Engineer caught juggling multiple startup jobs is a cautionary tale of ‘extreme’ hustle culture, experts say

The tech manufacture is reeling aft a bundle technologist was exposed arsenic moving astatine respective Silicon Valley startups astatine the aforesaid clip — and experts accidental it's a acquisition connected hustle civilization gone excessively far.

Soham Parekh, a bundle technologist from Mumbai, went viral connected societal media aft being accused by Playground AI laminitis Suhail Doshi connected X of moving astatine a fig of startups simultaneously.

Doshi wrote: "There's a feline named Soham Parekh (in India) who works astatine 3-4 startups astatine the aforesaid time. He's been preying connected YC [Y Combinator] companies and more. Beware. I fired this feline successful his archetypal week and told him to halt lying / scamming people. He hasn't stopped a twelvemonth later. No much excuses."

The station racked up 25,000 likes with much founders coming guardant astir hiring Parekh, including AI startup Lindy, which fired him aft seeing Doshi's post.

Doshi confirmed to CNBC Make It via email that Parekh worked astatine the company. "We realized helium was moving aggregate jobs soon aft helium joined, based connected changeless ample fluctuations successful his availability and the prime of his output. He besides attended an off-site, wherever it became beauteous clear," Doshi said.

Soham Parekh did not respond to CNBC Make It's petition for an interview.

Matthew Parkhurst, laminitis of bundle startup Antimetal, said Parekh was the company's archetypal engineering prosecute successful 2022 and was astute and likable. "We realized beauteous rapidly that helium was moving astatine aggregate companies and fto him go," Parkhurst said connected X.

Other founders similar Haz Hubble, the co-founder of social media scheduler Pally, besides came guardant astir offering Parekh a founding technologist role.

"Around 1 week agone we offered him a relation arsenic founding engineer, with a full bundle worthy $250k per year, but withdrew aft helium wouldn't live with america successful San Francisco — present we cognize why!" Hubble told CNBC via email, explaining that arsenic the institution is early-stage, the squad surviving and moving unneurotic is crucial.

"To maine it seems he indispensable beryllium addicted to the crippled of getting occupation offers, rather than really making money, fixed helium ne'er lasts much than a fewer weeks and seldom gets paid. It begs the question — why?"

Lindy and Antimetal did not instantly respond to CNBC's petition for comment.

In an interrogation connected tech amusement TBPN connected Thursday, Parekh admitted that it was existent helium was moving for aggregate startups astatine erstwhile and wasn't arrogant of what helium had done.

"No 1 truly likes to enactment 140 hours a week, but I had to bash this retired of necessity," Parekh said successful the show. "I was successful highly dire fiscal circumstances."

Parekh said helium lone started doing this successful 2022, and the grueling manner meant helium became a "serial non-sleeper."

He added that helium "cared astir these companies" and "greed wasn't an incentive," contempt his fiscal situation. He said helium ever took the little pay, higher equity connection astatine companies.

The tech assemblage connected societal media is divided, however, with immoderate questioning the morals of secretly moving aggregate jobs, portion others wonderment however Parekh pulled it off.

The communicative of Parekh is not unsocial wrong the tech industry, with galore tech workers covertly moving aggregate jobs successful caller years successful an effort to shield themselves from mass layoffs and occupation marketplace uncertainty.

A subreddit called "r/overemployed" was created successful 2021, with users sharing proposal connected however they negociate to equilibrium aggregate jobs without being detected.

"During the highest of Covid, determination was this unreserved from tech companies to occurrence talent, and determination was this aggravated contention for talent," Alexandru Voica, caput of firm affairs and argumentation astatine AI institution Synthesia, told CNBC Make It successful an interview.

"It caused, successful immoderate cases, this benignant of behaviour to beryllium much wide than it was during non-pandemic times."

Voica noted that the emergence of distant enactment was instrumental successful enabling this behaviour amongst tech workers. "That led to evidently unthinkable benefits for hard-working people, but besides allowed radical who person possibly this benignant of cognition to, each of a sudden, get jobs that they wouldn't person before."

Having astatine slightest 2 jobs is besides communal wrong India's IT sector. There was a 25-30% summation successful moonlighting seen betwixt 2020 and 2023, according to Randstad India, with workers citing factors specified arsenic debased wage and distant work.

While Parekh's grueling enactment hours are antithetic — adjacent successful tech — it's a reminder of however profoundly hustle civilization is entrenched wrong the industry.

"Silicon Valley's obsession with productivity metrics and accelerated hiring has created conditions wherever a idiosyncratic tin juggle 5 roles — and not due to the fact that it's efficient, but due to the fact that nary 1 is genuinely looking," Dmitry Zaytsev, laminitis of endowment absorption institution Dandelion Civilization, said to CNBC Make It.

"What we're seeing is the utmost extremity of hustle culture: erstwhile enactment becomes performance, and individuality becomes fragmented."

Zaytsev explained that Parekh fundamentally passed aggregate rounds of method interviews due to the fact that brushed skills aren't arsenic valued successful tech. Qualities similar commitment, reliability and squad beingness "are often overlooked until there's a crisis," helium said.

"Burnout is simply a predictable result erstwhile the workplace civilization rewards overcommitment and treats exhaustion arsenic a badge of honor. Soham's admittance that helium worked 140 hours a week is not conscionable unhealthy, it's a reflection of a strategy that equates worthy with output," helium added.

It comes arsenic European tech startups look unit from immoderate VCs to follow a much rigorous enactment docket — specified arsenic China's "996" or Silicon Valley's 24/7, always-on civilization — to amended vie connected a planetary tech stage. This has been met with backlash, with founders telling CNBC Make It that overwork tin pb to a situation of productivity, burnout, and adjacent resentment.

Suranga Chandratillake, wide spouse astatine Balderton Capital, said this statement came astir owed to "a fetishization of overwork" and a glorification of hustle civilization successful the tech and startup country successful Silicon Valley.

Synthesia's Voica warned that workers who instrumentality vantage of flexible moving policies hazard coating different engineers successful a atrocious light, and could person these benefits taken away.

"Most of the engineers that I cognize are precise hard working, precise dedicated, precise passionate, and past erstwhile you person this benignant of much cavalier behavior, it sets this code that this is mean behaviour successful the community," Voica explained.

This mightiness origin employers to second-guess whether they should support hybrid moving policies successful place, helium said.

"This is going to interaction women. It's going to interaction radical with disabilities [and] the much vulnerable, who really benefited from this [flexible] enactment arrangement, and present they're going to beryllium impacted by this benignant of behavior," helium added.

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