highly recommended. They were all very inefficient relative to having someone in-house. They also came with the problem that institutional knowledge was non-existent b…

That's what happens when you hire bad contractors. There are so many bad contractors and selection bar for contractors is much lower compared to employees.

If you keep your standards high when hiring contractors you'll get the same level of quality you have with employees. Contractor agencies are also pretty happy to have long lasting clients (I have been with my current clients respectively for: 4 years, 3 years, 1 years and 1 month).

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

#227

Post by ohwellthingis »

georgemcbay wrote: post #217
dragonwriter wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If passing their interviews isn't the same as being a good developer, then those people have to not only admit that the people they hire may not be good at the jobs they are hired for but they themselves aren't good at the job they sell themselves as doing. It's obviously easiest to accept an explanation that doesn't require them to reach that conclusion.

> but they themselves aren't good at the job they sell themselves as doing. In my opinion and experience, being a competent developer and being a good interviewer are even less related than being a competent developer and being a good interviewee (and the latter are already very unrelated).

[dead]

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

#228

Post by toast0 »

ponector wrote: post #98
Aurornis wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People who practice overemployment delude themselves that multiple jobs doesn’t affect their performance and therefore there’s nothing wrong with working multiple jobs. Their subreddit is a dumbfounding echo chamber. It blows my mind that overemployed people have become folk heroes. They're obviously not putting full effort into two jobs. I had the same experience as you with an "overemployed" person: Working with…

> It blows my mind that overemployed people have become folk heroes. They're obviously not putting full effort into two jobs What blows my mind is people think overemployment of an engineer is bad, but it is more than acceptable for CEO to held top positions in different companies.

I mean, most of my experience with large companies is that things are usually better for my team when the executive team is leaving us alone. A note here and there is nice; but any more focus and it's not great... better for everyone if they're busy doing something else. :P

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

#229

Post by confidantlake »

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?

He is not in their social class. The rules for the peasants don't apply to the lords.

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

#230

Post by kjkjadksj »

rpcorb wrote: post #215
dakiol wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 une…

Get real. There's a difference between a self-proclaimed fraudster and an ineffectual executive. In intention, if not in effect.

In as much as there is a difference between a performing magician and one who shows you how a trick is done maybe
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