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Марія БровінськаWork
7 July 2025, 14:06
2025-07-07
“We discovered a problem when checking references - he had 5-6 resumes, and each one showed that he worked at 5+ companies.” The story of an IT guy who simultaneously worked at seven IT and AI companies in Silicon Valley
Soham Parekh, a 24-year-old Indian programmer, worked full-time at seven different American IT and AI companies in Silicon Valley for at least three years straight. He worked remotely from India all the time, so no one noticed that Parekh was receiving pay from multiple employers at once.
The mega-worker was exposed after a post in X by Suhail Doshi, CEO of AI startup Playground AI. «There’s one guy who works in 3-4 startups at the same time,» he wrote, not yet knowing that in reality the number of companies the IT guy worked with was almost twice as many. We tell the story of a specialist who managed to hold an incredible number of positions at once.
Soham Parekh, a 24-year-old Indian programmer, worked full-time at seven different American IT and AI companies in Silicon Valley for at least three years straight. He worked remotely from India all the time, so no one noticed that Parekh was receiving pay from multiple employers at once.
The mega-worker was exposed after a post in X by Suhail Doshi, CEO of AI startup Playground AI. «There’s one guy who works in 3-4 startups at the same time,» he wrote, not yet knowing that in reality the number of companies the IT guy worked with was almost twice as many. We tell the story of a specialist who managed to hold an incredible number of positions at once.
Who is Sohar Perech?
Soham Parekh’s name is now appearing more and more frequently on IT social media — many joke that he single-handedly maintains the entire modern digital infrastructure. Some post memes where he works behind a dozen monitors or replaces thousands of laid-off Microsoft employees.
Parekh seems to be making a strong first impression. Digger CEO Igor Zalutsky said he «almost hired him» because he was so convincing in the interview. And AIVideo.com co-founder Justin Harvey said he came very close to hiring him because Parekh «interviewed really brilliantly.» Vapi’s Jordan Dearsley added that it was «the best technical interview I’ve ever seen,» but Parekh didn’t quite nail the projects.
According to social media commentators, Parekh is a software engineer who has spent years interviewing at dozens of startups while simultaneously working at several.
Exposure
Many learned about this on July 2, when Suhail Doshi, founder of AI tool Playground, wrote a warning in X:
«Beware! There is a guy named Soham Parekh (India) who works in 3-4 startups at the same time. He is hunting YC companies and others. Be careful. I fired him in the first week and told him to stop cheating. A year has passed — he hasn’t stopped.»
The post immediately attracted dozens of comments. Ben South of Variant wrote, «We interviewed him too, but discovered a problem when checking references — he had 5-6 resumes, each showing him working for 5+ companies.» South sensed something fishy during the interview, so he decided to check earlier than usual.
Parekh has a compelling resume and email pitch — at first glance, everything looks flawless. According to Marcus Lowe, founder of AI platform Create, he had an «impressive GitHub graph» and previous experience in startups. And technically, he was «very strong.»
What Parekh says
The very next day after the scandal, Parekh himself gave an interview to the TBPN show and admitted that he had indeed worked for several companies at the same time.
«I’m not proud of it or I support such things. But working 140 hours a week is not something anyone wants to do. I did it out of necessity,» Parekh said. «My financial situation was critical.»
We asked @realsohamparekh if he had been working multiple full-time jobs at once.
«It is true.»
«I’m not proud of what I’ve done. That’s not something I endorse either. But no one really likes to work 140 hours a week, I had to do it out of necessity.»
He didn’t stay long at the companies where he was hired. Lowe of Create recalled that Parekh kept postponing his start date, citing a trip to his sister in New York or illness. But he later saw commits to a private GitHub repository at the exact time he was supposed to be sick. Even more surprising was that Parekh appeared in marketing materials for another startup that he didn’t mention on his resume.
Even Meta wrote a post about him in 2021, highlighting his contributions to WebXR and mixed reality development. In the post, Parekh said, «The best way to become a better developer is not just to practice, but to solve real problems.»
The scheme still works
Despite his scheme being exposed, Parekh has already landed a new job at AI video remix startup Darwin. The company’s founder and CEO, Sanjit Juneja, confirmed:
«Soham is an incredibly talented engineer, and we believe he will help us bring the product to market.»
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