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

Master | Moment | Getty ImagesThe industry is reeling after a software engineer was exposed as working at several Silicon Valley startups at the same time — and experts say it's a lesson on hustle culture gone too far

Soham Parekh, a software engineer from Mumbai, went viral on social media after being accused by Playground AI founder Suhail Doshi on X of working at a number of startups simultaneously

Doshi wrote: "There's a guy named Soham Parekh (in India) who works at 3-4 startups at the same time

He's been preying on YC [Y Combinator] companies and more

I fired this guy in his first week and told him to stop lying / scamming people

He hasn't stopped a year later

No more excuses. "The post racked up 25,000 s with more founders coming forward hiring Parekh, including AI startup Lindy, which fired him after seeing Doshi's post

Doshi confirmed to CNBC Make It via that Parekh worked at the company. "We realized he was working multiple jobs shortly after he joined, based on constant large fluctuations in his availability and the quality of his output

He also att an off-site, where it became pretty," Doshi said

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

Matthew Parkhurst, founder of software startup Antimetal, said Parekh was the company's first engineering hire in 2022 and was smart and likable. "We realized pretty quickly that he was working at multiple companies and let him go," Parkhurst said on X

Other founders Haz Hubble, the co-founder of social media scheduler Pally, also came forward offering Parekh a founding engineer role. "Around one week ago we offered him a role as founding engineer, with a total package worth $250k per year, but withdrew after he wouldn't with us in San Francisco — now we know why. " Hubble told CNBC via, explaining that as the company is early-stage, the team living and working together is crucial. "To me it seems he must be addicted to the game of getting job offers, rather than actually making money, given he never lasts more than a few weeks and rarely gets paid

It begs the question — why. "Lindy and Antimetal did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for

In an interview on show TBPN on Thursday, Parekh admitted that it was true he was working for multiple startups at once and wasn't ud of what he had done. "No one really s to work 140 hours a week, but I had to do this out of necessity," Parekh said in the show. "I was in extremely dire financial circumstances. "Parekh said he only started doing this in 2022, and the grueling lifestyle meant he became a "serial non-sleeper. "He added that he "cared these companies" and "greed wasn't an incentive," despite his financial situation

He said he always took the lower pay, higher equity offer at companies

The community on social media is divided, however, with some questioning the ethics of secretly working multiple jobs, while others wonder how Parekh pulled it off

A 'widespread' blemThe tale of Parekh is not unique within the industry, with many workers covertly working multiple jobs in recent years in an effort to shield themselves from mass layoffs and job market uncertainty

A subreddit called "r/overemployed" was created in 2021, with users sharing advice on how they manage to balance multiple jobs without being detected. "During the peak of Covid, there was this rush from companies to fire talent, and there was this intense competition for talent," Alexandru Voica, head of corporate affairs and policy at AI company Synthesia, told CNBC Make It in an interview. "It caused, in some cases, this type of behavior to be more widespread than it was during non-pandemic times. "Voica noted that the rise of remote work was instrumental in enabling this behavior amongst workers. "That led to obviously incredible benefits for hard-working people, but also allowed people who have maybe this type of attitude to, all of a sudden, get jobs that they wouldn't have before. "Having at least two jobs is also common within India's IT sector

There was a 25-30% increase in moonlighting seen between 2020 and 2023, according to Randstad India, with workers citing factors such as low pay and remote work. 'Extreme end of Hustle culture'While Parekh's grueling work hours are unusual — even in — it's a reminder of how deeply hustle culture is entrenched within the industry. "Silicon Valley's obsession with ductivity metrics and fast hiring has created conditions where a person can juggle five roles — and not because it's efficient, but because no one is truly looking," Dmitry Zaytsev, founder of talent management company Dandelion Civilization, said to CNBC Make It. "What we're seeing is the extreme end of hustle culture: when work becomes performance, and identity becomes fragmented. "China’s grueling ‘996’ work culture is being debated by European startups — 7 founders and VCs on why they are resistingZaytsev explained that Parekh essentially passed multiple rounds of nical interviews because soft skills aren't as valued in

Qualities commitment, reliability and team presence "are often overlooked until there's a crisis," he said. "Burnout is a predictable outcome when the workplace culture rewards overcommitment and treats exhaustion as a badge of honor

Soham's admission that he worked 140 hours a week is not just unhealthy, it's a reflection of a system that equates worth with output," he added

It comes as European startups face pressure from some VCs to adopt a more rigorous work schedule — such as China's "996" or Silicon Valley's 24/7, always-on culture — to better compete on a global stage

This has been met with backlash, with founders telling CNBC Make It that overwork can lead to a crisis of ductivity, burnout, and even resentment

Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital, said this debate came due to "a fetishization of overwork" and a glorification of hustle culture in the and startup scene in Silicon Valley

Flexible working at riskSynthesia's Voica warned that workers who take advantage of flexible working policies risk painting other engineers in a bad light, and could have these benefits taken away. "Most of the engineers that I know are very hard working, very dedicated, very passionate, and then when you have this type of more cavalier behavior, it sets this tone that this is normal behavior in the community," Voica explained

This might cause employers to second-guess whether they should keep hybrid working policies in place, he said. "This is going to impact women

It's going to impact people with disabilities [and] the more vulnerable, who actually benefited from this [flexible] work arrangement, and now they're going to be impacted by this type of behavior," he added

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